Shadow Labyrinth hands-on preview: Pac-Man’s grimdark platformer combines Metroidvania and Soulslike into an addictive experience

I was admittedly skeptical of Shadow Labyrinth, an upcoming grimdark Pac-Man 2D action platformer. If you think that the idea is kind of ridiculous, I wouldn’t blame you. If this sounds familiar, you’d be right; the incredible Pac-Man Secret Level episode, “Circle”, was a prequel to this game. You take on the role of the Swordsman, and trek through a horrific world, demolishing enemies everywhere. It offers players some unique and challenging experiences.

We had a chance to dive through a few hours of Shadow Labyrinth, tackling stressful movement puzzles, gauntlets of creepy enemies, and a boss based on a familiar Pac-Man foe. While I was admittedly apprehensive, I wound up loving this game, even if it brought out the sweatiest, try-hardiest part of me.

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Shadow Labyrinth is the best Pac-Man platformer ever

Shadow-Labyrinth is an upcoming title from Bandai Namco that takes the lore of Pac-Man and brings it to this desolate, grimdark future. Players control The Swordsman, a mysterious person cloaked in a black, ragged robe, but he’s certainly not alone. Between him, his blade, a suite of unlockable powers, and Puck, they’ll need to work together, slay any enemies that come across their path, as they work to complete their mission.

The game starts off pretty simple, but will ramp up the difficulty in short order (Image via Bandai Namco)

I won’t spoil any story elements, but I really enjoyed what they put together, and how it connects to “Circle”, the Secret Level episode. I didn’t know I needed a violent Pac-Man game, but here I am in 2025, being incredibly excited for it. This game also very much feels like a Metroidvania, though Bandai Namco are calling it a “2D Action Exploration & Combat Platformer”, or just a “2D Action Platformer”. That’s a bit less of a mouthful.

At its core though, it’s got the Metroidvania elements you already love: Deep exploration, awesome movement, and backtracking with new technology, to pick up other useful items (health tanks, for example). You’re going to need every single tool at your disposal too, because this game does not mess about.

Dashing, dashing, dashing towards freedom! (image via Bandai Namco)

The platforming in Shadow Labyrinth is smooth, but there’s also a bit of a catch to it. If you run and jump to a platform, you’ll slide just a little bit. If you’re standing still and you jump and move, you’ll land gracefully. It’s something you’ll really have to account for. There’s also a dodge roll that can land you neatly on platforms, and I do believe it has some invincibility frames, which is common in Soulslikes.

Shadow Labyrinth at best, has Soulslike gameplay. You absolutely must master parrying, dodging, and dashing to survive some of these fights. It’s the little things in combat that I love, though. One of The Swordsman’s attacks is a downthrust from jumping, and if you land it, you bounce back into the air like Scrooge McDuck’s pogo jump in Ducktales.

You can use this to bounce your way through groups of enemies with great ease. But there’s also Devour, a technique you can use to consume enemies, and use the resources they leave you to engage in a helpful crafting system.

While you practiced the blade, I mastered the Pogo Jump (Image via Bandai Namco)

Between this, and the suite of unlockable/equippable passives, and active abilities, there’s plenty at your disposal to get you through Shadow Labyrinth easier, that’s for sure. It’s still incredibly hard, though, but the more tools you have, the more health you have, the more manageable it can be.

I will tell you what I wish I had paid attention to though earlier in Shadow Labyrinth: You have healing items (think Estus Flasks in Elden Ring). If I had been using this from the start, I would have gotten through the combat gauntlet so much faster. Combat is definitely fast, intense, and challenging, so having access to healing is important, while you learn how to parry and dodge. If an attack has a red flash, you can parry it. If it’s blue, just dodge!

You will also need to master and control the ESP Gauge. Using your dash, and various special attacks drains this meter. It refills slowly, so if you burn through it too quickly and empty it, you’re left vulnerable. This definitely affected me during the first couple of boss fight attempts.

While I do enjoy some of the other Pac-Man platformers (EG: Pac-Man World Re-Pac), this is definitely more my speed. The 2D platforming feels smoother than some of the previous 3D efforts, that's for sure.

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The best (and most frustrating) part of Shadow Labyrinth’s puzzles is the mini-Puck movement

Throughout Shadow Labyrinth, I had to complete a series of trials, to unlock keys. Some of these involved environmental puzzles, where you had to push boulders to access new parts of a maze. This was great, and I enjoyed doing it. It was a break from the brutal combat. Plus, it wasn’t really that difficult.

Disappearing platforms?! I thought Yoku Blocks were a Megaman thing! (Image via Bandai Namco)

One trial was an enemy gauntlet, one was a maze, and the other was the most frustrating thing in this entire experience, for both good and bad reasons. It was well made, I was just incredibly bad at it. Mostly. One of these trials required you to use mini-Puck (think a tiny Pac-Man), that moved around on energy tracks (D-Lines).

You could stop it in place by holding a button, but otherwise, it would keep moving no matter what. You can jump with it, to briefly get into the air and avoid enemies, or if you were close enough to another D-Line, you would cling to it instead. It’s also timed, but the timing is pretty generous.

This puzzle is so long, but it will teach you how to be a platforming master; or it will break you (Image via Bandai Namco)

However, I cannot stress enough how absolutely precise you must be with all movements in Shadow Labyrinth. If you plan on jumping to another D-Line to get ahead quickly, odds are you can. But if you press even a slightly off direction on your Left Stick, you will go soaring into an enemy (buzzsaws), or into a damaging energy line (sends you back to the beginning of the challenge).

I won’t even lie, I spent more time on this than any of the other challenges in Shadow Labyrinth. It’s a cool way to break up the gameplay again, but it does feel like there’s a bit of a learning curve. It’s also a solid throwback to the old-school Pac-games.

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The boss battles are gigantic, horrific, but also very familiar

I think one of the coolest things was this boss fight towards the end of the demo. It felt like Splatterhouse meets Pac-Man, and I love that idea. This fight took me less time to get through the mini-Puck trial than this, because I was prepared for a big boss battle.

Giant robot versus Giant ...tumor...thing? Yeah, I'm down with that (Image via Bandai Namco)

After a little time in Shadow Labyrinth, I learned I could sort of bully the boss into the corner and just score free hits. Lunging in to perform the three-hit sword combo and dashing back out of the way, only to rinse and repeat. You really have to pay attention though, because it’s not just a hack-and-slash fight. There are plenty of attacks you need to try and parry or dodge out of the way of.

You also have to keep environmental factors in mind, because this boss dropped a ton of stuff to dodge from the ceiling. This is also a great time to summon your gigantic mech, GAIA, though doing it at the right time is also key. You’re invincible while in it, so you can use it to score tons of free damage and build the boss’ stun meter.

I used it in the last quarter of this Shadow Labyrinth fight, so, by the time it wore off, I only needed to land one hit to best the gigantic creature. There's also another boss fight, directly inspired by Pinky, one of the ghosts from Pac-Man, and that's incredible.

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Final Thoughts

Shadow Labyrinth genuinely put me through my paces. I had it too easy before this game came along (Image via Bandai Namco)

Shadow Labyrinth is a really interesting concept, and one I found myself enjoying pretty quickly. It can also be frustrating and stressful, as you learn the concepts involved in its movement and combat. While I am sick of everything becoming Soulslike these days, there are games that use that kind of combat that I’ve really appreciated.

This, and Clair Obscur are good examples of that. I don’t want all of my games to be soul-crushing difficulty nightmares, that’s for sure. That said, I could definitely feel myself getting better for the several hours I played this, so I can’t wait to get back to it, and explore more, unlock powers for myself, and figure out what works best for me.

I really think people are going to love this, if they’re fans of Metroidvanias, but wish they were just a bit more difficult. As a final thought, it's also nice that this is directly connected to the UGSF (United Galaxy Space Force), a timeline created by Bandai Namco to connect some of their properties together. Franchises like Galaxian, Star Luster, StarBlade, Ridge Racer, and yes, Pac-Man, thanks to Shadow Labyrinth.