Shadow Labyrinth might just pull off its oddball elevator pitch

After 45 years of PAC-Man, Bandai Namco finally answers to the old question: “How will you play as Metroidvania Metroidvania stones?” Certainly you were all wondering, right? Well, do not ask anymore because we will soon get an answer to this question Shade On July 18.

In Pax East 2025, Trends Digital continued with the next game and spoke with Seigo Aizawa, the product in Bandai Namco, about the new PAC-Man. Isaawa explained to us how Oddbalall is more realistic for the basic principles of Pac-Man than at first glance. This may be brave Metroidvania with intense boss battles, but this is still the same as the maze of eating that you have been playing for decades, albeit in a very different light.

Enter the maze

in ShadeThe players wake up in a strange world where everything tries to kill them. The only thing that helps to stay is a Back Man creature that gives them capabilities and directs them via a brutal planet. Amazon The secret level Back Man Championship as an introduction to ShadeAnd watching it will give the players a better understanding of what can be expected.

“To expand our fans, we wanted to make something new.” “We wanted to get people who did not play PAC-Man to play [Shadow Labyrinth]. When we thought about the concept of the game, “Dark Pac-Man” appeared. When you think about a dark atmosphere and the concept of maze, [the] Metroidvania [genre] He completely matches it. “

Shadow is especially fast for this type. Each attack must be carried out with a plan in mind. But this does not mean that Shadow Labyrint is not PAC-Man in her heart. There is still a maze for players to run, and you will not see it from the point of view of birds. Instead, players move two -dimensional environments and you have to know where to go while exploring them.

Mail Pak Man plays everything on the horizon a role here as well, although it is in a more evil way. After the players finish cutting your enemies, they can do a job that mainly turns you into Kiju Pac-Man allowing them to take their opponents to gain their capabilities. Izawa revealed that this was according to the design, as the game needed three main columns famous for Back Man: Eating, Methagat, and UPS.

This is not the only thing that my companion Back Man can do. While I was making my way through the mazes, tracks were presented to it. The only way to cross it was to turn into this iconic yellow field of Arcade Classic. The fish was that the bars were full of all kinds of traps trying to kill me. If you want to make it alive, you need to evade it.

While the shadow maze itself is a new location, it still connects to a familiar being. Bandai Namco decided to wander with UGSF (World Game Simulation), a narrative device that the company uses to connect many of its games. A clear example of this appeared at the end of my illustration. After defeating the main president, it revealed the drilling egg egg that played a little of the game’s music.

Aizawa says this is just one example of how to connect all games thanks to UgSf. Shade It occurs in a distant future, while Dug It happened 3000 years before this game. As the players progress through the story, they will find the remains of the other popular Bandai Namco properties. Sometimes, these simple clouds and gestures will be for other games, and sometimes you will play a bigger role in the story.

The comprehensive game is not disappointed on the basis of what you played yet. There is a clear feeling of Metroidvania’s progress that gives players a lot of new capabilities to cancel the lock, and change their set of tools. The president’s battles participate in more confrontations than the monsters of life and the platform almost look like a game of its own. Each aspect of this works for me so far, and it is a pleasant surprise in view of the field field.

Shade It is dark, excited, and dark, but the Back Man game is still in essence. As much as it is different from anything else in the history of the series, I still enjoy exploring the mazes and eating enemies at the end of the day. Shadow Labyrinth swings and hopes to capture a new audience with his latest PAC-Man. From what you played, Bandai Namco may pull it with something completely new.

Shade It is launched on July 18 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.