Shadow Labyrinth Review – A Ghost of its Former Self

Remember when every publisher seemingly wanted to modernize their longstanding mascots, pushing them out of their normal design and into lifeless, gritty modern variations? Bomberman and Bionic Commando come to mind as prime examples from the seventh console generation. They may be a little late to the party, but Bandai Namco has made the head-scratching decision to reinvent Pac-Man within the T-rated framework of a bleak 2D Metroidvania game; and it’s hoping to avoid the pitfalls that so quickly engulfed prior series’ failed reinventions.

Shadow Labyrinth is the reinvention of the timeless Pac-Man in the confines of a side-scrolling metroidvania. It brings a much more menacing tone than the enclosed maze of the mascot’s earliest iteration as well as his brightly-colored 3D World adventures. If the grim imagery looks familiar, that’s because Shadow Labyrinth is a continuation of the dark Pac-Man short film contained in last year’s Amazon series Secret Level. Whereas the short film wielded its roughly twelve-minute runtime to weave an engaging narrative, Shadow Labyrinth struggles to draw the same engagement over its 30+ hour journey.

The story kicks off with the introduction of the protagonist, Swordsman No.8, summoned by Puck (a reference to Pac-Man’s original name in Japan) with zero memories intact. From here, the duo set out into several maze-like dungeons, combating nightmarish horrors and unraveling the mystery of their sudden alliance. Admittedly, the story beats that play out rarely hit with the desired weight, making the primary progress motivator the evolving gameplay for which the genre is known.

Off On the Rails

Those early hours are somewhat sluggish and ill-paced due to the limited abilities at the Swordsman’s disposal. So is the nature of many metroidvania games. The action shifts between the strikes and stuns of the Swordsman and the iconic waka waka rail riding of Puck. Walls and ceilings sport easily identified tracks known as D-Lines, dotted with pellets called Ora as an upgrade currency, that can be attached to as the Swordsman and Puck merge into a Mini-Puck. This form can magnetically bind to the neon-lit pathways in search of new, and sometimes secret, areas. Much of the platforming revolves around this mechanic, as the rails are often broken up and require regular swapping between the two forms to progress.

When the gameplay returns to the ground, the Swordsman is at the forefront of the action. The summoned entity’s abilities eventually grow beyond the basic sword combo, gaining parrying, air dashing, a grappling hook and even a mech transformation. The last of those sits as the most interesting as the embodied mech outputs big damage and shrugs off enemy attacks. And it’s a skill that is recharged by having Puck satisfyingly consume fallen foes. These added capabilities bring some much-needed diversity to the gameplay, but none fully manage to elevate the overall experience above satisfactory. ESP limits the use of such abilities, much like a stamina gauge, ensuring that players can’t spam their way through encounters. In fact, a hefty punishment awaits those who fully deplete the ESP resource: a timed restriction to basic attacks until ESP fully recharges.

The combat can be lightly modified with perks that touch on various areas of the Swordman and Puck’s actions. Perks can boost item drops, reduce ESP cost, reveal enemy health bars, and generally improve special abilities. Of course, there are limited slots in which perks can be activated, making the player weigh their options carefully depending on the current needs. While there’s nothing transformative about this system, it does add a strategic layer to a game in desperate need of depth.

Something A-Maze-Ing

Fortunately, this is where MAZE mode shines. A nod to Pac-Man Championship Edition, Maze mode introduces itself as a classic experience in which Puck is chomping down Ora before turning on the now-vulnerable ghosts. It then augments that definitive Pac-Man gameplay with Shadow Labyrinth‘s D-Line system, adding an extra wrinkle to the maze navigation. Escalating to a massive ghost boss that can only be harmed once the smaller ghosts are cleared makes for an exciting, frantic change-up from the standard gameplay. It’s odd, and potentially telling, that the height of my positive engagement with Shadow Labyrinth came when it most resembled its roots.

That’s not to say the reinvisioned Pac-Man adventure is all low points. The MAZE mode and some boss battles are notable successes. However, the issue is that Shadow Labyrinth rarely makes a strong impression; and when it does, it often is for the wrong reasons. While issues like animation stiffness and fluidity can be called out, they are minor gripes compared to the downright oppressive checkpoint system. It isn’t uncommon to be felled by an enemy and lose substantial progress, as the game’s checkpoints are sparse and fairly spread out. This made the punishment for failure even weightier, resulting in regularly retreading old ground. It’s a rough consequence when there are multiple branching paths to explore that lead to secrets, like increased health, but I felt discouraged from such pursuits due to the dangling threat of losing tons of gained ground.

Shadow Labyrinth Review Verdict

[Editor’s Note: Shadow Labyrinth was reviewed on PC, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]