Reflexion-style verbal memory sometimes loses to plain retry.

VRL-Bench evaluated every prominent verbal-memory method from Reflexion onward across three models on MiniWoB and WebShop under finite trial budgets. Each improves over memory-free retry in some settings and reduces success in others, and replay experiments show reflection itself can lower success rates by over-exploiting written-down experience at the cost of exploration. Their VEX-squared scheduler was the only update positive in all six settings.