I am ready to admit my mistake. Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island isn’t the first Shiren game I’ve played. Tried Shiren the Wanderer on Wii, didn’t get it and moved on quickly.

The same might have happened here if I didn’t review this game. I didn’t take the rogue approach. I was unwilling to accept death as a learning experience. But then everything clicked and I’m now such a fan that I hit eBay for that Wii game I stupidly traded in.

Fans of the series already understand this, of course. This review is for the rest of you. Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery of Serpentcoil Island is terrific fun. you just have to give it several sessions to understand why.

The game begins with Siren and her talking ferret friend Kopa receiving a vision of a land in distress, a kidnapped girl, and a promise of riches. Attracted by all three, Siren and Kopa quickly find themselves battling a ferocious monster… which kills them. But death is never the end in a Shiren game. Our heroes wake up the next morning back in the original village, all items gone, all experiences gone. Time to face the day.

Shiren’s goal is to traverse the 31 levels of the main story to return to this monster, solve the mystery of the kidnapped girl, and receive its treasure. He does this by entering randomly generated “dungeons” that are filled with enemies and traps.

Fortunately, useful items will also be randomly scattered: weapons, shields, wands, scrolls and more, including (hopefully) an abundance of onigiri. Siren is hungry, you see, and she must satisfy that hunger in order to continue.

Of course, the player must also worry about his health. If this drops to 0, Shiren dies and returns to the village with nothing: items lost, gold lost, levels reset. But he’s smarter. New monsters are added to the game’s encyclopedia with information on how to defeat them. Okay. But the best thing is that weapons that you had to reach, say, level 10 to get, can now start appearing at level 1. So the deeper you go, the easier it is to get back there. This is what i didn’t understand

And going back there remains fun because of the new elements that appear. You will have access to secret routes. You will meet other adventurers (NPCs) who can join and help you.

You’ll gain new staves to use in clever, life-saving ways. And because the levels are randomly generated, you never take the same route from the entry point to the stairs. Although, admittedly, some provisions will become known.

Other elements help you on your way. The controls of Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island are streamlined and intuitive. Steps are turn-based (for every step you take, approaching enemies take theirs), but you control the pace. run when no one is around, step carefully when surrounded by enemies or wandering dark mines that only allow you to see one grid square in front of you. The user interface allows you to set your favorite items for quick access. When you find a needed onigiri or a shield upgrade, but your inventory is full, you can use that item without having to add it to your inventory first. There are many enhanced features like this to keep you moving.

There are also key decisions to make as you go along. If you find the stairs early in the map, do you move forward or risk exploring to find more treasure? If you meet someone who can take one of your items back to the village for safekeeping, you send your prized weapon back for later attempts or risk using it This attempt? Do you try to fight your way through a monster room to reap its rewards, or run away knowing your chances of survival are slim? Should you wear this bracelet before using an Identify Scroll to determine what it will do? Every adventure is a gamble and you’re not likely to get to the end without taking a lot of risks.

Fortunately, you can be saved. If you die, you can call for an online rescue up to three times per run. Other players can accept your request. If they’re successful, you’ll start backing up right from where you downloaded. You cannot progress through the game until you save, abandon the quest, or save yourself. So what to do in the meantime? Rescue others for various rewards. There’s always something to do, even when you’re lying on a mountain surrounded by monsters.

In fact, there is still much to do after you have completed the original story and credits. I did this after about 35 hours with the game. This run consumed just under three of those hours and was completely unexpected. it began as an attempt to simply promote a certain side development. But thanks to a great shield, lots of refreshing grass, a trio of companions, and a good dose of luck, I was able to wrap everything up. Or so I thought. Completing the main series opens up many challenging new areas. Even better, you can keep everything you had with you and you’re actually given places to store it. Now, all that money and all those items can be used as you search for treasure in new places. Until you die in them, of course, so be careful what you take with you when exploring a new place.

No matter where Shiren and Koppa are, the visuals remain fun and vibrant. The music is even better—some of the best I’ve heard in a Switch game. I also never got tired of the rousing, level-up chant. Almost every aspect of the game has something to please players as they deal with their frustration.

And you I will get frustrated as the game often intimidates you. You’ll die on level two because you just missed a punch. You will die at level 28 due to a bad time trap. An enemy will spoil your onigiri just before you prepare to eat it. Rescues can alleviate that frustration, but they won’t take away that feeling of having the rug pulled out from under you.

Accepting this, however, is liberating. Playing a game where death is a requirement is almost cathartic, and now I’m addicted to the experience. I really enjoyed Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island and will continue to do so. Most importantly, I’ve added it to the short list of IPs where I want to own every game. I see this is the 6th in the series, so it looks like I’m in for an even more frustrating adventure. Better stock up on onigiri.