Main cast: Emily Swallow (Puck) and Aleks Le (The Swordsman)
Directors: Dave Wilson, Víctor Maldonado, and Alfredo Torres

Wait, PAC-MAN: Circle doesn’t have anything like the Pac-Man games from decades ago… oh, a quick search reveals that this episode is actually based on an upcoming game called Shadow Labyrinth, supposedly a dark and gritty take on the original Pac-Man game.

Perhaps Bandai Namco Entertainment must have paid this show to advertise the game, but if that were the case, why isn’t this episode called Shadow Labyrinth: Circle?

Anyway, this one is about an amnesiac fellow, simply called the Chosen One during the episode and Swordsman in the credits, awakened from cryosleep only to be told by a floating talking orb, Puck, that he is the lucky one chosen to escape the maze that is certainly not Shadow Labyrinth.

This is definitely not the Pac-Man most people remember, but I actually like the episode a lot. Sure, the story is standard sci-fi tropes woven together, but it has solid pacing and lasts just long enough to keep the suspense at peak levels without overstaying its welcome.

The visuals and animation are as expected gorgeous, and it’s also pretty gory. Then again, Pac-Man is this giant thing that devours everything in front of it, so it being given the “subversion” treatment and made into a monstrous thing is not that unexpected. 

In the end, this is easily the most complete and entertaining episode so far in Secret Level, and I feel that it’s much better than any of the episodes that came before it. Fans of Pac-Man expecting a more faithful adaptation are understandably annoyed, but I am most charmed by it.

How does one adapt faithfully a Pac-Man game anyway? There’s always Pixels, I guess, but I don’t think anyone wants a repeat of that!