In one run through the mystery dungeon, my sword and shield had been rusted to -1 stats by a ninja using water jutsu. I was low on health, and I had accidentally wandered into a Monster House—a room filled with monsters and traps, but also good loot. I was sure to meet my end there until I noticed a Blank Scroll in my inventory that I could write into a Windblade Scroll. Using my new Windblade Scroll, I wiped out all the monsters in the room. I later looted the place, rested up until my health was back, ate an onigiri, and went to the next floor... where I met my end anyway at the hands of a single ninja who got in a few too many lucky shots. I was sent back to the starting village, minus all my loot and gold. I was even brought back to my starting stats. So I went back to the nearby old man, grabbed my one complimentary onigiri, and headed back into the Mystery Dungeon.

This is what it's like to play Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island, the first new Shiren the Wanderer title in 13 years. You might be familiar with the Pokémon or Chocobo-flavored Mystery Dungeon games, or maybe you played Etrian Mystery Dungeon. But all these spin-offs live in the shadow of their originator, the taciturn caped kasa-wearing wanderer and his talking ferret. The Mystery Dungeon itself may change its flavoring, but it is eternal in its random layout. The rules of engagement are always consistent, and the penalties for loss are always stiff. And yet, these games are always addicting—if you can forgive your missteps. There are a lot of rogue-likes that take inspiration from the Mystery Dungeon games, but at the end of the day, there is no substitute.

That reputation isn't because of the difficulty, by any means—Shiren the Wanderer isn't even that hard. You can make it pretty far by bum-rushing things; grab the nearest katana, and go caveman-style against every baddie between you and the stairs. It's not because of the steep penalty, either, because you can give yourself some safety nets by leaving surplus items at the many warehouses you can find. Shiren the Wanderer is addicting: a phenomenal blend of out-of-the-box thinking married with fun rewards and a "just one more try!" vibe to it that makes it so you're never too disappointed after yet another stupid death. And heck, Shiren the Wanderer knows you'll die a lot. Even if you somehow lucked out and beat the game in just one go, you'd be missing out on so much fun stuff that only pops up once you've failed a few runs and commiserated with your fellow Wanderers in town.

Exploring the Mystery Dungeon is a reward on its own. Floors in the dungeon are all randomly generated, with each "area" of the dungeon having certain kinds of monsters appearing, like the many kinds of ninjas hidden in the bamboo groves. If Shiren takes damage, his health will return a bit at a time per turn. His hunger meter constantly depletes, forcing you to eat onigiri to stay satiated. There are single-use scrolls that can bestow all kinds of effects, staves that can unleash various effects, and pots that can affect your other items. And then there are the monsters. Dealing with monsters requires more than just brawn; many monsters have unique abilities that force you to think laterally and use everything you can find at your disposal. Some enemies can't be hurt with ranged items at all. Some enemies become helpless after being splashed with water. Some enemies might even unwittingly give you a benefit if you have the correct item when they use a particular attack. Some countless twists and turns can come from wandering a dungeon's halls, and not all of them are from the corridors themselves. You'll constantly have fun "A-ha!" moments as you surprise yourself with solutions you didn't think the game accounted for.

Are there flaws? Of course, there are. This is the first Shiren the Wanderer we've seen in 3D in the United States in a while. While character models look charming, but they can sometimes look out of place on the floor they're standing on. And while Shiren the Wanderer has a lot of cushioning for its steep stakes, it's still entirely possible to die in stupid situations you had no real control over. You could very likely die on the very first floor to a very lucky Mamel, just as much as you could find your lucky run ended later in the dungeon from just a terminal string of minor events that come together in one cataclysmic failure. Even if Shiren the Wanderer doesn't rub your nose in your failures and doesn't make fun of your mistakes, it can still be frustrating when you experience what longtime Rogue-like fans call "yet another stupid death."

And yet, Shiren the Wanderer might still find a way of sticking with you. Less like Solitaire, a game you poke into for lack of anything better to do and derive some surprise when you find you've been given a beatable scenario, Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island could very well become someone's "forever" game: even if you reach the peak and obtain all the riches, even after you've scoured every inch of Serpentcoil Island, even after you've seen the coda to everyone's adventures... maybe you'll be down for one last romp through the dungeon. Maybe you'll want to try a weaponless run. Maybe you'll want to try only using items on the floor you found them on. There will never be any shortage of reasons to head back into the Mystery Dungeon—it's there, so why not take a peek?