The Shiren the Wanderer series can be intimidating. It’s a roguelike where death is a fact of life. You’re going to fall in the randomized dungeons, and it’s going to take time to find your footing. Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate does what it can to make sure someone is ready for the dangers Shiren is going to face as he heads out looking for the Tower of Fortune.
The E3 2016 Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate demo began with the beginning of the game. Shiren and Koppa, his weasel companion, are reminiscing about the events of the game. They say that the activities in that town sent the two off to fight Reeva, the god of destiny in the hopes of saving a young woman named Oyu from a terminal illness.
It then jumps to Shiren and Koppa as they’re entering a small town for the first time. There, they learn about the sick young woman and see as Jirokichi, Oyu’s friend, runs off to find the Tower of Fortune in an attempt to find a way to save her. While it’s then possible to immediately head to the Ouma Shrine, Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate’s first dungeon, it’s possible to visit a Training Facility and learn everything you need to know about playing the game.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate’s Training Facility is a comprehensive resource for new wanderers. It offers 12 courses that teach you about the game’s intricacies. In order, the lessons cover finding the stairs, moving diagonally, dashing dos and don’ts, turning in place, dealing with hunger, using the map, walking around to heal, equipment, projectiles and range, using or throwing grass, staves and magic bullets, and effective scroll usage. All of these are important game elements that teach essential skills. Going through all of them even gives you a reward, though I didn’t have enough time to see what it was.
Especially since Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate’s first dungeon throws you right into the action. If you don’t want to experience a tutorial here, you won’t. You can go right into the dungeon. While it isn’t the most difficult of dungeons, as they do scale in the game the further you get in, it doesn’t coddle you. It doesn’t hold your hand unless you reach out and take it.
Which is exactly what people are going to need. We haven’t seen an actual Shiren the Wanderer game outside of Japan since Atlus localized Shiren the Wanderer for the Nintendo Wii U back in 2010. We needed this new entry to be willing to help us get acclimated, and it seems like Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate starts off rather friendly.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate will come to the PlayStation Vita on July 26, 2016 in North America.
