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We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Seigo Aizawa, the producer behind one of the year’s most intriguing gaming experiments: Shadow Labyrinth. This isn’t your typical Pac-Man game. Instead of bright mazes and cheerful chomping sounds, Shadow Labyrinth transforms the beloved yellow character into something darker and more complex—a 2D Metroidvania adventure that challenges everything we thought we knew about the franchise.
The game follows Soldier No. 8, a mysterious swordsman who can transform into different forms, including the recognizable Pac-Man shape called “Puck.” It’s a bold reimagining that raises questions about how classic arcade games can evolve for modern audiences. Aizawa shared insights about the creative challenges, design decisions, and ambitious scope of this unique project.
Balancing Comedy and Darkness
One of the biggest hurdles the team faced was maintaining Pac-Man’s essence while creating a serious, dark atmosphere. “Since Pac-Man’s original form is inherently comical, one of our challenges was preserving a dark atmosphere while retaining his recognizable features,” Aizawa explained.
The solution involved careful character design choices. The team created transformation systems that let players switch between a Swordsman form and the mini-Puck form for exploration and action. “We made sure that players could feel the essence of Pac-Man while playing, and we wanted that experience to blend seamlessly with the world and stage design,” Aizawa noted.
Even the game’s main antagonist, Gaia, went through multiple redesigns. Originally, Gaia had a more robotic appearance with limbs sticking out of the Pac-Man sphere, but the team felt it looked too silly for the game’s tone. “Originally, Gaia had a more robotic form with limbs sticking out of the Pac-Man sphere, but we felt it looked too comical. So we changed it into a more stylized pose that resulted in the cool Gaia design seen in the final game,” he revealed.
Breaking Pac-Man Rules
Shadow Labyrinth deliberately breaks some unwritten rules of the Pac-Man universe. “We deliberately did things that would normally be considered off-limits in the Pac-Man universe,” Aizawa noted. “For instance, our version of Pac-Man can devour humanoid enemies, which is quite a departure.”
The team also brought back the original “PUCK” spelling instead of “PAC,” which serves a dual purpose. “We also decided to use the ‘PUCK’ spelling again instead of ‘PAC,’ which not only references the mischievous fairy from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but also pays homage to the original Pac-Man spelling,” Aizawa explained.
However, some core elements remained untouchable. “That said, there are core elements we absolutely wanted to preserve: the maze, the act of eating, and the ability to reverse the situation from being chased to chasing enemies. These fundamentals were non-negotiable.” The decision to transform Pac-Man into a Metroidvania wasn’t random. “The maze element, which is central to Pac-Man, fit very naturally with the Metroidvania genre,” Aizawa said. The team wanted to reach people who had never played Pac-Man before by exploring a darker, cooler version of the character.
This approach allowed them to preserve Pac-Man’s fundamental gameplay loop—eating enemies and reversing power dynamics—while expanding it into a full adventure. The maze exploration rewards thorough players with shortcuts that make future navigation easier, reducing frustration over time.
A Connected Universe and The Eating Mechanic Evolved
Shadow Labyrinth exists within Namco’s UGSF shared sci-fi universe, which influences both enemy and character designs. “The surface-dwelling creatures in the game were primarily inspired by animals from the Ice Age. Since Shadow Labyrinth is part of the UGSF universe—a shared sci-fi world across many Namco titles—our enemy and character designs draw from that lore,” Aizawa explained.
Surface-dwelling creatures draw inspiration from Ice Age animals, while familiar faces like Dig Dug, Pooka, and Figar appear reimagined for this darker setting. “Some characters you may recognize include Dig Dug, Pooka, and Figar, reimagined specifically for this game.” The game also connects to the animated short “Secret Level,” which features Soldier No. 7 while the main game follows No. 8. This numbering system was part of the original plan, and Aizawa hints that thorough exploration might reveal more connections between the stories.
Consuming enemies isn’t just about paying homage to the original Pac-Man—it’s a core gameplay system with strategic depth. “This creates a meaningful decision point for players: do you risk damage to devour enemies and power up, or play it safe and pass on the opportunity?” Aizawa explained.
“There are two main aspects: eating bosses and eating minor enemies. Devouring bosses grants new skills and abilities. Eating minor enemies replenishes the energy required to transform into Gaia,” he detailed. The system includes a currency called Aura that players can spend at shops for perks, creating multiple layers of character progression. “Confident players might skip devouring entirely, but others who rely on perks and Gaia transformations will need to engage deeply with this system. It directly shapes playstyles.”
“By consuming weaker enemies, players can obtain materials. Additionally, while exploring, players collect a currency called Aura. This can be spent at shops to purchase or exchange perks that provide advantages in various situations,” Aizawa added. “Different enemies yield different materials, and we designed the levels carefully to prevent players from becoming overpowered too early. This system is another element that pays homage to the original Pac-Man’s predation gameplay.”
Built for the Long Haul
The powerful Gaia transformation presented unique balancing challenges. “If it was too strong, it would break the game. If it was too weak, it wouldn’t feel fun or worth using,” Aizawa said. The solution was making Gaia powerful and invincible but with a strict time limit, similar to Pac-Man after eating a power pellet.
The transformation’s large size and high jumping ability forced the team to redesign many stages that were being developed simultaneously, showing how one gameplay element can affect entire level layouts.
Unlike the original Pac-Man’s quick arcade sessions, Shadow Labyrinth offers substantial content. A regular playthrough takes about 30 hours, while completionists can expect 40 to 45 hours of gameplay. The game introduces new abilities gradually, ensuring players don’t hit difficulty walls without proper preparation.
The demo showed a mid-game section from around the 8-10 hour mark, which explains why some players found it challenging. “The full game is designed so that players learn and grow alongside the Swordsman,” Aizawa assured.
The character PUCK serves multiple roles as soul, weapon, and companion, communicating without words while guiding players through the adventure. “PUCK’s true nature is still shrouded in mystery, and that’s something we want players to uncover themselves,” Aizawa said, highlighting the game’s focus on narrative discovery.
“This narrative depth is one of the game’s most compelling aspects. To help players immerse themselves, we made the Swordsman’s face veiled, and PUCK acts as a navigator, making it easier for players to see themselves in the character,” he elaborated. The Swordsman’s veiled face and PUCK’s role as navigator help players project themselves into the character, creating a more immersive experience.
Combat, Customization, and Closing
What excites Aizawa most about the final product is the combat system’s depth. “Once you master them, you can use wire-like active shots to close in on enemies, execute stylish aerial combos, and even interrupt enemy attacks,” he explained. The perk system allows players to customize their playstyles, encouraging experimentation with the carefully crafted mechanics.
“Personally, I love the heart-pounding action and the wide variety of moves,” Aizawa shared enthusiastically. “Players can mix and match perks to customize their playstyles. I hope everyone enjoys experimenting with these carefully crafted combat mechanics.”
He also reassured players about the game’s difficulty progression: “Yes. The demo featured a segment from the middle of the game—around 8 to 10 hours in. Normally, players will have already acquired several skills by then. The full game is designed so that players learn and grow alongside the Swordsman. New abilities will be introduced gradually, so players won’t be thrown into high-difficulty sections without preparation.”
Shadow Labyrinth represents a bold experiment in franchise evolution, taking a simple arcade concept and expanding it into something complex and mature. Whether longtime Pac-Man fans will embrace this darker direction remains to be seen, but the game’s ambitious scope and careful attention to its source material suggest it could introduce the character to an entirely new generation of players.
