# Shadow Labyrinth

Shadow Labyrinth is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is part of the Pac-Man series, serving as a re-imagining of the franchise's core concepts. The player will take on the role of "The Swordsman" while traversing through a large "maze", fighting against enemies and upgrading their abilities as they progress; initial reactions upon the game's announcement widely considered to be like a metroidvania game.
The game was initially promoted by the release of the Secret Level episode "Circle", which serves as an official prequel to the game. Shadow Labyrinth is set to be released in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.

## Gameplay

Shadow Labyrinth will be a 2D action-adventure game. The game's player character will be a figure known as "The Swordsman", as he is guided around a giant "maze" by an orb known as "Puck". Throughout the game, the player will explore the "maze" while fighting against monsters. The player will also be able to acquire new abilities and items. Several journalists upon its announcement considered the game to be a metroidvania.

## Development

Shadow Labyrinth began development in 2020. Bandai Namco Studios began creating the game with the goal of expanding the audience of the Pac-Man series, which is a predominantly family friendly franchise, wanting to create a more "dark" entry in the series. They went back to the original concepts for the first Pac-Man game, and boiled it down to "the maze concept, the eat concept, and how the table can flip all of a sudden". Using that basis, the team began creating Shadow Labyrinth. As a result of the development team's vision behind expanding the appeal of the Pac-Man series to those who had never played a game in the series, they chose to leave any references to Pac-Man out of the game's official title. The game's development team is joined by Katsuhiro Harada, the producer of the Tekken series. It is being developed using the Unity engine.
The darker setting and art direction behind Shadow Labyrinth is based on what the development team described as the "Ice Age" concept. In an interview with Rolling Stone, marketing manager Knoah Piasek said that this concept referred to the idea of the game's enemies and bosses being monsters that were native to the planet it takes place on, rather than basic enemy designs that the series was known for like ghosts. Furthermore, Piasek said that alongside the enemies that originated from the planet, some will have also fused with beings from other worlds, allowing the game's enemies to develop into something "bigger and scarier".

## Marketing and release

During the development of Shadow Labyrinth, an episode of Secret Level was created to serve as a prequel to the game and help promote it. The episode, titled "Circle", follows a "Swordsman" as he explores a wasteland while accompanied by "Puck", the latter of whom eventually kills the former. The swordsman in the episode is referred to officially as "Swordsman No. 7", while the player character in Shadow Labyrinth is referred to as "Swordsman No. 8". During development of that episode, series creator Tim Miller was shown a sneak peek of the game and commented on its differences from a traditional Pac-Man game.
The game was formally revealed at The Game Awards 2024, and is set to be released in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. The game will be a part of the 45th anniversary celebration of the original Pac-Man game. The game's producer Seigo Aizawa commented that the theme of the 45th anniversary celebration was "making an impact", and stated that releasing a game like Shadow Labyrinth that was the "antithesis" to previous games in the series was their way to following that theme. The game is also not planned to have any post-launch downloadable content, with Aizawa stating that the game will be "completed in one package".