Shadow Labyrinth is a 2D action platformer and a genre-twisting alternate take on the iconic PAC-MAN. As The Swordsman, you wake on a mysterious planet amidst relics of wars past. To survive you will discover secrets, consume your enemies, and grow from prey to apex predator.
It doesn't have enough Pac-Man for fans of that franchise, and its Metroidvania elements are too weak to appeal to fans of the genre, so why did they make a Pac-Man Metroidvania? After spending 40 hours with the game, I still don't know, and that makes it difficult to recommend.
Shadow Labyrinth moves Pac-Man from his traditional mazes to the caverns of a dying planet, and will likely lose classic arcade fans along the way. But although it makes some gameplay and design mistakes that should have been avoidable, it's weird enough to provide some fun for fans of 2D platformers.
Shadow Labyrinth is a hard game to nail down. It does some cool things here and there but is bogged down by poor level design and tedious Metroidvania game play. I wanted to love it, but came away just slightly entertained.
Strangely, while Shadow Labyrinth is a solid Metroidvania that carries inspiration from various sources, it doesn't feel inspired because it leans too heavily on the nostalgia of Puck's Pac-Man sensibilities. Serviceable is the best way to describe Shadow Labyrinth because it's a competent experience and it might be satisfying if all you're looking...
Shadow Labyrinth takes the fascinating premise of blending Metroid with Pac-Man and fumbles the execution, offering a bland narrative with one-note combat and tedious exploration
