Review: Shadow Labyrinth (Nintendo Switch)

I had high hopes when starting Shadow Labyrinth that the game would be as bizarre as presented in its announcement trailer. I’m happy to say it is. But I’m unhappy to say it also gets caught in what should have been avoidable traps of the 2D action/platformer genre.

This happens at the very start, where a confusing setup seems to have nothing to do with the events on hand. We know that Pac-Man is involved, but the game starts you off in mech combat.

Then we get a glimpse of some hooded figure playing a game on a handheld device. Then a prisoner somewhere is rescued by a metallic-looking Pac-Man named PUCK (see what they did there, historians?).

We’re that prisoner, referred to as Swordsman No. 8 (I wonder what happened to the previous seven). PUCK takes us to a sword we can’t use, but that’s easily solved by the floating robot arm that attaches itself to our body. Finally, our adventure begins. To what end? All we know is that PUCK has an agenda regarding the state of this planet and our positioning on it, and he’s hell-bent on executing that agenda.

Of course, more is revealed as you play along, but the disjointed narrative never really picks up consistent momentum. I absolutely love that the developers have brought so much into the Pac-Man world, but it could have been presented in a more compelling manner.

Still, aside from learning how Pac-Man met the Ms., storytelling was never really the series’ forte. Gameplay was what mattered, and Shadow Labyrinth sure does change that up. Gone are the mazes and ghosts, for​ the most part, replaced by Castlevania-like caverns and enemies of all shapes and sizes. Swordsman No. 8 will run, jump, dodge, and fight his way through numerous environments in typical 2D-action fashion, and it all works OK. The environments are more linear than fans of the genre may like, perhaps because enemies are quite difficult at the start. It seems like the game is less about exploring and more about dying, leveling up, and becoming strong enough to advance.

Leveling up is handled at checkpoints and shops where you can purchase and craft key upgrades.

You may not have the currency to buy them right away, but items you acquire down the road remain available after you die and return to a checkpoint. Unfortunately, not all checkpoints allow you to purchase upgrades. Worse, they’re really spread out; replaying areas isn’t rewarding in Shadow Labyrinth, it’s mandated. Worse still, not all of the boss battles have checkpoints right before them. When you’re defeated by one, it may take a while to get back to it.

That’s the type of thing that will prompt me to just quit playing, hence the delay in this review.

There are some unique elements to Shadow Labyrinth that will keep players going. First is the use of PUCK on what the game calls D-lines. These allow PUCK to become Pac-Man proper, attaching himself to rails he can slide along to munch on energy pellets, defeat enemies, and reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Movement is initially automatic as in regular Pac-Mac, but you can stop and even hop off or onto adjacent D-lines.

It’s a fun twist, and I wish it would have been a greater focus of the game since it’s the part that really feels like Pac-Man (there’s even free DLC that converts this portion’s audio effects to the traditional Pac-Man arcade sound). I also wish the controls weren’t so awkward. Riding the D-Line is simple enough, but jumping from it and attacking is often imprecise, leading to unnecessary frustration.

The other unique element is that defeated enemies can (and should) be devoured. Here, PUCK basically becomes the head of Shin Godzilla (see it in theaters this August) and eats the fallen, the point of which is to acquire parts for your upgrades.

Doing this requires energy, however, that may be better used elsewhere, such as an emergency health replenishment. It’s very annoying when you waste that energy because the enemy disappeared before you could eat it or you just missed, which shouldn’t even be possible.

The game does all perform well, though (I played Shadow Labyrinth for the Switch 2, available as a free upgrade if you start with the Switch version), and I really like the dark design with splashes of color. The visuals felt almost like proper Pac-Man in that regard (some fun, nostalgic nods pop up now and again, too). If you’re going to flesh out Pac-Mac’s world visually, this was a good approach to take. The actual characters seemed a bit robotic with their movements and presentation, but considering the game’s intro, that didn’t feel out of place.

So, in some ways, I did get from Shadow Labyrinth what I’d hoped for. If you’re going​​ to update a classic arcade game, I prefer you go crazy with it instead of just improving the visuals and adding achievements. That means, however, that many Pac-Man fans will be better served by Pac-Man Museum+ than this. Shadow Labyrinth is meant for 2D action/platformer fans, and even they will find things to gripe about. But the game presents enough unique elements to make it worth a trip to the arcade.