Bandai Namco’s classic IP “PAC-MAN” appeared as a new type of game at this year’s TGA. This exploration-based 2D action game “Dark Battle Labyrinth” surprised many players after it was released.
This time 4Gamers and other Asian media interviewed producer Seigo Aizawa, who revealed for the first time what kind of game “Dark Labyrinth” is this time.
First of all, the question everyone has is why is it adopting a completely different dark fantasy style this time? The producer said that this work was indeed a big challenge for the development team, mainly because in the past “Pac-Man” was a family-friendly game, but as time went on, people who had not played “Pac-Man” There are also more and more players, and we hope to let more younger generations of players come into contact with “Pac-Man”, so we have made a relatively big change.
Although many people are a little confused when they see it, this is actually the feeling that the production team hopes everyone will get. Therefore, this time in the work, all players who are coming into contact with it for the first time can come into contact with it with a new mentality, so that both new and old players have the opportunity to come into contact with this work.
This time the game is not a Roguelike game like “Dead Cells”, but a Metroidvania-like game. Players explore the maze game to find props, defeat bosses, and unlock new abilities and levels. If the player dies in the game, he will be resurrected at memory points in various places.
In terms of the story, Pac himself had a goal he wanted to achieve, but he couldn’t accomplish it alone, so he summoned the swordsman to join him in the adventure, but he did not reveal this purpose to the swordsman. Pac cannot fight alone during the journey. In addition to some attack skills in battle, when encountering certain situations in the level, Pac and the swordsman will need to merge into Pac Man to fight.
For example, during some boss battles, Pac can possess the swordsman’s back and turn into Pac Man to devour the boss to gain new abilities and expand more explorable areas. However, although there are many skills, there is an upper limit to the number of skills that players can use in battle.
This time, Pac Man will gain new abilities as long as he replenishes food to the boss, such as actions such as air dash. Other abilities will be introduced later.
This work contains some violent elements, and the age group of the audience is considered to be around 15 years old, and this is used as the basis for applying for classification. Because it’s a 2D game, it won’t be as bloody as the animated version.
As for whether the four ghosts, Pac-Man’s most famous enemies, will appear? Aizawa Seigo said that please look forward to subsequent announcements.
The play time to complete this game is about 30 hours. If you want to collect all the elements, it will take about 40 hours. There are about 30 kinds of bosses, big bosses and mid-bosses to fight. The content of multi-game play will be released later. This game also confirms that there will be no online cooperation and no battle elements.
Because it is a gameplay similar to that of Metroidvania, the difficulty of the game will be slightly higher. However, considering that more players can play it, it is recommended that players explore and take risks as much as possible, which can make exploration easier and easier, and defeat bosses. It will also be easier when you are there.
When asked whether it was possible to become a series, Seigo Aizawa said: “If players like it and the response is good, it may be made into an independent series. I personally hope it too, so I look forward to continued development.”
Amazon Prime Video is streaming the animated series Secret Level exclusively. “Secret Level” is an original anthology animation series that has different content in each episode and is set in the world of a popular game. One of the episodes is “PAC-MAN: Circle” which was inspired by “Dark Battle Labyrinth”.
The producer said that the game has been in development for about 4 years, and it was only during development that the other party’s proposal to make animations based on “Pac-Man” was received. Therefore, the game was developed first, and after receiving the proposal, it was promoted in turn. Amazon then I was also very interested, so I turned to the anime “PAC-MAN: Circle” on Amazon Prime.
You can play this game even if you haven’t watched the cooperative album. Watching the album after playing it will give you a different feeling. The plot in “PAC-MAN: Circle” is a story before the game story takes place. These contents are mainly works produced by the animation company’s own interpretation.
However, the development team has also hidden elements of “PAC-MAN: Circle” in the game. As long as you play the game more thoroughly, you will find the connection. I hope everyone can discover these little surprises.
Finally, Seigo Aizawa said: “”Pac-Man” recently celebrated its 45th anniversary, which is a good time. We hope to bring players an unprecedented PAC MAN game. We hope that players who have never been exposed to PAC MAN can enjoy it. This is an opportunity to learn about his past history and past works. We hope that this dark battle maze can make everyone feel how we have inherited the genes of PAC MAN and carry it forward. Please look forward to the release of the work. “
“Dark Battle Labyrinth” will be launched on PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and STEAM in 2025.