Shadow Labyrinth (2025)

Well apparently I am in the minority on this game. I had originally attempted to get the first 100% run up on my YouTube channel, burying my head in the sand and speedrunning…but after about 60 hours I had to look up something. Then I saw the incredibly mid reviews, and was shocked.

I really really enjoyed this one. It isn’t perfect, but it does a lot of things right that I really care about. The exploration, level design, open-ended gameplay, bountiful secrets- it was truly a joy to explore and attempt to 100%. There are some things a little underwhelming, but it really didn’t take much away from the experience.

So the bad stuff: very boring art style. Incredibly derivative and unoriginal. And the combat was just ok, bosses weren’t anything special. The storyline was completely skippable and boring as well.

But the core Metroidvania gameplay was pretty much 10/10 for me. The game is massive, and exploring, backtracking, and all the optional secrets were just perfectly done. That’s really what I come to this genre for, so I can’t complain too much. It definitely reminded me of aeterna noctis and hollow knight in its world design, massive scale, and the types of upgrades and secrets you find.

I also did really enjoy the maze mini-game, which is where the PAC-Man influence really shines. There is 12 shrines throughout the game that enter this alternate reality, and you go through levels as pac-man, collecting ghosts and beating a boss. I really had a blast with these.

So, yeah. I put about 70 hours into this game, didn’t quite get the 100%, but I loved most of my time with it. If they had hired a different art and writing team, it could’ve been 5 stars for me. I guess I’m largely in the minority with my high rating, but I know there’s a few people out there that loved it as much as I did.

Side note: the game does take a few hours to really get good. The beginning is very lackluster and I think some of the bad reviews came from people that didn’t make it past that. I would encourage anyone playing the game to at least make it a few hours in before writing it off.

This is a very strange game. Indebts itself to Hollow Knight, for sure, but also games I wouldn't have expected it to draw from like Ghost Song and Astlibra... while also tonally harkening back to that late-2000s period of game development when Japanese companies were targeting Western demographics with ill-advised work like Bomberman: Act Zero or Quantum Theory or Mind Jack. Sort of feels out of place and out of time, yet also clearly modern? I don't know what to make of it.

Also, I have no idea who worked on this game besides "Bandai Namco Studios". The music is lovely, I want to know who did it! Who did the scenario writing for this insane post-apocalyptic mechatronic technobabble cosmo-horror world? It looks like I will need to finish the game to find out.

None of this should work, really. Of course, I kind of like it.