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Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected Bandai Namco to come out with a PAC-MAN metroidvania. Don’t get me wrong, I love metroidvanias, I just didn’t think it’d be a good fit with PAC-MAN.
Somebody at Bandai Namco obviously thought otherwise, or this wouldn’t have been greenlit at all!
It’s definitely an unexpected pairing, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game!
…right?
What is Shadow Labyrinth?
Shadow Labyrinth is a 2D metroidvania developed and published by Bandai Namco. It is available right now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
Our copy was provided to us by Bandai Namco! Thanks!
Shadow Labyrinth’s prequel (titled PAC-MAN: Circle) in Amazon’s Secret Level series intrigued me. I loved the art style, the premise and the horror tinge to it all. So when I heard that Bandai Namco was turning it into an actual game, I was pumped! I purposely went into dark mode so I didn’t spoil myself.
I wanted to go in with fresh eyes, untainted by trailers or gameplay videos.
I was expecting something super cool, something like the prequel episode!
Then I played the game.
To say I was disappointed was an understatement. The incredible gritty and dark art design was no longer present. In its place, was a bland, uninspired style that looked like it was done by a student.
Where was all the darkness and shadow? The atmosphere? All the blood and gore?
I remember going, ‘What the f-ing hell is this shit?’
Shadow Labyrinth looked nothing like how it should. I hated every moment that I had to look at the game.
While I do admit the characters and enemies look decent (other than the main character), everything else about the art design sucks.
Generic backgrounds? Yup.
Boring maps? Yup.
Blurry visuals for the stage backgrounds? Yup.
This was clearly done on a budget, and despite being developed by one of the biggest game publishers in the world, felt like an indie title. That is not a compliment in this case.
I do not know how Bandai Namco could f-up the visual design so badly. It’s not as if they had no reference material! Yet, somehow they still fudged it up and produced one of the most generic looking games I have ever seen.
There are indie titles in the same genre that look leagues better! Look at Voidwrought, Hollow Knight, Blasphemous or even Ender Lilies! All done by small studios!
In fact, there are ZERO options for visual tweaking. I’m not joking. This is the options screen.
Nothing apart from VSync and FPS. It’s a massive letdown for those expecting to be able to tweak something.
With the visuals being a massive disappointment, I almost didn’t bother to give the game a shot.
In the interests of this review, however, I still forced myself to play.
Why? The premise intrigued me.
PAC-MAN reimagined. Apparently, most of Bandai Namco’s older arcade titles all share the same universe! Imagine my surprise! In fact, Shadow Labyrinth is directly related to one of them, Xevious.
That’s so cool!
Also, the game continues off the Secret Level episode, as you’re playing a character known as Swordsman No.8. In the animated episode, the protagonist was called the Swordsman or ‘Chosen’. Now, I’m not sure if that means he’s the first or what, but at the end of the episode, it showed PUCK (which was PAC-MAN’s original name) waking up another body to help on her quest.
Yes, her quest.
Despite PAC-MAN being male and Ms PAC-MAN already existing, PUCK was made female. Why? Probably woke nonsense. Anyways, the location of PUCK reviving bodies isn’t the same as in the game so that’s where the confusion comes in. I’m not sure whether this is a direct continuation, or it’s after some time has passed.
That’s where you come in, as PUCK drafts you in to help her on her quest.
Surprisingly, the gameplay itself isn’t as bad as I’d feared. It’s pretty much mid-tier in so far as metroidvanias go, but I’ve certainly played worse. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your stance), Shadow Labyrinth isn’t a metroidvania with leveling and other RPG mechanics.
I personally prefer my metroidvanias with leveling, item drops and other RPG mechanics (like Symphony of the Night) so that’s a strike against the game for me. Shadow Labyrinth is a pure metroidvania, meaning no item management, loot drops or anything of the like. What you get is pure exploration, health management and skill acquisition from defeated bosses.
It’s much harder to balance a pure metroidvania. Perhaps that’s why the game has an uneven difficulty. Save points and checkpoints are scattered throughout the maps, but nowhere near as liberally as I liked.
Due to the generic visuals, the maps themselves are pretty meh.
Everything in a biome looks the same.
The uninteresting backgrounds, boring looking foregrounds and basic traversal options makes most of the early going simply forgettable. It’s not until much later (when you get to the Giant Black Tower) that things look a bit better. Not by much, but the sci-fi scenery is certainly much better than the generic forest/mountain/cave ones from earlier in the game.
However, that doesn’t last for long, and soon enough you’re back to generic looking locales yet again.
Shadow Labyrinth is also an extremely linear experience.
While there are instances where you can explore off the main path, they’re rather limited for a metroidvania game. Maps aren’t intertwined or integrated together, but instead are broken up into separate biomes. This makes everything feel disjointed and linear, which is the opposite of what a metroidvania game should feel like.
Fortunately, that flub is offset somewhat.
There are some cool PAC-MAN inspirations thrown in that I really like.
You can even use the original ‘wakka-wakka’ sound effect as PUCK eats dots and you can play on semi-traditional like PAC-MAN mazes, where you run around a maze, gobbling dots while getting chased by ghosts.
These are really fun and I wish there were more of them.
The game makes an attempt at deep gameplay mechanics, but it’s a middling attempt at best.
You can equip PERKs and ESP Skills but both are doled out sparingly in the early going. Some perks (like raising amount of orbs enemies drop) are essential, but too many (like the health boost that destroys itself when you die) are rather useless.
I do like how the game handles your defensive skills though.
You get two of them; a parry and a shield that drains your ESP (think stamina) meter every time you get hit. You can only equip one (though you can change them on the fly) but both definitely are great and cater to different playstyles.
Parrying is useful for the offensive types, while the shield is great for turtling.
I prefer parrying, because a well-timed one stuns enemies, allowing you to do more damage.
Fighting is mostly of the melee variety, and is pretty fun and very responsive. You can also dodge mid-attack, which is great for avoiding damage with its invincibility frames. You also get alternate traversal and evasion options as you progress, which further opens up your capabilities.
You can even transform into a hulking mecha-beast (called GAIA) when you fill up a meter. It’s great for whittling down bosses’ health, because you’re completely invulnerable in that form.
It’s a fun mechanic and a great way to finish off fights.
You’ll also use the GAIA form to consume enemies. Eating the corpses of your foes adds to the meter that enables you to change into GAIA. It also gives you materials which you need to upgrade Swordsman No.8 and his arsenal. I actually appreciate this mechanic, as it gives you a reason to fight beyond just needing to progress and getting the orb drops.
Different enemies drop different materials, so you’ll want to consume everything you can to get as many different parts as possible. You never know when an upgrade might require that material.
While all this might make it sound like a Souls-like, Shadow Labyrinth definitely isn’t one. It’s an undeniably challenging game, but not as difficult as a Souls-like. There’s no penalty for dying and boss fights are on the easy side.
Not all of the game’s mechanics are as flexible or fun though.
I really don’t agree with the game not refilling your health tanks if you save at a checkpoint.
I think it’s simply making the game much harder than it is artificially. There are a ton of forced encounters in the game (where the game locks you in a room and forces you to clear all enemies in it before allowing you to progress) and it can really mess you up if you’ve used up your health reserves because you can ONLY refill them at save points, not checkpoints.
Elden Ring had a similar system (Stakes of Marika) but even that game refilled all your flasks if you respawned there! Imagine a Souls-like being less punishing than a metroidvania.
The Bottom Line.
Shadow Labyrinth had so much potential.
It’s squandered pretty much most of it, leaving only the combat mechanics, the handful of PAC-MAN bonus maps and the GAIA transformation (and consumption) as one of the most enjoyable parts.
Everything else is just mediocre at best or appallingly bad at worst. From the visuals, to the maps, to the gameplay mechanics, it’s all a mish-mash of ideas and styles. Some work, most don’t.
The irony here is that Shadow Labyrinth might have gotten a warmer acceptance if it wasn’t for its Secret Level prequel. That set a visual standard that Shadow Labyrinth came nowhere near meeting. Couple with the lackluster mechanics, it all snowballed into a totally forgettable experience in the end.
TLDR:
Even if you’re a metroidvania fan, Shadow Labyrinth is middling at best. You can pretty much skip it unless you really have nothing else you’d rather play.
The Good:
- Combat is rather fun.
- Decent customization options.
- PAC-MAN stages.
- Consuming enemies.
The Bad:
- Ugly visuals.
- Questionable gameplay mechanics.
- Boring maps.
- Bosses too easy.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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