Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is a roguelike role-playing video game developed and published by Spike Chunsoft. It is the sixth main entry in the Shiren the Wanderer series, which is a subset of the larger Mystery Dungeon series, and was released on Nintendo Switch in 2024; over 13 years after the last mainline title in Japan, Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate, and 8 years in the west.

Gameplay
The gameplay for The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island remains the same as other Shiren the Wanderer games; it is a roguelike role-playing video game in which the player traverses randomized dungeons and fights monsters. The game takes gameplay content from the earlier games of the series rather than the latest. As such, little to no content that were featured in Shiren the Wanderer 4: The Eye of God and the Devil's Navel and Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate were recycled, like the Day and Night system in dungeons. The i-Dash from Shiren the Wanderer 2: Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion also returns in this game, albeit tweaked a little and with a new title. Benemoth, which are giant versions of a common monster, will occasionally appear in dungeons thanks to the Benemoth Gates, and they come with advantages and inconvenient against the player, most notably being invincible to the player's attacks due to their barrier. In addition to returning monsters from the series, such as the iconic Mamel, new monsters were added to the game.

The UI got an overhaul compared to previous entries, now showing the inventory's capacity, and two semi-transparent dialogue boxes reserved for the Adventure Log in the bottom right corner, and the Notebook in the bottom left. The Notebook logs new findings in a dungeon, such as discovering a new monster or item. Returning from the 2020 release of The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate, the Live Display UI has now two types for players livestreaming the game; a compact type focusing on the gameplay, and a detailed type.

The game features multiplayer content, outside of rescuing defeated players in dungeons. Players are also able to train against species of monsters with the Monster Dojo, or go to alternative routes during the mainline story, which are harder but more rewarding than regular routes.

Plot
The story is set between the events of Shiren the Wanderer GB: Monster of Moonlight Village and Shiren the Wanderer 4: The Eye of God and the Devil's Navel. As Shiren and Koppa, referred to as a ferret, left Tsukikage Village few months after, both of them started dreaming of an island. This dream led to an existing treasure island named Serpentcoil Island, one of the small islands in the Inland sea. The duo decided to venture there not long after to explore the island, but also debunking the rumored treasure living inside a monster atop of the island, and rescue the lost girl who sent that dream to them. Before that, they walked in the mainland, suffering from drought because of Kokatsu, and helping nearby citizens dealing with this crisis. Suzuna, an innkeeper of Uzumaki-Ya, supports the team throughout their adventure, including letting them to rest at the inn or train in the dojo behind it.

As the duo travel through the island, they meet numerous pirates and ninja scattered around the island, with conflicts being created among them. Asuka, a recurrent side character in the series, participates in the adventure to reunite with her allies in the island, although Koppa does not remember meeting her in the past despite the fact they did. Finally, they face off against Jakaku, the rumored monster, and its army of monsters at the top of Mount Jatou. Upon defeating it, they would find out the island is starting to float, pouring water and a portion of treasures hidden by pirates towards the mainland. Soon after, the distressed girl, later named Tatsumi, explains there is more to learn from this place's origins, before Shiren and Koppa got forcefully ejected from the top of the mountain by a fireball.

Development


Prior to the development of The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island, the Shiren the Wanderer series was dormant for over a decade, as the newest game, excluding ports and remasters, was released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS. Initially, the game started as a proposal from the team behind the Mystery Dungeon series as they were passionate about creating a brand new game for the series. This proposal was made before the Nintendo Switch and Steam ports of The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate in 2020. From an interview in 2018, Spike Chunsoft's president Mitsutoshi Sakurai answered for potential ports of the series in the future, although it would be a challenge as employees of the company said it will not do well. In 2020, one of the series scenarists, Shin-ichiro Tomie, had left a secret message in the aforementioned ports, indicating he would still able to work on the next Shiren the Wanderer game if there are enough voices from the fans to green-lit a new Shiren the Wanderer game within the company. Tomie: ...! Hey! Did you just push the switch on my back!? You're supposed to read the item description before you use it! Every wanderer knows that! It clearly says "DO NOT PUSH"! Geez, how did you make it this far? ...Well, might as well say my piece since you're here. My name is Tomie. I'm an old hand at Spike Chunsoft. So old that I'm nearly retirement age. Shiren the Wanderer, Banshee's Last Cry... I've seen some titles in my day. We devs got along good over the years. Old, young, age doesn't matter... They work us to the bone, all the same. Hasegawa... You may not know the name, but you know his art. His version of Shiren is iconic! And Nagahata, he's the only know who knows what to tweak under the hood to keep the game balanced. Then there's me, worrying about making a new Shiren the Wanderer. I gotta consider the budget and the needs of the company. Can we do it? More importantly, should we do it? I'm too wishy-washy to take the first step. If only... If only someone gave me a push. ...? Wait, didn't somebody just do exactly that? Ah, I'm going senile... Can you give me one more push? ...No? You can't? In that case... Can you make your voice heard? If all the Shiren fans across the world speak out, surely someone will hear... Who knows, your voices might make it all the way to the people in charge. Wouldn't be the first time our overlords got fired up over fan demand. Anyway, if a sequel gets green-lit, you can bet I'll give it my all. The series has a reputation to live up to. And the fans expect nothing less than the best! I won't let them down. Ah, this is all hypothetical, of course. But it's nice to think about, isn't it? Until we meet again, I'll be here, dreaming... Of a new Shiren the Wanderer title. – F A R E W E L L – (Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate) Eventually, the Switch port of The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate exceeded the company's expectation in terms of reputation and sales, which led to green-lit the development of the new Shiren the Wanderer game soon after.

The game was originally based on Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion, with most of its gameplay sourced from that game along with keeping a mindset of "going back to basic". However, a few of them were later replaced by brand new game mechanics. Key members of the team contribtued to the game, such as Seiichiro Nagahata for game balancing and Hideyuki Shinozaki for deciding to put the final boss at the beginning of a new save. Shinozaki was later both surprised and afraid that this decision would not make the game lasts longer than anticipated after finding out players finished it only few minutes after its release. Tomie added the possibility to play as Shiren Kokatsu; a fusion between the protagonist and Kokatsu in his battle form. Story wise, the team decided to set the game after Monster of Moonlight Village due to the return of Asuka, a side character that appeared throughout the series. They wanted to bring her back into the series with a different behavior to her appearance in the 2008 Wii game, Shiren the Wanderer, and therefore had to set the story before the latter. Serpentcoil Island was inspired of the Setouchi region.

At New Year 2023, Spike Chunsoft hinted a new "large scale" title was in development in their New Year's card and will announce it in the near future. This title was neither Master Detective Archives: Rain Code or the Japanese releases of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Ark: Survival Evolved. The game was first announced in the Japanese version of the Nintendo Direct on September 14, 2023 as Toguro Island Exploration Record for its subtitle, and would be available in Japanese and Chinese in its release. An English release was revealed earlier by accident from a Canadian video game retailer, with a release date set for February 27 and under the subtitle The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island. On October 4, 2023, new details were shown by the team in a Famitsu article. It included content that were showcased during Tokyo Game Show 2023; new transformations for Shiren with penalties, over thirty dungeons present in the island, and mechanics inherited from other Mystery Dungeon games such as the player's paths marked in the minimap from the Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon series, and giant, 3x3 grid size, monsters in dungeons and shortcuts for items functioning like moves in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. It also included a thanking message from the team. Most of the team who worked on the Super Famicom and Nintendo DS versions of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer have returned for this game, such as Kaoru Hasegawa as character designer. Later in the same day, a Taiwanese release for January 25 was confirmed by the company in a new trailer, along with a western release. In an interview with Keisuke Sakurai and Hideyuki Shinozaki, the game's director and project manager respectively, they explain they were conscious about the release gap between the two games. Therefore, they decided to add numerous tutorials and removed gameplay content from the last game that was deemed hard for newcomers to the series. From the over 60 species of monsters added to the game, 20% of them are brand new monsters to the series. The game was close to being complete by the end of November, then fully completed on December 4.

noisycroak contributed to the game's soundtrack and sound effects, including Keisuke Ito, who has composed music for the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series since Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. Ito was inspired of the Shiren the Wanderer series' past composers, being late Koichi Sugiyama, and Hayato Matsuo, while also hoping his contributions "will be a link between the past and the future".

Due to its success, the company has confirmed the development of additional content for the foreseeable future. Official Parallel Data were the first form of downloadable content distributed by the company; they empathizes on the new Parallel Data system introduced in that game and does not require an update in order to download them. Other updates include new challenges located at the Sacred Tree, new achievements, and new unlockable content.

Release
The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island was developed by Spike Chunsoft. The company published the game in Japan and Taiwan on January 25, 2024, and in the United States on February 27, 2024. The European release was published by Reef Entertainment in the same day as the United States. Downloadable content for the game are currently being developed as of March 2024.

Reception
The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island received generally favorable reviews by critics according to review aggregator Metacritic. Early reception for the game were positive, with Famitsu giving a score of 38 out of 40. Reviewers praised for the revival of the series along with its new content; from updated gameplay like the Adventure Log and the return of online content to the balanced difficulty that new players would not give up early on, as it was known to be harder in the past. They have also criticized the game for feeling clunky and repetitive sometimes, as there are not much action happening on screen compared to more modern roguelike games such as Hades, The Binding of Isaac, and Crypt of the NecroDancer; the latter which did crossover with the Shiren the Wanderer series previously.

The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island set records in the Shiren the Wanderer series upon its release. The game has sold over 200,000 copies in Japan, making it the fastest record sales in the series history. 85,424 copies were sold during its first week of release in Japan, making it the third highest retail launch of the Shiren the Wanderer series, behind the Super Famicom release of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer and Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion, and the second most amount of copies sold during that week, below the PlayStation 5 release of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Soon after, the game reached first place in the Japanese Nintendo eShop, above Suika Game.

With its success in Japan, throughout February, numerous fans of the Mystery Dungeon series have asked Spike Chunsoft to work on a new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon or Torneko's Great Adventure game, to which the company replied by asking the concerned companies in order to green lit the projects. By March, the game had higher than expected results, akin to how The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate for Nintendo Switch was before, of which later that month, they confirmed working on additional content for it. The team also thinks about working on a seventh numbered game after finishing development, although they will find it hard to change the game's aspect while not repeating the same type of content as the previous ones.