Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate (PS Vita) Review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate is a rogue-like; the type of game new players will likely feel somewhat out of place, whereas experienced ones will feel right at home with this old-school style of gaming. To explain, the narrative is bare and almost non-existent, with the "it's dangerous to go alone, take this," levels being off and running with a mute protagonist.

Other than an optional room that has a very lengthy tutorial, players are launched into the game and sink or swim by their own ability, launched off into random dungeons where they must balance ever depleting HP, battling creatures in a turn based fashion, and trying to find the door before they die and lose literally everything including their level and all equipment.

In an era of modern gaming where everything is endlessly explained, heading off on your own is a welcome change. In true rogue-like fashion, death carries a heavy penalty, and becomes part of the immersive experience. For those that have never played something like this before, there are essentially random dungeon floors, and the player must conquer them using what they find in the dungeon. They can bring equipment out if they live, but if they die all is lost - including items/gold/experience.

It should be noted that this game has a pseudo-"Ironman" save structure built into it, meaning death is not just a save away from being meaningless. It takes a certain type of person to enjoy this, because it becomes a sort of fourth wall/meta-game experience, where you decide how much to risk with a very real consequence of failing.

This also brings some new features to the genre, while staying very true to its roots. The player must still manage hunger before losing HP and level-up in the dungeon, while enemies move one tile per turn, and so on. Some things it does different is the ability to have allies in the dungeons, and their AI can actually be decent at times. There is a variety of ways to improve, save or nullify catastrophic loss of all hard work leading up to a death which leads to players really sinking into how to maximize runs without losing everything.

The graphics are clean, clear, and show what is happening easily. Different equipment actually looks different on the character which is always a nice touch. There are tons to do to maximize equipment, from simply using it, which will eventually upgrade, to levelling it up, or putting Runes on it. Additionally, there are other strategies to try such as using ranged arrows or staves which expand the typical 1v1 melee death battles.

Compared to Zettai Hero Project, some of its short comings are a bit more obvious. ZHP was much more friendly to those that may not be into those games, and it weaved a narrative into it that was very well done with the concept of death and trying again. In here, however, if someone who is not a genre fan comes into this title, he/she will likely not stick around, especially due to the difficulty, lack of story, and general directionless goal.

Overall, Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate does a lot of things right, and it doesn't get in the way of the player as they can launch straight into the challenge. There are townspeople to talk to, to get a slight expansion on the story, or various ways to upgrade and stay alive. The important thing, though, is that it keeps the roots of the genre true, without making any major changes that would affect it negatively.