Shadow Labyrinth: Hands-on Preview
What if I told you nothing is real? What if I told you that everything you know is just an illusion, that it is all some sort of fever dream that originated in the mind of a sick god, overseeing this existence? What if everything were upside down, expectations and consequences were torn asunder? What if life as we know it was a lie?
What if Pac-Man was a Metroidvania title?
It is wild to contemplate, yet here we are with Shadow Labyrinth, an honest-to-goodness Pac-Man Metroidvania that is as dark and bleak as my opening paragraph. No bright colours and chirpy music, just drab surroundings, cataclysmic events, and tough, challenging exploration. This isn’t your Daddy’s Pac-Man (or mine for that matter). Pac-Man has entered his techno-goth phase and is bringing you all along for the ride.
Recently, I got to go hands-on with this dark reinterpretation of the classic yellow pill-popper, and I have to say, the whiplash is real. As an old, rusted-on gamer, seeing a hero in this form, well, it was odd to say the least. That’s not saying it is bad, far from it, just, well…odd. I got to check out three sections of this wild new game and get a decent understanding of what is coming, though a bigger picture view is certainly required for final judgment. Story-wise, I can’t really say much as I was unceremoniously dumped into the middle of the game and asked very politely to survive (which took some doing.) But what I do know is that it is linked to the Secret Level Pac-Man episode, which I haven’t seen.
But all that is fine, because this is a preview. What I really want to know is how this plays and how it links to Pac-Man. On the first part, playing this feels like playing a highly competent Metroidvania title, and it is hard to complain about that. The platforming was super precise, and exploration elements seemed to be tip-top. The maps themselves involved quite a few passages, nooks and crannies that invite exploration, and the movement mechanics only further encouraged that desire to see what is just around the corner. It also behoves me to mention that the platforming is tough. This is a game that tested my dexterity on multiple occasions, forcing me to speed through sections with pixel-perfection, leading me to drop an expletive on more than one occasion.
On the combat side of things, I am still not sure how I feel. Initially, it feels like a very simple system. Smash the attack button, dodge other attacks, but as I played, I gradually learned new moves and how to incorporate powers properly. One of the key things to a good Metroidvania is how acquiring new powers also teaches you to use said powers, but I missed on that due to the nature of this press demo, so I felt behind the 8-ball for a lot of my time. That said, when it clicked, it was certainly fun, and frankly, it isn’t a walk in the park either. It is also worth mentioning that one of the abilities I got access to was the ability to turn into a giant Pac-Mech, and look, how can you be upset with that?
As for what makes this a Pac-Man game, in more than just branding. Well, good old Puck, aka Pac-Man himself, is your constant companion throughout the game and can be used to get through some tight spots. There are exploration side challenges, for lack of a better term, that throwback to classic Pac-Man style gameplay. Puck jumps on a linear path, munches on dots and in doing so gets around obstacles. These sections, while looking like classic Pac-Man, feel more like an on-rails action platformer, something you might find in a modern Sonic title.
There are also a host of throwbacks and callouts to classic Pac-Man as well as other characters from classic Namco titles. Pinky the ghost makes an appearance as a boss battle, as does the appropriately named Terror Mask, who is a deep throwback to a (not especially great, but certainly memorable) 1998 beat-em-up called Splatterhouse. I am quite keen to see who or what else pops up in the full game. Based on my time here, there are sure to be some massive surprises.
Finally, I want to quickly talk about the look of the game. I used the phrase techo-goth earlier, and I feel like that is as close as I can come to an overall theme of the game. There are undoubtedly horror elements in the design here, and they have been mixed and matched with technology to create quite a unique look. The art design is carrying a lot of the weight here; it is pretty special, and it does paper over the occasional odd animation or two.
I have to say my time with Shadow Labrynth was not what I expected at all. I honestly had no real idea what to expect coming in, but I know I didn’t have a tough, dark and occasionally disturbing Metroidvania in mind. That is what I got, though, and once I got over that, I discovered what I think is going to be a great game. It is hard to say based on my limited time, and much will depend on how powers are earned, taught and used in the world, but the bones are there and the potential is obvious.
Sure, it may not be your Daddy’s Pac-Man, but it might just be better. We will all know for sure when the game releases on the 18th of July for just about every system known to man.
