The Game Awards 2024 had a very peculiar, secret announcement by Bandai Namco. And it was revealed to be Shadow Labyrinth, a gritty, “thrilling and visceral new take on the company’s most beloved icon, Pac-Man”.
However, Prime Video subscribers might have already seen this. In one of the episodes of the anthology series Secret Level, there’s a wild episode that is supposed to be representing Pac-Man. But it’s unlike any Pac-Man game. It’s gritty. Probably “thrilling and visceral” too.
Did Bandai Namco said that this was something “secret”?
The level of foreshadowing here is respectable.
By now you should have connected the dots and eat them already. Shadow Labyrinth was soft-launched as part of the Secret Level show.
In Shadow Labyrinth, you play as Swordsman No. 8, yes the same character in Secret Level, and is accompanied by PUCK soon after, who teaches our protagonist about the dark world. The only way to survive is to consume everything, or as one puck-ish video game character would say: “Waka-waka”.
Shadow Labyrinth will see you navigate a maze-like world, a labyrinth if you will, ala a Metroidvania (search action game). Expect combat, exploration and more references to Bandai Namco’s rich arcade history beyond Pac-Man in the game.
It’s funny to see a gritty reboot of sorts happening this decade. Shout out to Bomberman which had a gritty reboot about 20 years ago.
Shadow Labyrinth will be out in 2025 for the PS5, PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. Only the Switch version will have a physical release in Asia.