With everything else going on in the gaming world, you could be forgiven for having missed the initial reveal of Pac-Man: Shadow Labyrinth a few months ago, but this bizarre project is now back with a vengeance and in full marketing mode. It only makes slightly more sense than the rumored live-action movie.
Shadow Labyrinth, from what we've seen, is a reimagining of the classic arcade game in Metroidvania style, casting Pac-Man as an ancient eldritch horror, which is certainly a… choice. Seeing a darker, gritter Pac-Man bouncing around a maze to a pounding EDM remix of the original theme is nothing short of surreal, but that's honestly half the appeal of this game. A little like Shadow the Hedgehog, it being so lame that it wraps back around to being unironically cool seems to be working well for Shadow Labyrinth.
Not that the Pac-Man formula needs to be dark and gritty, but the fact that they're doing something new with it is worth consideration in and of itself.
