PAX East 2025: Shadow Labyrinth Reinvents Pac-Man

Thinking about revamping good old Pac-Man, there’s a couple of wild ways to go about it. Run with Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures—where you basically throw rocks at him to guide left or right. Honestly, what were they even thinking? Total miss. But then there’s this intriguing gig with him taking the back seat in a Metroidvania mash-up called Shadow Labyrinth. Now that’s something, right?

So, I got my hands on a preview at PAX East 2025. Switch in hand, I’m poking around—30 FPS, not ideal but it’s the Switch we’re talking about. Then there’s this dude next to me on a PC setup, flaunting smooth 60 FPS like it’s nothing. And just like that, I couldn’t help but feel a tad jealous. Anyway, oh, before I forget, there’s a prequel episode on Secret Level over on Amazon you should totally check out if backstories are your thing.

Jumping into gameplay, you’ve got platforming—your classic jumping, double-jumping, dashing around. And our hero, Swordsman No. 8, is all up in that action. Then there’s this whole bit where you can become a mini Pac-Man (or PUCK, fancy that), chowing down pellets while dodging things like buzz saws. Pretty cool. Tried some challenging platforming section. Totally bombed it. Kind of expected when you’re surrounded by crowds, right?

Combat? Oh man, combat’s where it gets juicy. Buttons everywhere and a move list like it’s a new dance routine. Attack, dodge, whatever—Pac-Man even transforms into this massive thing munching on enemies. Isn’t that a twist? And there’s this parry move that makes you feel like a pro—unless you, like me, forget which button does what.

Oh and this boss fight—it had this Metroid Dread vibe. Maybe just my imagination. Anyway, I’ll confess—I got a tad excited after gobbling up the boss and snagging a laser attack. Next part had me blasting through walls with it. Then, in a turn of sheer brilliance, my partner figures out this Dig Dug throwback where you inflate enemies till they go kaboom. That moment of discovery was gold!

The release date’s set for July 18 across a bunch of platforms, and they’ve got this edition with a black light to reveal map secrets. Can you believe that for under a hundred bucks? Honestly, I’m weirdly pumped for it. It’s like they tossed Bandai Namco’s history into a blender, hit ‘inspire,’ and somehow came out with a hit inspired by Hollow Knight. I mean, who’d have thunk it, but hey, I’m sold.