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Shadow Labyrinth isn't your grandfather's Pac-Man. The 2025 dystopian metrovania game very loosely based on the 1980 original is significantly darker than its yellow arcade predecessor. (Check out the Pac-Man episode of Prime Video's Secret Level to see what we mean.) As it turns out, that fact nearly killed the game before work on it began... or, at least, thats what Seigo Aizawa, who produces games for Pac-Man's IP holder Bandai Namco entertainment, told us at PAX East 2025.

Aizawa's comments come from the Platform for Adventure: Metroidvania Game Makers Roundtable panel at this year's iteration of Boston's premiere gaming convention. "Internally at Bandai," said Aizawa via a translator, "there were many people against the dark Pac-Man concept. However with Pac-Man reaching its 45th anniversary I felt it was time for a new idea and that's when I pitched a new Pac-Man concept [...] Everyone knows Pac-Man is a cute, pop hero. He's very iconic. So, obviously, it was very difficult to pitch the dark concept." 

Despite the initial pushback from some of the company's lorekeepers, Aizawa pushed on, always focused on "how Pac-Man could grow into a new audience." Beyond just making the character darker, however, there were also key elements of the classic game that Aizawa and his team wanted to flesh out.

"I thought that Pac-Man could be characterized as a maze game," says the Bandai Namco creative, "A part of the game is expanding the maze concept. But I also wanted to reintroduce Pac-Man's eating into a different kind of game."

Though Aizawa didn't say it himself, I couldn't help but wonder if this other element of Shadow Labyrinth is what eventually got Bandai Namco to overcome their fears. What Aizawa did confirm, however, is that even while he was darkening and fleshing out the Pac-Man we know and love, fans of the original were always on his mind. 

"We also wanted to make sure," Aizawa concludes, "that classic Pac-Man fans would also love the game. When we were designing the game, we made sure that these Pac-Man iconic characteristics would be included as well."

What characteristics is Aizawa talking about? We'll just have to see when Shadow Labyrinth drops July 18.

You don't need to beat the game to prepare for the next one—here are all the major new and upcoming games coming our way.