Remember that horrifying Pac-Man story from Amazon's Secret Level show? Well, we already knew it would get turned into an actual game, Shadow Labyrinth, and now we've seen that Metroidvania game in action. We also got a launch date for it during the latest Nintendo Direct 2025.
Shadow Labyrinth is launching on the Nintendo Switch on July 18, 2025. It's a strong offering for this week's Nintendo Direct. The game has all the usual features you'd expect from a 2D Metroidvania: tough combat, the ability to upgrade skills to discover more areas, but also an unusually sinister undertone for the classic yellow puck.
But you play as Swordsman No. 8, a cloaked figure who, if their story is anything like the Secret Level episode, is actually a clone made to help the character Puck escape its world.
Puck is the Pac-Manlike, floating yellow head that will join you as you adventure through a mysterious planet that is "littered with relics from past wars."
Puck isn't just a guide, though – you can combine with it to form the mecha known as Gaia and eat enemies to consume valuable items that you can use to power yourself up.
It's an intriguing set up, and I like that Pac-Man is being taken in a new direction.
Though, the cynical part of me feels like this could have just been its own game, and that the Pac-Man IP was slapped on just to make it more marketable. But Shadow Labyrinth, developed by Bandai Namco, still looks like a solid game.
In the meantime, check out everything we know about the Nintendo Switch 2, which has a Direct coming next week.
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