Shadow Labyrinth Is The First Waka Wakavania

When I reviewed PAC-MAN: Circle, the Secret Level episode that puts a body horror twist on Namco’s iconic pellet gobbler, I called it the stand-out episode of the season. I loved the risks it took by reimagining a classic character in such a divergent way, and I appreciated that it felt like the only episode that wasn’t just an extended ad for a new or upcoming game (or a newly cancelled one, in the case of Concord: Tale of the Implacable).

My enthusiasm drained when it was revealed that Circle was, in fact, a marketing stunt after all. Despite claims that this new vision for Pac-Man came from the mind of Secret Level’s writers, it turns out that the episode was a secret ad for an upcoming Pac-Man game all along. Normally, I don’t appreciate getting lied to, but after playing Shadow Labyrinth at PAX East earlier this month, I’m going to have to let this one slide. I only had about 20 minutes with the game, but I already think we might have a new Metroidvania classic on our hands.

Waka Wakavania

The word that kept coming to mind during my time with Shadow Labyrinth was “tight”. Tight combat, tight platforming, tight monster (in the ‘90s skater “that’s tight” sense of the word). It reminded me a lot of last year’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – a Metroidvania for Metroidvania lovers that throws some pretty technical abilities at you right from the start and keeps building on them throughout the whole game. Shadow Labyrinth has those same qualities. Like The Lost Crown, it shows the appropriate amount of respect for the series it was born from through homage and reference, but doesn’t rely on nostalgia or fan service to pull you in. First and foremost, it’s a really solid Metroidvania.

I’ll reluctantly give credit where credit’s due with Secret Level. Having watched Circle, I was able to jump into Shadow Labyrinth without needing any additional context. You play as the same protagonist from the short film, the Swordsman, who is guided through a hellish maze by a sentient orb called Puck. Knowing Puck’s true form and goals from the short adds a sense of dread to playing Shadow Labyrinth, which adds a lot to the atmosphere. Don’t worry that Circle spoils anything about Shadow Labyrinth, though. Within minutes of playing, I had already seen Puck transform into a giant Pac-Man mech that can shred enemies like they’re made of tissue paper. I thought I knew exactly what to expect from Shadow Labyrinth, but it just kept surprising me.

That is just one of many abilities you can use in combat and platforming in the game’s early hours. Another core mechanic is a grappling hook that you’ll use to fling yourself around the environment. When paired with a double jump that only resets once you’ve touched the ground, there’s a Celeste-like quality to the movement in Shadow Labyrinth that lends itself to some pretty sweaty platforming sequences. If you’re a big fan of Hollow Knight’s White Palace, you’ll find similar kinds of challenges here.

Metroidvanias, or Search Action games as I’ve started calling them (help me help it catch on) can be very linear, leading you from one upgrade to the next in a guided way, or fairly open, with lots of different side paths to explore and choices to make. I only had a short time with Shadow Labyrinth, but it struck me as more of the latter. Big, open chambers with lots of exits made it hard to figure out which path was the correct one, which forced me to explore and build a mental map of the world. This will frustrate those who like a more guided experience, but for the purists, Shadow Labyrinth has great level design.

Pac-ing A Punch

While I didn’t have enough time with Shadow Labyrinth to experience much of its progression, the early game combat already has a lot to offer. One of the more satisfying techniques is the ability to bounce on enemies with your swords Shovel Knight-style, which can help you stay out of danger while whittling down enemy health bars. You’ve got the standard dodge and parry as every modern game must have apparently, but there’s a nice audio cue and hit-stop effect when you land a parry that makes it super satisfying – though that might have been the developers in the room cheering every time I countered an attack. Unfortunately, Seigo Aizawa does not come with the game.

The Pac-Man-of-it-all comes into the picture in both big and small ways. Puck transforms into the big angry red ball to consume bosses after they’re defeated, just as it does in the Secret Level episode, and there’s also a neat mechanic that lets you travel along walls and ceiling by transforming into Pac-Man. This mechanic is integrated into the first boss fight, forcing you to climb the wall to avoid certain attacks. We’ve seen moves like this going all the way back to Samus’ grapple beam in Super Metroid, but there’s a nice Pac-Man flavor here that makes it feel unique.

Pac-Man isn’t the only old-school Namco flavor in Shadow Labyrinth. To my surprise, the area following the first boss is Dig Dug themed, with ghosts that need to be inflated and blown up to defeat. Shadow Labyrinth is canonically in the UGSF timeline now, so you’ll find a lot of connections in it to other space-themed Namco games like Bosconian and Xevious. There’s even a connection to an unreleased Namco RTS called New Space Order. Yes, the lore goes that deep.

Shadow Labyrinth already had me at ‘horror Metroidvania’, but it seems there’s a lot more to this wacky Pac-Man multiverse/Amazon animated series tie-in than I ever thought there’d be. Launching one day after Donkey Kong Bananza isn’t ideal, but I expect the buzz around Shadow Labyrinth is going to be much louder than anyone is expecting.