Summary
- One of the weirdest episodes of Secret Level is its take on Pac-Man, which goes full body horror.
- That strangeness was just the beginning, though, as Bandai Namco is making a game based on it.
- Shadow Labyrinth is a Metroidvania based on the episode’s weird concept and it’s coming
In one of the stranger announcements of The Game Awards, Bandai Namco revealed Shadow Labyrinth, a game based on the surprisingly dark and creepy Secret Level episode that’s based on Pac-Man.
Just a few days ago, Amazon’s Secret Level anthology series debuted its first few episodes and gave us some interesting riffs, retellings, and story continuations of a bunch of games, ranging from Armored Core to Warhammer 40k. While the series is full of surprises from what we’ve seen so far, none of them quite compare to the Pac-Man episode.
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Pac-Man is one of the most beloved and friendly gaming characters of all time, so it was quite strange (in a good way, depending on who you ask) to see a body-horror-esque version of it in Secret Level. Seeing a sentient yellow dot named Puck force a poor alien creature to make their way through a maze, eat or be eaten, and avoid ghosts and creatures was quite the shock, but that’s just the start of it.
Pac-Man’s Weird Secret Level Episode Is Being Turned Into Shadow Labyrinth
As revealed during The Game Awards 2024, Bandai Namco is wasting no time at all and turning the strange Pac-Man Secret Level episode into its own fully-fledged game. That game is Shadow Labyrinth, a Metroidvania that has you playing as The Swordsman and making your way through the maze while killing ghosts to unlock their powers.
The trailer showed plenty of gameplay for Shadow Labyrinth, and it certainly looks like a strange Secret Level take on a Metroidvania. We didn’t get to see too much, but we do know that it’s coming in 2025.
Considering Secret Level is already based on games and the Pac-Man episode strays about as far away from the original concept as you can get, it’s a very strange (again, in a good way) choice to turn into a game. The announcement itself isn’t that big of a surprise, though, as the official Pac-Man account actually teased that something was coming during the show.
While I love how far Pac-Man is being taken, I do also wish we’d see the classic kind boy return. Pac-Man World 4 anyone?
While all of the comments instantly jumped to hoping for Pac-Man Re-World 2 or a brand-new game in the series, the inclusion of “Secret” within the announcement should have made it pretty clear it was something to do with Secret Level. Still, many expected it to be an advert for the show, not a full-blown game based on the very strange concept.
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