Secret Level’s Pac-Man episode has a video game of its own now.
Amazon’s animated video game-inspired series Secret Level was largely hit or miss, but it did give us an interesting spin on one of the most iconic games of all time: Pac-Man. The series introduced viewers to a rather psychopathic version of Pac-Man, referred to as Puck, and her attempts to escape a dystopian world with the help of an enigmatic Swordsman. At the end of the episode, Puck tries to eat the Swordsman in an effort to escape, only for her escape plans to be ultimately foiled.
Bandai Namco Entertainment’s Shadow Labyrinth, which boldly eschews the Pac-Man name altogether for its title, serves as a sequel of sorts to this Secret Level episode. There are elements of Pac-Man here for fans to enjoy, to be sure, but all of them have been repackaged in a rather poorly-executed Metroidvania. While it’s nice to see Pac-Man make a comeback in modern times, calling it a comeback at all might be overly generous.
The new Pac-Man game has a lot less waka-wakaing
Shadow Labyrinth picks up some time after the events of its prequel Secret Level episode. There, we learned that Puck–a play on the fact that Pac-Man was originally called Puck Man–is an evil little creature who has been constantly awakening Swordsman clones in order to escape from her world. Interestingly, the game is also set in Bandai Namco’s United Galaxy Space Force timeline, which houses titles like Galaga, Dig Dug, and Ace Combat 3.
Rest assured, however, that players can safely pick up Shadow Labyrinth without having played Galaga. Puzzlingly, the Secret Level episode doesn’t do a great job of setting this game up, either. Right from the start, it’s clear that Shadow Labyrinth is a high-concept sci-fi game through and through, weaving an elaborate Star Wars-like universe of galactic war and alien machinery through its campaign that feels a fair bit more ambitious–and weirder–than its prequel.
The campaign is as incoherent as it sounds, playing off of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower (both the protagonist and Puck set off to find a Black Tower) before it bounces around sci-fi reveals and over-the-top boss fights to tell a long and obtuse story. The game plays out with less edge and more cheese than its prequel Secret Level episode, but I can’t say that it’s much worse, given that the episode itself wasn’t that great to begin with.
How does Shadow Labyrinth live up to other Metroidvanias?
Pac-Man is one of the many classic video games that simply resists iteration. The original form this game took was so addictive in its simple pleasures; players would simply move Pac-Man in one of four directions, allowing the yellow spherical creature to munch on dots, flee from monsters, and rack up a new high score.
Future entries in the Pac-Man franchise have included a 3D platformer, an endless runner, and even a multiplayer battle royale. All of these games have ended up having to make major innovations on the Pac-Man formula to offer players something new, to the point of feeling like entirely unique games, and Shadow Labyrinth is certainly no exception.
Shadow Labyrinth is a 2D platforming Metroidvania, which means that players will be spending most of their time fighting monsters, hopping through obstacle courses, and respawning at various checkpoints. The player steps into the shoes of Swordsman No.8 here, an enigmatic creature with a sword who possesses different ESP abilities to use in battle. For example, using ESP Grenade–one of my favourites–allows you to blow enemies up.
Even if you’ve played just one other Metroidvania, you will already be familiar with Shadow Labyrinth’s mechanics. Movement abilities like grappling and air dashing use up the ESP gauge, making it a stamina bar of sorts, and players can spend the currency they gain from killing enemies on perks that allow them to better survive. As far as its environments and gameplay go, it’s all rather rote. The game’s animations are poor and suffer from a lack of detail, and that lack of production value extends to its combat system, which is decent, but uninspired.
Thankfully, Puck is able to give this game the identity it sorely needs. When presented with conveniently-placed D-LINE rails, players are able to phase shift into mini-Puck, which then allows them to ride on said rails and eat up little dots… sound familiar? This is a pretty clever way of integrating Pac-Man’s gameplay into a title it has little to nothing to do with, and to the game’s credit, it continues to play with this concept in clever ways up to its end.
Verdict
Shadow Labyrinth is an interesting spin on Pac-Man that ultimately doesn’t live up to its potential. The game’s story makes a drastic departure from its prequel Secret Level episode with convoluted sci-fi shenanigans and plot twists that don’t make a whole lot of sense, leaving the player with no choice but to focus solely on its gameplay. Sadly, there isn’t much there to praise either.
While its labyrinthian levels emulate the feel of a Pac-Man maze well enough–and there are plenty of classic Pac-Man mazes here that do it better anyway–the high difficulty of simply navigating these environments slows things down way too much. As for the rest of its Metroidvania qualities, we can only recommend the title to true fans of the genre, as its few major innovations mostly centre on porting over signature gameplay elements from Pac-Man.
Shadow Labyrinth is a commendable effort to reimagine Pac-Man for a new era, but it ultimately proves that the gaming icon simply shines too brightly for a reboot to work. We can jump, we can shoot, and we can fight–but the most fun we’ll have in a Pac-Man game will always be spent waka-wakaing away from ghosts in a maze.
Shadow Labyrinth is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC, for US$29.99. We received a copy of the game for this review.
