There’s a nasty cliche making the rounds in gaming circles when it comes to the Wii: that so-called hardcore games don’t do well on it. I’m not going to get into sales numbers or profit margins — that’s Michael Pachter’s job — everybody needs to grow a pair before next month. Shiren the Wanderer 3 is coming out next month, and it’s nothing if not hard.
I’m not very familiar with the series, but I’m vaguely aware that Shiren is a particularly tough roguelike. If you’re not familiar with the term (and most people probably aren’t — roguelikes had their heyday in the 80s, although the genre’s made something of a comeback lately), the genre is characterized by randomized dungeons, turn-based RPG combat, and permadeath. Thankfully, Shiren promises a story 2,000 years in the making to soften the blow.
But anyway, back to Shiren. Atlus, who’s publishing the game in the United States, has released a new trailer focusing on the bosses. It shows quite a bit of combat, but that’s not saying much — turn-based battles are hardly thrillers. The game’s no Crysis, but I like the character design, which carries the graphics a long way.
Atlus has also published the last developer blog devoted to the game, which is a good time to point you to the whole series, which covers an introduction to the series, tactics, story and characters, and bosses. You can check them out here.
