Shadow Labyrinth is an enigma.
It needs to be easy sufficient to explain: It is a “2D motion exploration & fight platformer,” or “2DAECP”–which is Bandai’s Namco official description and its approach of claiming “metroidvania” with out mentioning a phrase made by combining two rival video games’ names–in which a mysterious amnesiac follows a small yellow robotic via a labyrinth of powerful battles and tight platforming. Like different video games within the style, the trail right here is well-trodden; there’s side-scrolling exploration throughout an enormous map that opens as you unlock new talents, and plenty of enemies to battle alongside the best way.
What you will not count on, nevertheless, is the story Bandai Namco is telling across the Metroi–sorry, 2DAECP–it has devised. It is recognized that this recreation immediately ties into the Pac-Man-themed episode of Amazon Prime’s animated Secret Degree collection, however it’s the remainder of the lore that turned my head throughout a latest digital preview session. The 2DAECP area is crowded proper now, however Bandai Namco might have discovered a approach to rise above the remaining with Shadow Labyrinth; you may simply must brush up in your gaming historical past.
Earlier than that, although, let’s dig into the meat of what you are going to be doing within the recreation. My preview gave me entry to a portion of fight and platforming challenges, with two boss fights ready for me on the finish. I started, naturally, with the exploration part, which dropped me into an space generally known as the Land of the Fugitives.
The core gameplay on provide right here in Shadow Labyrinth is commonplace 2DAECP fare; I had a number of paths to discover, every with their very own trials and tribulations, till I discovered what I used to be in search of and headed again to the place I started. The demo gave me three completely different branches, every holding the piece to a key I wanted to advance, however every additionally centered on one in every of three distinctive challenges: fight, platforming, and puzzle-solving.
The fight trial was a gauntlet of bizarre large-headed enemies wielding knives and swords. Shadow Labyrinth’s fight is straightforward to select up–one button delivers fast sword strikes, the opposite a extra highly effective transfer that briefly depletes a stamina bar–but removed from easy to grasp. These enemies are devious, with some trapping me in a nook and whipping me to dying, whereas others would intention to shoot not the place I used to be standing, however the place they predicted I might be; they have been about 50/50 in that regard. I discovered the trial difficult with out being irritating, and it felt nice to get via the ultimate wave and get the important thing piece.
The environmental puzzle, whereas superb, did not go away as a lot of an impression on me, however the platforming was probably the most difficult and rewarding a part of the entire demo. It feels just like the builders put a ton of thought into making an attempt to foretell how gamers would strategy every degree, after which they designed their obstacles round that, somewhat than simply inserting enemies and traps on every stage. This meant I needed to strategize, suppose earlier than shifting, and strategy every harmful impediment with care; the sport actively punishes senseless traversal, and that is how a recreation like this needs to be.
I additionally loved the “D-Line” elements of the stage–or when my traversal changed into a small recreation of Pac-Man, and I needed to journey on traces of sunshine so as to proceed. These supplied a welcome shot of selection throughout exploration, with a chaser of nostalgia for traditional Pac-Man gameplay in addition.
Nostalgia is on the coronary heart of Shadow Labyrinth, and it is right here that I will now tackle the completely bonkers story framing the entire exploration and preventing. As the Amazon Prime present established, the small yellow robotic named Puck is making an attempt to flee the world it is trapped in, and he should recruit warriors to take action. I play as Swordsman No. 8, the eighth try at escape and victory, and collectively we explored and fought our approach via.
That is solely scratching the floor, although, as there are layers to this story that I by no means anticipated. For instance, have been you conscious, expensive reader, that each traditional sci-fi recreation Bandai Namco ever made was a part of a single canonical timeline? Earlier than this preview occasion, I knew nothing of it, however Bandai Namco claims it has at all times operated on this timeline in secret–the veracity of this declare is up for debate, however rattling if it is not fascinating both approach.
As Shadow Labyrinth sits towards the tip of this potentially-decades-old story, it’s stuffed with references and allusions to video games that got here earlier than it. A few examples:
- The tribe of pleasant human characters I encountered are known as the Bosconians.
- The queen refers to my character, whose identification continues to be a thriller at this level, as a Galaxian.
- She additionally references a possible foe named Emperor Galaga.
- The Pac-Man robotic’s identify, Puck, is a reference to Puck-Man, which was Pac-Man’s authentic identify.
- Enemies encountered through the demo included Pookas and Fygars from Dig Dug.
These are the much less overt examples that some might not decide up on, whereas different references are rather more apparent. I fought two completely different bosses throughout this demo, one on the finish of the exploration half and the second from the precise save file supplied by Bandai Namco. Each of them immediately referenced a earlier Bandai Namco undertaking; first up was G-HOST, a small pink ghost-looking creature caught to a machine controlling large hooks that crashed on prime of me. Pac-Man is fairly essential to the lore, in fact, so it is not stunning to see one in every of his ghostly enemies seem right here.
The opposite boss, in the meantime, blew the “self-referential” idea huge open. This was a hulking beast of a humanoid monster carrying a definite Jason Voorhess-esque white masks and named Jen. In case your horror bells are ringing, that is as a result of Jen was the damsel-in-distress of the Splatterhouse franchise, and her hero, Rick Taylor, wore a definite Jason Voorhees-esque white masks as he tore demons and humanoid monsters in twain. Splatterhouse would not seem on the timeline I shared earlier, so how deep into the Bandai Namco vault is Shadow Labyrinth planning to go?
There isn’t a scarcity of metroidvania video games on the market on the moment–and there are extra coming with each Hole Knight: Silksong and Metroid Prime 4: Past set to launch new entries this yr. How, then, can a recreation enter this crowded area and stand out? Bandai Namco might have cracked the code with Shadow Labyrinth: Make the story so extremely wild that it may possibly’t be missed. It helps that the 2DAECP surrounding this bonkers story is enjoyable and difficult, so you may be inspired to maintain touring deeper down this Pac-rabbit gap.
I did not know what to anticipate when dropping into Shadow Labyrinth for this preview occasion. After my time taking part in, I nonetheless do not know what’s coming, and the sport is all of the extra interesting for it.