FLIPGEEKS Game Review: Shadow Labyrinth
0Amazon’s Secret Level surprised us with a chilling new take on PAC-MAN. And though it was a fun little ‘what if’ at the time, we can actually dive deeper into it now with NAMCO’s Shadow Labyrinth - a metroidvania title meant to flesh out more of this reboot and what it means for the franchise moving forward.
\nThe Secret Level episode was brief and left us starved for answers. So it was quite underwhelming when Shadow Labyrinth finally lifted the veil of mystery to reveal a convoluted plot that throws factions, names, and jargon incoherently making it quite hard to follow or care about. The tone also shifts from dark and gritty to anime-style sci-fi, complete with neon lights and anime mechas. If you’re into that, then Shadow has plenty of it.
\nThe Secret Level episode also hinted at the typical roguelike theme of the hero needing to overcome a cycle of kill-die-repeat inching closer to the end-goal. However, Shadow Labyrinth seemed to focus more on deep exploration. Players will need to navigate increasingly branching paths with loads of backtracking, while combat often feels like a side-effect of that exploration rather than the main obstacle.
\nIt takes somewhere around 7-10 hours before the game starts to open up more traversal options and combat enhancements. Until then, the first few hours are mostly basic platforming and button-mashing combat. Thankfully the controls are sleek and hitboxes feel satisfying, despite being a little inconsistent. If you can get past the slow build-up, the game does start to ramp up in a good way, with combat encounters being progressively more challenging and rewarding.
\nBut perhaps our biggest critique lies with its visuals. The art style is solid, but is very inconsistent in its quality. Character models are expertly detailed, but everything else is almost exclusively low-res, blurry, jaggy, or all of the above. With exploration being such a big part of the gameplay loop, it's very hard to ignore. But the most jarring issue is in its UI, specifically the map system. Games with maze-like maps should have at a bare minimum an clean and intuitive map. Labyrinth’s map looks like something hastily put together in a game jam.
\nVerdict- Apart from the slow early hours, Shadow of the Labyrinth can be an enjoyable metroidvania especially for fans of anime-style sci-fi. However the poor visual quality and the shift in tone and direction undermines any interest built from the Secret Level episode.
Rating: 3/ 5\n
Music: Dance To The Rhythm
Musician: Johnny La Rock
URL: https://johnnylarock.com