Shadow Labyrinth is the forthcoming 2D motion platformer from our crew at Bandai Namco Studios the place gamers will management Swordsman No.8, summoned to a mysterious planet by the enigmatic Puck to finish a mission the place others have failed. The 2 will uncover secrets and techniques and battle enormous bosses of their battle to outlive. The idea of a darkish Pac-Man recreation is daring new floor for the model, delivering a singular expertise that present and new PAC gamers can be excited to dig into. Shadow Labyrinth emerges from the darkness on July 18.
Avid gamers could have observed that Puck seems to be fairly a bit like Pac-Man, and there’s the wonderful visible of an enormous foreboding and darkish Pac-Man chomping down on the physique of a downed foe. However Shadow Labyrinth’s inspiration from Pac-Man is greater than pores and skin deep, our crew labored to construct from the bottom up with cautious consideration of what it means to be a Pac-Man recreation.
The enduring maze is second solely to Pac-Man himself when contemplating the core components of a Pac recreation. We wished to use that precept to our recreation the place the characters are simply as vital because the place the place we discover them. Arcade Pac-Man’s maze is immersive, and we wished to carry that to life on a broader scale. The map of this mysterious planet when considered zoomed out is itself an enormous maze, and like the unique Pac-Man, you have to get aware of the maze to finest your enemies. The unique arcade recreation’s maze was set upon a background of darkness, Shadow Labyrinth takes this one step additional by having our story happen within the depths of outer house on a darkish and mysterious planet the place survival means more durable challenges in deeper ranges. You both attain the top or are consumed making an attempt.
Once you method a Pac-Man arcade machine you’re greeted by a joystick, so we thought, controlling Pac-Man is sort of easy, proper? It’s only a joystick. However as you progress by way of every stage the on-screen motion of dodging Ghosts will get intense. Shadow Labyrinth offers gamers quite a lot of actions and weapons to make use of, however we wished the participant inputs to really feel pure, not overwhelming – like that easy joystick. We additionally wished to provide the participant as a lot alternative as doable, letting them select which route they want to discover first. Like unique arcade Pac-Man, the motion in Shadow Labyrinth will get significantly intense and we felt that an approachable management scheme and the pliability to discover the instructions they’re interested in would assist deepen participant immersion much like the unique arcade recreation.
There are in reality 3 modes of play in Shadow Labyrinth. Controlling Swordsman No.8 is all about weapon use and artfully dodging, and Mini Puck mode is all about exploring hidden and out of attain pathways. These in themselves really feel very Pac-Man, however the 3rd mode of play is successfully Shadow Labyrinth’s model of a Energy Pellet: GAIA, the robotic large with devastating pressure. Utilizing GAIA, gamers can injury enemies that may have in any other case been too sturdy, break by way of limitations (a reference to the arcade recreation Tremendous Pac-Man), and really eat enemies. However similar to a Energy Pellet, this energy will not be countless, and have to be used strategically to, as Pac-Man followers say, “flip the tables” in your enemies.
Pac-Man is all the time consuming Dots, Energy Pellets, and Ghosts to stage up and hold going. We wished to develop on the core idea of consuming in Shadow Labyrinth to incorporate consuming to defeat foes but additionally consuming as a way of powering up. Within the recreation, you’ll be able to select to eat enemies as an alternative of slashing them till defeated.
Should you do select to eat them then you definitely’ll acquire totally different sources relying on the enemy you’ve eaten. These sources can then be used to accumulate and improve your skills. So, in Shadow Labyrinth too you have to eat to progress, not solely to get additional but additionally to develop from prey to the apex predator.
However the place are the Ghosts? We didn’t neglect them. In Shadow Labyrinth, amongst most of the vile creatures you have to destroy or be haunted by are the G-Hosts: parasitic organisms which have taken over monsters and machines of the planet to create one thing new and terrifying. These encounters function formidable boss battles becoming for the first antagonists of the arcade unique. You’ll encounter the G-Hosts primarily based upon Pac-Man Ghosts resembling Pinky, by no means revealed till now, as twisted boss battles.
Shadow Labyrinth takes inspiration from the legacy of video games within the style in addition to being constructed utilizing the DNA of Pac-Man. However eagle-eyed players have already began to note clues that Shadow Labyrinth takes place within the bigger chronology of the UGSF (United Galaxy Area Power) timeline: a shared universe that connects lots of Bandai Namco’s space-themed video games. As gamers discover the large map of Shadow Labyrinth’s world, they’ll encounter some acquainted wanting enemies like these from the Dig Dug collection, Bosconian, and extra.
Shadow Labyrinth involves PlayStation 5 on July 18!
