Shadow Labyrinth
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Shadow Labyrinth Media
Shadow Labyrinth - Preorder Trailer
Shadow Labyrinth - Maze Reveal Trailer
Shadow Labyrinth - Release Date Announcement
Critic Reviews for Shadow Labyrinth
From exploration made tedious by annoying checkpointing to the one-note combat, Shadow Labyrinth is a largely dull adaptation of Pac-Man's gritty Secret Level episode.
I’m old enough to have grown up with unforgiving games, and so I can appreciate a project that goes against the grain at the risk of alienating modern audiences. Even coming in as a genre appreciator, I felt alienated by Shadow Labyrinth.
Shadow Labyrinth takes the fascinating premise of blending Metroid with Pac-Man and fumbles the execution, offering a bland narrative with one-note combat and tedious exploration
A dark twist on a classic game, as Swordsman No. 8 and PUCK enter uncharted territory in Shadow Labyrinth.
If you're intrigued by Shadow Labyrinth's fresh approach to Pac-Man, I recommend giving it a shot on Switch 2. It provides an intriguing narrative in a foreboding world with varied environments throughout, and PUCK proves to be a compelling character. The short bursts of Pac-Man-style gameplay help mix up the experience, and this is very welcome since the game never really delivers a 'wow' moment. Much of it has been done better elsewhere, but this is nevertheless a promising new direction for an ageing franchise; one I hope to see continue in the future.
Mixing Pac-Man with Metroid seems like an enjoyably strange idea at first, until you realise just how bland and unimaginative the end result is.
Shadow Labyrinth has a really great premise, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The progression is too slow to keep things fresh and interesting, the story is lacklustre, and the gameplay just doesn't meet the expectations you would have for what is supposed to be a big new turning point for Pac-Man.
