It’s times like these where I have to wonder if I’m in the correct timeline. If you’d told me at any point before I found out that Bandai Namco would turn Pac Man into anything resembling what Shadow Labyrinth is? I’d never believe you. However, here we are at the tail end of 2024. And Bandai Namco woke up one day and decided, “What if we made Pac Man into the coolest damn thing anyone’s ever seen?” Enter the upcoming 2D Action Platformer: Shadow Labyrinth.
I didn’t love Pac Man until the weird 3D adventure games. With Shadow Labyrinth on the horizon as the most surreal thing I’ve seen outside of Okami coming back? I just don’t know. Whatever the people in the games industry have been sipping on lately, I hope they keep chugging! It almost feels like the industry is inching back toward being the creative Wild West it used to be. Please, keep it up! Seriously: read Shadow Labyrinth‘s beautifully unhinged Steam blurb!
“Shadow Labyrinth is a 2D action platformer and a genre-twisting alternate take on the iconic PAC-MAN. As The Swordsman, you wake on a mysterious planet amidst relics of wars past. To survive you will discover secrets, consume your enemies, and grow from prey to apex predator.” …It’s such a strange but oddly natural pivot.
pac man stars in ‘shadow labyrinth,’ and he’s ready to gobble up the competition
Technically, the “floating orb’s” name is Puck. But, come on. “Obviously this is a much more grimdark take on Pac-Man but I do appreciate how it’s not afraid to be a lil silly with the arcade sound effects and whatnot. Seems the developers are embracing the chaos of merging arcade games from the 80’s with modern approaches to storytelling and I like that it’s doing that instead of rejecting its lineage entirely,” one YouTube commenter succinctly stated.
Yeah, this certainly feels like “dark Pac Man” without the eye-rolling angst that comes with most ideas created from “Let’s take this wholesome IP and do something cool with it!” This time, it’s genuinely cool! I can’t wait to watch Pac’s slow-burning villain arc that ends with him devouring the entire world!
The post ‘Pac Man’ Returns as a 2D Action Platformer, and I’m Genuinely Speechless appeared first on VICE.
The post ‘Pac Man’ Returns as a 2D Action Platformer, and I’m Genuinely Speechless appeared first on VICE.
