While The Game Awards 2024 was always going to have a bunch of surprises and announcements, a dark take on the Pac-Man universe certainly wasn’t on our predictions list. As revealed by Bandai Namco, Shadow Labyrinth is a visionary-inspired game set in a new sci-fi universe that draws from the company’s legendary arcade franchises.
If you have been watching Secret Level on Amazon Prime Video, you would have found this new game to be familiar, with it taking the form of a 2D action-platformer where players must consume to survive a hostile alien world.
Shadow Labyrinth is a broad departure from previous Pac-man games, as you will be taking on the role of Swordsman No. 8. Following the events introduced in the Secret Level animated short, players awaken on an alien planet ravaged by war and monsters. They quickly encounter PUCK, a mysterious yet recognizable figure who teaches them that their aim in this treacherous world is to escape it, and to achieve that, they must consume everything that waits in the darkness to survive – and ultimately become the planet’s apex predator.
Drawing even more inspiration from the source material for this unique game, players traverse a maze-filled world where enemies and puzzles new and familiar will challenge them at every step. Success comes from mastery of fluid combat and exploration to uncover increasingly powerful abilities and skills and conquer challenging bosses to discover their true purpose.
As players progress through Shadow Labyrinth and dive deeper into the maze of this mysterious world, they will discover its secrets and learn why PUCK chose them for this task. The game draws even wider inspiration for story and setting from Bandai Namco’s broader library of beloved arcade games. While there is much more to reveal about this thrilling new adventure, astute fans will find early hints of connections to other iconic games in the reveal trailer.
Shadow Labyrinth is coming in 2025 to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
