‘Shadow Labyrinth' Transforms Arcade Icon Pac-Man Into Challenging But Twisted Action Platformer

Geek Culture

12-05-2025

Pac-Man, everyone's favourite friendly yellow puck, has evolved into a cultural icon since his debut in the classic 1980 arcade maze game. As a face so widely known in the gaming world, he has unsurprisingly received a spin-off or two over the years, along with some enhancements to the traditional maze-style gameplay, like with 2007's Pac-Man Championship Edition . Otherwise, there have been attempts to bring the icon into a whole new genre, such as with 3D platformer series Pac-Man World (1999), or with 2006's Pac-Man World Rally kart-racer. While the perspectives and gameplay styles of Pac-Man games have changed, titles in the franchise have always stuck to their family-friendly and lighthearted nature – until now.
Serving as a re-imagining of the franchise's core concepts, Shadow Labyrinth , an upcoming 2D action platformer developed by Bandai Namco Studios, not only thrusts the iconic puck into a brand-new genre, but also marks a stark franchise departure with a twisted, more mature take on the character, and if our time with a 20-minute preview of the upcoming title was any indication, it's definitely not for the faint of heart.
Shadow Labyrinth serves as a sequel to Circle , the sixth episode of Prime Video's 2024 animated anthology Secret Level. Like the episode, players embody the role of protagonist Swordsman No. 8, a mysterious cloaked figure accompanied by a floating yellow orb named PUCK. Jumping straight into the action, the preview opens with a glimpse of the game's sprawling segment-based map design, which would immediately feel familiar to fans of Metroidvania titles such as 2015's Ori and the Blind Forest or 2017's Hollow Knight .
Embodying the franchise's core concepts, each area of the map offers a maze-like level structure, filled with optional paths and platforming opportunities littered with all sorts of critters to dispatch, from bats, spiders and other humanoid enemies. To deal with his foes, the Swordman is equipped with a standard three-hit attack combo, alongside a few defensive options like a dodge roll, and a choice between a barrier to absorb blows or a timing-based parry that can deflect attacks.
These combat mechanics, although solidly implemented, might sound like standard affair that countless other games have done and perfected, but Shadow Labyrinth does shake things up by introducing another core element of the Pac-Man franchise – eating. Apart from gaining Ora, the game's currency, by defeating enemies, PUCK can also use a Devour attack to consume the corpses of any defeated foe to acquire unique materials, which can then be spent to obtain player-boosting perks to supplement the overall combat experience. While obtaining and using these perks were locked during the early build, previous trailers hinted at playstyle-altering abilities, such as adding an attack when performing a mid-air dodge, so these perks do have the potential to provide options for players to mix up their playstyle.
Apart from its combat, a bulk of the game is set to focus on platforming, with the preview showcasing two of the Swordsman's abilities, the ACTIV shot and Mini Puck mode that can be used to traverse the world or complete challenges. The former operates like a grappling hook mechanic seen in many other titles in the genre, propelling the Swordsman towards pre-set points in the environment or allowing him to close the gap during combat. Unlike other games, though, the ACTIV shot is direction-based and has a rather short range, requiring precise mid-air adjustments and adding a welcome layer of challenge to basic platforming.
Mini Puck mode, on the other hand, is automatically activated when a player walks on certain special platforms, fusing the Swordsman and PUCK into one entity and allowing the duo to ride rails reminiscent of the classic arcade game, even offering a throwback by making the character's iconic waka waka sound in the process. The use of these abilities is further tested when a player comes across optional platforming challenge rooms, offering the allure of health upgrades and improving potion-carrying capacity at the end of a difficult platforming gauntlet akin to those seen in 2024's Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Speaking of challenge, Shadow Labyrinth also presents a much more difficult gameplay experience as compared to Pac-Man's previous outings. For one, the game does not use an auto-saving system and instead requires players to find checkpoints sparsely laid out across the map for a moment of respite. These not only refill the Swordsman's health, but also resupply his limited potion charges, while allowing for skill upgrading in exchange for Ora.
The game's combat can also get difficult rather quickly, as although one-on-one encounters can be tackled with ease, groups of enemies attacking from all directions can quickly overwhelm a player if they are not careful. In addition, using defensive moves drains the Swordsman's mana reserves and can leave him vulnerable once depleted, encouraging tactical usage of dodging and blocking, alongside proper timing of the games rather slim parrying window, offering a combat experience that's challenging but fair, rewarding patience over simply button-mashing.
In addition, Shadow Labyrinth foregoes hand-holding and instead encourages trial and error, with a lack of objective markers to guide players towards their next objective, although this could just be due to the early nature of the game build and might be a feature added down the line. In the later part of the preview, the game also introduces a new enemy type that cannot be damaged by basic attacks, leaving players to figure out how to deal with the threat on their own without further guidance. Thankfully, the game isn't souls-like, and death doesn't come with any penalty other than restarting from the previous checkpoint, at least during the early stages shown in the preview.
The session culminated with a boss fight against a massive turtle-like dragon, offering the perfect opportunity to show off the Swordsman's ultimate ability, GAIA, a mech he can transform into to even the odds. While powerful, this ability operates on a timer and requires a lengthy cooldown, and also can't be used in confined spaces, and is meant to be saved for the most perilous situations. Furthermore, the battle was also a test of all abilities learned thus far, with the arena's walls dotted with rails for Mini Puck to grind on to avoid certain devastating attacks while waiting for an opening to strike back.
Once defeated, the boss is then consumed by Dark Puck, a giant, venomous creature that emerges from the Swordsman. By devouring his foe, the duo can obtain a special move for GAIA that mirrors the one used against them in the fight, a powerful laser beam in this case, which can clear certain obstacles along the way. While only one example was shown in the brief play session, hunting down bosses to harness their powers would no doubt play a big part in the game's Metroidvania-inspired traversal systems, allowing players to backtrack and explore new areas using the skills obtained from bosses for additional loot and upgrades.
While its early preview was short, Shadow Labyrinth is shaping up to be a promising action platformer with a lot of potential. Its combat and traversal mechanics might seem rather basic on first glance, but the ability to learn new moves by consuming foes presents a unique prospect not seen in many games of the genre, opening up the possibility for more complex gameplay systems down the line. Pac-Man seems to have transitioned into his new genre rather well, and with the combination of solid core mechanics and gameplay that's challenging but fair, the future of the yellow puck seems bright despite the dark, twisted world that PUCK and the Swordsman find themselves in.
Shadow Labyrinth will launch on 17 July 2025 for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, while the PC version will be released one day later.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Bandai Namco Geek Preview pac-man preview Shadow Labyrinth