Shadow Labyrinth Review – A Complete “Pac”kage

When I first learned that the Secret Level episode based on Pac-Man was actually a backdoor pilot for a game based on an all-time classic, I must admit I was a bit sceptical. However, every good thing I heard about Shadow Labyrinth since then has been true, with Bandai Namco knocking it out of the park with its dark and gritty sci-fi reimagining of the evergreen character.

As I leapt, swung, crawled, and dashed through Shadow Labyrinth’s myriad levels and environments, I was left with the nagging feeling that I had barely scratched the surface of what this 2D platformer had to offer. Even on levels where I was as thorough as I could have possibly been, I was certain that there was a secret that I had missed lying just out of reach.

Bandai Namco has truly lived up to the “labyrinth” part of its latest release, with levels that seem to fold in on themselves, their pathways taking its new protagonists in different directions while cleverly misdirecting them on many occasions. Moreover, those levels contain an excellent roster of enemies, bosses, and traps, making traversing them as challenging as its combat.

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“You begin with a basic sword combo that you can use to whittle down enemy health bars while the ACTIV arm allows for a punch attack that fills up a stun bar faster than your slashes.”

Shadow Labyrinth is fun, plain and simple. While there are minor annoyances at certain points, they are quickly forgotten in the grand scheme of things as Swordsman #8 and Puck (as Pac-Man is called in this adventure) slowly uncover the mysteries of the world they are in and learn more about each other.

Braving A Dangerous New World

A quick and action-packed opening sequence acts as a tutorial, with a young boy playing on what looks a lot like a Nintendo Switch 2 suddenly teleported to a mysterious planet. He finds himself in the shoes of a Swordsman and after a brief battle with alien mechs, comes across Puck who acts as his guide.

Puck is seemingly imprisoned on this planet for reasons unknown to the Swordsman, whom he refers to as Swordsman #8, a reference to the backdoor pilot. You are then quickly introduced to the ESP Sword, Ora which acts as the game’s currency, the Nano ER which serves as a very limited healing item, and the ACTIV prosthetic arm which helps you explore levels in many ways.

“Evading enemy attacks with the right timing via the dodge button is as important as staying on the offensive.”

From there, you begin your adventure with Puck leading the way, taking on enemies and bosses while tackling mildly challenging environmental puzzles. The unique art style and distinct locations are a visual treat while the game maintains a buttery smooth framerate. I did not encounter a single dropped frame or glitch during my time with Shadow Labyrinth, and the overall experience is quite polished.

That’s a massive advantage thanks to its mechanics, both in combat and while exploring the world.

Working With What You Have

While Shadow Labyrinth doesn’t really lean into the difficulty of Soulslike titles, its challenge lies in its mechanics and the manner in which Swordsman #8’s abilities are spread out over the main story, making dealing with its enemies a very rewarding challenge to overcome. You begin with a basic sword combo that you can use to whittle down enemy health bars while the ACTIV arm allows for a punch attack that fills up a stun bar faster than your slashes.

Evading enemy attacks with the right timing via the dodge button is as important as staying on the offensive. However, dodging takes a chunk out of your ESP (or stamina), requiring you to be prudent and smart in its use. The ability to transform into a giant mech called GAIA soon becomes available, and you can then begin to consume downed foes to fill up the bar needed to activate this ability.

“While there are smaller checkpoints, they only save your progress and act as fast travel hubs, filling up your health but not the Nano ER.”

Making matters more complicated is the fact that you can only take three or four hits before you need to heal. With only one healing item available to you in the early game, avoiding damage becomes a top priority, a trend that carries on even as you gain access to more heals per run. It doesn’t help that the Miku Sol, which act as your checkpoints and refill your health and healing items at the cost of respawning all basic enemies, are spread far and wide across a level.

While there are smaller checkpoints, they only save your progress and act as fast travel hubs, filling up your health but not the Nano ER. Fast travelling from any point on a map requires that you spend ORA to purchase a specific item from available vendors in the region, adding a layer of strategy to a mechanic that other titles take for granted. It’s quite the nice touch considering how exploring a level plays out. 

Managing Menaces

You travel through each level, carefully fighting off threats while navigating hostile environments with controls that might have a bit of a learning curve but soon become second nature. The challenge lies in picking your battles carefully between checkpoints, conserving your limited resources for harder encounters and of course, picking up upgrades.

Spending ORA to improve your attack power or to expand your ESP bar might seem expensive at first, but you will quickly find that you have more than enough of it at your disposal as you don’t lose any of it upon death. What’s more, consistently consuming downed enemies using GAIA ensures that you also have enough crafting materials to purchase equippable perks which add nifty functionalities to Puck, making things easier in the long run.

“It’s a gameplay loop that quickly becomes addictive, and your time with Swordsman #8 and Puck quickly becomes a cycle of stylish platforming and methodical combat.”

However, you will soon discover that those advantages melt away in the face of the game’s bosses. Every main boss and field boss is an absolute skill check, requiring that you learn their attacks and respond accordingly while taking calculated risks in order to whittle away at their health. The boss designs are incredible, with one very memorable foe controlling the battlefield with a menacing glare, daring you to attack just so that he can parry your strikes and retaliate with reckless abandon. Field bosses also respawn after you die a few times, requiring you to take them down again – all the more reason to be cautious and efficient with your resources.

It’s a gameplay loop that quickly becomes addictive, and your time with Swordsman #8 and Puck quickly becomes a cycle of stylish platforming and methodical combat.

Style and Substance

The unique visual style and excellent gameplay on offer in Shadow Labyrinth is made even better by Bandai Namco’s subtle nods to other franchises from its library while excellent callbacks to the original Pac-Man games make for an adventure that I found quite hard to put down.

NPCs in the game are as mysterious as the world they inhabit, with each having ties to Puck’s murky origins that are slowly revealed as you make your way through the story. They are a solid addition to the overall experience, and I found myself very curious as to what role they played in Puck’s imprisonment or how they tied into his life before that.

“The music during boss fights deserves a special mention, with a couple of tunes I would certainly add to my work playlist if that’s a possibility.”

However, the platforming sections involving Puck are an area that Bandai Namco needs to tweak in future updates. Puck moves quite smoothly along rails marked for that very purpose, seamlessly transitioning between Pac-Man mode and the Swordsman when the need arises. However, leaping between platforms required the very accurate use of my left-stick and often failed to launch the character in the direction in which I wanted.

While I initially attributed the inaccuracy to stick drift on my controller, testing it out on another one revealed that the problem was a part of the game’s design. It can get quite annoying to keep leaping on and off a railed platform, trying to get to a ledge, only for Puck to launch himself straight into a wall. That kind of trial and error has no place in a game that is otherwise extremely polished.

Thankfully, the audio design is quite excellent, with enemies making almost adorable noises as they attempt to put an end to the Swordsman while bosses are made all the more menacing in the process. The music during boss fights deserves a special mention, with a couple of tunes I would certainly add to my work playlist if that’s a possibility. 

Overall, Shadow Labyrinth’s reimagining of Pac-Man is an easy sell and is sure to keep its players entertained for a long time after they embark on the grand adventure that Bandai Namco has crafted. It might even remain with them long after they roll the credits on its intriguing story, too! 

Just remember to take your time learning its controls, and explore every nook and cranny that you find. 

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.