System: Switch 2 (also on Switch)Release date: July 17, 2025Developer: Bandai NamcoPublisher: Bandai Namco I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting for Shadow Labyrinth. Of all the ways Bandai Namco could have commemorated the 45th anniversary of Pac-Man, the idea the company landed on was to release an exploration-driven action-platformer set on a sprawling sci-fi planet. …
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Pac-Man has always been at home within mazes full of enemies trying to kill you, so the move to a Metroidvania doesn’t feel like that big of a leap. Having said that, Shadow Labyrinth takes Bandai Namco’s 45-year-old mascot in a wild new direction, placing him in a dark, sci-fi world that the casual onlooker may not realise is related …
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Shadow Labyrinth didn’t make the best first impression, though I’m not talking about the game itself. The concept of a gritty reboot of Pac-Man first reared its strange head in Secret Level, an anthology that turned notable video games into animated shorts that mostly felt like extended commercials. And that’s exactly what the episode “Circle,” which reimagined Pac-Man as a …
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