Inside Pac-Man’s Gritty New Redesign

There are very few gaming gaming characters as instantly recognizable across all of popular culture as Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, but Bandai Namco’s Pac-Man is one of them. The yellow fruit-eating circle’s iconic “waka-waka” eating soundbite is one of the most recognizable sounds in gaming. Debuting in 1980 in arcades (a full year ahead of Mario himself), Pac-Man is celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2025, although he’s sporting a very different look.

To commemorate the occasion, Bandai Namco is taking Pac-Man to uncharted territory, far away from its family-friendly roots. The puck-shaped icon is now born again in the grimdark 2D action-platformer, Shadow Labyrinth.

Announced at The Game Awards 2024, Shadow Labyrinth gives Pac-Man an edgier, more mature makeover more in line with other Bandai Namco games like Elden Ring (2022), and although it felt like a surprise in the moment, this isn’t actually the first we’ve seen of the new take on one of gaming’s classic character — it’s directly tied to episode six of Prime Video’s Secret Level streaming series, which debuted on Dec. 10.

Rolling Stone sat down with Shadow Labyrinth producer Seigo Aizawa and Pac-Man brand marketing manager Knoah Piasek to talk about the franchise’s milestone, the inspirations behind Shadow Labyrinth, and why Bandai Namco decided to go in a darker direction.

Born again

Shadow Labyrinth follows the events of the “PAC-MAN: Circle” episode in Amazon’s Secret Level anthology (yes, the episode was actually a prequel). A swordsman has been awakened by a yellow floating ball called P.U.C.K. that follows him around. Already, that’s a big reference to Pac-Man origins, but may track for fans who are well aware that “Puck-Man” is the character’s name in Japan. Bandai Namco could’ve gone in any direction for its gritty take on Pac-Man, such as making a soulslike game like Elden Ring, or maybe even an RPG, but its producer chose a very specific route instead. 

“When we wanted to explore a new type of game for Pac-Man, it came down to the key element, which is the maze,” Aizawa tells Rolling Stone. “When we thought about the maze, the 2D action platformer was the best genre match.” This genre of games is commonly known as “Metroidvania,” which features non-linear exploration and gameplay, stemming from the Metroid and Castlevania franchises that pioneered it. Typically, when zooming out of the map in a Metroidvania game, the map looks like a maze.

Aizawa and Piasek clarify that Shadow Labyrinth is a traditional action platformer, similar to that of Ori and the Blind Forest (2015) or Hollow Knight (2017), and not a “roguelike” like Dead Cells (2018), a subgenre which might play like 2D platformer games but whose level design and enemies are randomly generated. “We are not calling it a Metroidvania ourselves, although we do acknowledge that people would absolutely categorize it like that,” Piasek explains. “We’re being a little tongue in cheek and also calling it a Pac-and-slash!”

Shadow Labyrinth also doesn’t have the Pac-Man brand name in its title, and the decision to not include it was so that the game can bring in a new audience who’ve never played the series before. “There were many discussions on whether or not to include the word ‘Pac-Man’ in the title. We ultimately decided not to do it,” says Aizawa. “Pac-Man has historically been a family game, and we wanted to brand this game in a different way.”

Piasek adds, “We know that when players describe this game outside of saying the name Shadow Labyrinth, they’re going to say ‘that crazy, dark Pac-Man game.’ So, we know that the fans are going to do that heavy lifting for us.”

Setting the stage

Shadow Labyrinth’s setting is actually inspired by the Ice Age, and the enemies and bosses are designed around that concept. In classic Pac-Man games, the eponymous character avoids ghosts, but it’s currently unclear what exact role they’ll have in Shadow Labyrinth yet. In the game’s key art, you can see a singular ghost in the sky, but Piasek hints that there’s more than just meets the eye. “Fans have already started to theorize that there are other games being referenced here, not just Pac-Man,” he says.

Looking at the reveal trailer, there are plenty of grotesque monsters, and the swordsman will have to at least devour the bosses using a giant color-inverted black Pac-Man in order to get stronger and survive in the maze, which is a clear callback to Pac-Man’s eating motif.

Piasek also teases that there could be an outside force influencing the monsters’ growth. “The Ice Age concept is a guiding design principle for core enemy design and some of the monsters that would be native to this planet,” he explains. “But there are other things that have also come to this planet, which might have helped those monsters to develop into something bigger and scarier.”

Shadow Labyrinth is set to release sometime in 2025 for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X|S. Aizawa also confirms that there are no post-launch content plans at the moment. “This game will be completed in one package so there is no DLC (downloadable content),” he says.

For Pac-Man veterans, the developers know that Shadow Labyrinth is an entirely new take on the gaming icon. “The main theme of the 45th anniversary is to ‘make an impact.’ So, we thought Shadow Labyrinth would be an appropriate title to present,” says Aizawa. Piasek adds, “Especially since it’s the antithesis to anything that you would expect from Pac-Man.”