Since I was a kid, I’ve liked to honor traditions.

I must eat an unhealthy amount of chocolate during Easter. I must dig up my sweaters when winter comes, even if it’s hot outside and I have to crank the AC to “Arctic Expedition” for immersive effect. I must flee from every beach during Carnival (yes, I am Brazilian; no, this does not grant me immunity against crowds breaded in sand).

And when December shows up, my brain flips a switch and decides to replay the same games I’ve been replaying for the last 30 years.

Some of them lean heavily on nostalgia, with zero holiday themes. I will always feel warm and fuzzy playing Link’s Awakening for the hundredth time because it reminds me of one of the best Christmases of my life. Others, though, are full of lights, winter vibes, or outright holiday madness.

All of them feel right for this time of year, but today I want to share seven games (or game series) I always revisit during the holiday season, each one evoking the spirit of December in a different way.

Merry Gear Solid: Secret Santa (PC)

It must be hard to be Santa Claus: infiltrating houses without being detected, escaping from kids eager to catch him delivering presents, and then discovering he was a clone from a high-classified government project all along…

Yes, we’re starting with a couple of fan games that are more than a decade old and whose premise is absolutely ridiculous: Santa Claus exists inside the Metal Gear lore because he was created by The Los Bigotes Perfectos Project, an attempt to engineer the perfect beard.

That alone is worth a laugh, but the real reason these games are legendary to me is that they’re extremely well made.

The level design is tight and creative, with few but smart ways to reach objectives unnoticed. The art direction is a beautiful fusion of MSX-era Metal Gear and Christmas décor, full of pastel colors and inspired sprite work. The mechanics borrow the best ideas from the Solid series and twist them in hilarious ways that still respect Kojima’s playbook. But the script is what truly shines, with codec calls that feel like something Kojima would’ve written after a heavy night of drinking in an isekai.

If you’re a Metal Gear fan, do yourself a favor and play at least the first one of these little gems. It takes less than an hour to beat each one, but both are unforgettable palate cleansers, the gaming equivalent of a perfectly spiced holiday snack.

Now let’s move on from fan works to something officially licensed…

Die Hard Trilogy (PSX)

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who think Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and those who are wrong.

Die Hard Trilogy is the perfect way to remind everyone of this truth. It’s a strange, chaotic package that includes:

• A clunky but challenging third-person shooter for the first film

• A surprisingly great Virtua Cop–style on-rails shooter for the second

• An open-world, Chase H.Q.-inspired driving game for the third

The first two movies are obvious Christmas picks, but if you live somewhere tropical like Brazil, where Christmas equals summer, then Die Hard with a Vengeance also fits the seasonal vibe. The movie literally opens with “Summer in the City.” You can’t get more “Brazilian Christmas” than that.

Now, is the gameplay good? Not really. It’s clunky, it’s punishing, and it feels exactly like a PSX fever dream, one of those weird experiments only early 3D could produce. But that’s also where the charm lives, so if you’re craving some mid-90s holiday jank, this is a fantastic time capsule.

Still unconvinced? Think I cheated with this entry? No worries, the next one embraced the holiday season with a cute but memorable Easter egg…

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! (SNES)

If you’re a 90s kid, you remember how certain franchises became glued to the holiday season. Before we saw annualized releases with suspicion, there was a magical time when we wanted a new game every year-end, and the studios delivered it with classics that surpassed their predecessors in almost every way possible.

Donkey Kong Country was one of them.

Starting with the first game, every entry landed in November, making these yearly gifts to SNES owners who hadn’t jumped to the next generation yet. And since Rare knew they had created a holiday tradition, they decided to push it further with a small but joyful Easter egg in the third entry.

On the surface, DKC3 has no Christmas content… until you type the MERRY cheat code. Suddenly the bonus rounds turn festive: stars become Christmas ornaments, the tune gets jingly, and everything feels like a banana-scented holiday postcard. It’s small and silly, but it doesn't make it less special.

But as we jumped into the next generation, Rare made us wait three years for a new Donkey Kong game. They didn’t want fans to linger too long, though, so a year later they gave us a game that embraced the holiday spirit even better…

Diddy Kong Racing (N64)

This one carries a personal story.

My parents gave me this game for Christmas. As usual, we traveled to the beach for the holidays. I brought my Nintendo 64 with me but assumed I wouldn’t play much. Surely I’d be too busy building sandcastles, swimming, and living the tropical Christmas dream.

Then it rained for the first few days. A lot. And Diddy Kong Racing became a blessing.

I still remember reaching Snowflake Mountain for the first time. The Christmas-themed tracks covered in ice, the twinkling lights, and the cheerful decorations are superb, and they are all accompanied by festive music. It was everything those rainy days needed. Me and my cousins played for hours, passing the single controller between us to unlock the most advanced tracks. Those memories still feel warm and fuzzy today.

It helps that DKR is not just cute, but also an awesome kart racing game, to the point some fans even argue it’s better than Mario Kart 64. The tracks have a lot of clever design choices, the graphics are some of the most colorful on the N64, and the Adventure hub offers some secrets and surprises here and there.

The rain eventually stopped and we enjoyed the beach, but those holiday gaming sessions remain some of my core Christmas memories.

Speaking of franchises that embraced Christmas as part of their settings…

The Yakuza / Like a Dragon Series (Various Platforms)

Most people forget (or never realized) that a surprising number of Yakuza games take place during Christmas.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio wanted each entry to reflect Japan at the time of its release, and since many of them launched in December, the games naturally carry that seasonal spirit. Yakuza 2 even ends with a rendition of “Silent Night.” That’s the level of dedication we’re talking about.

It’s subtle, but I love how the holiday atmosphere melts into the streets of Kamurocho. You’re running around doing side quests, beating up your 100th thug of the night with Kiryu’s Dragon Kick, grabbing a warm bowl of ramen, or getting lost in a Sega arcade, all while the city quietly glows with Christmas lights and decorated pine trees.

Talking about why Yakuza/LaD is one of my favorite series would require a whole separate post. But for holiday purposes, it’s cozy, chaotic, dramatic, and a little sentimental. Just like December.

But if you want a pure Christmas gaming experience from Sega, I’d be remiss not to mention the ultimate one…

Christmas NiGHTS (Saturn)

I can’t think of a better Christmas game than this one. Not just for its theme, but for the sheer level of dedication poured into what was technically “just” a demo.

Sega needed the Saturn to be a success, and NiGHTS into Dreams was their biggest bet. To help promote it, Sonic Team stuffed so much content into a single demo disc that it feels absurd in retrospect.

The base game includes only two stages and two boss fights. But the extras? That’s where the magic is. Most of them were unlockable through a matching game, but the real magic lies on the tone of the year you're playing.

Depending on the Saturn’s internal clock, you’d see:

• Characters wearing different clothes depending on the month

• Sunny summer days in July

• Reala becoming playable on April Fool’s Day

• Santa Claus appearing on December 25th

• And after Christmas, the game wishes you a Happy New Year

It sounds simple, even silly, but this is one of my favorite Sega moments ever. It wasn’t just a marketing move. It shows that this game has heart. A genuine gift to Saturn owners, and anyone who believed in the console.

And now that we mentioned the New Year…

R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (PSX)

Like Link’s Awakening and Diddy Kong Racing, this one is special because it’s tied to another memorable holiday season in my life.

Ridge Racer Type 4 launched in December 1998. As such, it could’ve easily thrown a few lazy holiday decorations or silly cheat codes to make it holiday seasoned. Instead, Namco chose a far more elegant route: because the story takes place during the Real Racing Roots 1999 season, the final race takes place in the night of December 31st and ends at midnight, right as the in-game world welcomes the new millennium.

It’s magical. In the final lap, fireworks explode, “Moving in Circles” blasts from the speakers, and you cross the finish line while the game celebrates a new era. It remains one of the most memorable moments I’ve ever had with a racing game.

And since it was part of one of my last New Year celebrations with my grandparents, it became even more special.

Everyone talks about Christmas games, but almost no one talks about New Year’s games… and this year, I’ll be fixing that soon with a full review of R4 as we get closer to New Year’s Eve.

Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and feel free to send me your own seasonal picks!

Silent Hill is synonymous with psychological horror. This series produced some of the scariest and most traumatic games of all time, filled with well-written stories, unforgettable characters, and utterly disturbing monsters that reflect distorted visions of the human psyche like no other.

But what if the horrors haunting this foggy town didn’t come from a corrupted spiritual power, but from beings from another planet?

Of course, this is just a joke, one that started with the very first Silent Hill, released in 1999, when the UFO ending tradition was born. Since then, most mainline entries have honored this tradition, some brilliantly, others… less so.

And today, I’m skipping the foolish idea of ranking all Silent Hill games (search your feelings, you know the second or third one would top the list anyway) and jumping straight to what truly matters: ranking all the UFO endings.

If you’ve read my Silent Hill f review, you know I teased this post as a way to explain why that game’s UFO ending was so dissapointing. But unlike most alien conspiracies, I’m back to deliver the goods. So let’s celebrate these fully realized, absurd, fourth-wall-shattering cutscenes featuring little gray aliens, abductions, comic-strip aesthetics, and dogs.

But first, a few ground rules:

• Only UFO Endings: That means aliens or flying saucers must appear in some form. Sorry, SH2 Dog Ending fans, you’ll have to sit this one out.

• Plot over Power-ups: I'll judge these by how creative and enjoyable they are. Unlockable weapons or New Game + goodies can help boost a game’s ranking, but they’re not essential.

• Subjectivity alert: This is just my ranking. If you disagree, feel free to argue passionately in the comments section like a true Silent Hill theorist. Bonus points if you find a way to hack Substack’s code to post it in Comic Sans.

Also, needless to say that a spoiler warning is in place here. We are talking about game endings after all, so this is kind of expected.

Now, without further ado, let's start our ranking. You might expect me to begin with Silent Hill f since I promised to be very harsh about it, but while I do have issues with it, the worst offender is still...

9. Silent Hill: Homecoming

The Twist: Nick Lachey and his blonde girlfriend get abducted. That’s it.

The Reward: The Deputy Alex costume and a Laser Gun that is directly inspired by Konami’s Justifier lightgun for the original PlayStation.

UFO Endings in Silent Hill are the very staple of inventive and crazy ideas. They are perfect to give developers an excuse to stretch their imagination and craft the most ludicrous interpretations of the lore. The best ones go the extra mile, giving fans comic relief and meme-worthy moments as a reward for enduring all that terror.

And that’s exactly why Homecoming's UFO ending, rendered in engine with a "meh" script, seems so watered down, just like everything else in what I consider one of the weakest Silent Hill games to date.

At least, I have to commend it for being consistent. This mediocre ending matches the game’s overall mediocrity. If you’re going to do something so uninspired due to lack of ideas, at least have the decency to scrap it entirely like the SH4 devs did.

The silver lining is getting the laser gun as one of the post game unclockables. It has infinite ammo and absurd damage levels. Plus, kudos for being inspired in the iconic Konami Justifier lightgun. However, since you have to replay Homecoming to enjoy it, I don't see it as a big reward (hence my rule of the ending counting more than the New Game + goodies).

Actually, the real silver lining is the fact that Double Helix went on to deliver the excellent Killer Instinct years later. As fighting-game devs, they were among the best. As Silent Hill devs, though…

8. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

The twist: Turns out everything was part of a therapy session where Cheryl claims Silent Hill is a giant spaceship before turning into Mira the Dog from SH2, and Dr. K reveals he’s an alien. Oh, and James Sunderland makes a cameo because, of course, people love SH2.

The reward: absolutely nothing, which makes sense since you never fight in this game.

This is definitely an upgrade from Homecoming’s take and checks all the boxes. Stylized comic visuals? Check. Cameos from other SH characters? Check. A little gray creature with big black eyes chatting with the protagonist? Check.

Still, this is a confusing one. It’s not a bad ending per se and these UFO endings don’t have to be coherent anyway, but Cheryl turning into a dog and Dr. K becoming an alien out of nowhere feels forced, just to justify the gag.

Not bad, but I honestly think Climax did a better UFO ending before this, as we’ll see later.

7. Silent Hill f

The twist: It’s revealed through an old manga that Shu’s meddling attitude made him the real enemy all along.

The reward: The PP-8001 lightsaber. You can even make it red as if Hinako’s embracing her "dark side". Get it?

This is the reason I wanted to make this list in the first place. But… to be completely honest, I don’t hate this ending. The accurate art direction and anime-style voice acting are superb, and it did make me chuckle a few times. However, this feels more like a joke ending than a proper UFO one and, the biggest offender of all, it completely ruined my expectations.

You think that a game with a protagonist constantly rambling about the Great Space Invasion, a child’s play that she enjoys playing with her crush, will have an absolute killer UFO finale... but no, the aliens don't even show up. The whole thing revolves around Sakuko’s Alien Identifier robot shutting down while everyone awkwardly shares embarrassing secrets to prove they’re not disguised ETs, which none of them are since Ebisugaoka's neighborhood watch took care of the aliens off screen. What a bummer! At least, Mira the Dog piloting the UFO in the end is cute.

I wish I could say the reward was any better, but the PP-8001 still has some caveats. I expected it to follow the long tradition of game-breaking UFO weapons in the series, but this is far from the case. The fact that this lightsaber gets shorter with usage and required toolkits to regain its original lenght is the very definition of disapointment.

As I said in my review, the f in the title stands for frustation.

6. Silent Hill: Origins

The twist: Travis talks to the moon, then gets approached by an alien with Mira the Dog in a flying saucer. They inform him his truck is on their planet, and he offers to drive the saucer there.

The reward: the Tesla Rifle, another overpowered alien gun with infinite ammo.

As someone who has the original SH as his favorite game in the franchise and one of his favorite games of all time, I have mixed feelings about Origins due to how it butchered the first game's backstory. But even I have to give credit to its adorable UFO ending.

It marks Mira’s first appearance in a UFO sequence and features Travis piloting a flying saucer, all told in a mid-2000s cartoon style. Weirdly enough, it’s kind of heartwarming, which is not a word usually associated with Silent Hill.

The reward isn’t particularly special, though. Even Homecoming was more creative with their interpretation of an infinite ammo alien gun. But hey, at least Travis was able to drive an UFO, so there's that.

5. Silent Hill

The twist: Aliens come to Earth to abduct Harry. It’s straightforward as that.

The reward: The Hyper Blaster, an infinite ammo pistol with laser target, auto aim, and over the top power that inspired many others in future entries.

This is the UFO ending that started it all and established the basis for every other that came after. It’s awkwardly written, crudely drawn, capped with a Star Wars-style credits crawl, and accompanied by a bizarre upbeat tune... and that’s why it’s so memorable.

It feels like an afterthought, yet it perfectly balances the original game’s revolutionary horror with some welcoming self-aware humor. Not only that, the ‘90s vibe makes it both amazing and wonderfully dated.

Yeah, being the first one doesn’t mean it’s the best. This idea would get better executions later on, but the Hyper Blaster makes it all worth.

4. Silent Hill 2 Remake

The twist: the original James Sunderland from the PS2 version of SH2, now called Space James, abducts the remake version of himself, echoing the original SH2 UFO ending.

The reward: Nothing special. The remake follows the original’s ethos of having new weapons and items being unlocked under certain conditions unrelated to a specific ending.

I love the irony here. It borrows the 1950’s sci-fi asthetic and even the same music from the original SH2’s UFO ending, but it adds a clever twist: every dialogue card is written in Comic Sans! If you know about the infamous “Silent Hill Ranch” board fiasco from the HD Collection, you’ll get the joke.

It’s cute, self-aware, and only ranks lower than its predecessor because it’s more of a retread… though, to be fair, that’s exactly the point of it.

3. Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams

The twist: In a direct sequel to SH's UFO Ending, Harry Mason comes back to Earth to ask James if he’s seen Cheryl. Unsatisfied with his lack of answers, Harry helps the aliens abduct James.

The reward: Like I said before, nothing in particular.

This was the first UFO ending to get the full deluxe treatment. Everything here screams effort: the 1950's space-horror homage, low-poly Harry faithfully recreated from SH1, the continuation of this ridiculous “alien conspiracy” lore... absolute cinema!

This ending fueled the fan theory that Silent Hill’s nightmares are part of an alien plot orchestrated by Harry Mason himself. And the next every on our list only solidifies this madness…

2. Silent Hill 3

The twist: Heather returns home after a strange day and recounts her story to Harry and his alien friend over tea while James hides behind a curtain. Harry karate-kicks a plank held by James, the alien gets annoyed with what happened to “poor little Cheryl”, and decides to nuke Silent Hill.

The reward: this game follows a similar unlockables system like SH2, so there’s nothing in particular when you reach this ending.

I mean... what can I say? This plot is pure genius.

The Sunday-comic aesthetic is perfect, and the fact that it implies Harry’s been working with aliens since the first game is hilarious. But the cherry on top is the Japanese joke song that plays in the credits, an all-time fan-favorite meme.

This is why so many fans consider SH3 the best in the series. If even the UFO ending has this level of quality, that speaks volumes about the game as a whole.

For the longest time, I thought this was the ultimate UFO ending… But then, thanks to the advent of modern emulation, I found my holy grail…

1. Silent Hill: The Arcade

The twist: The entire game is revealed to be a Gradius prequel played by someone wearing a Robbie the Rabbit costume.

The reward: You just watched the best UFO ending in the whole series. That's more than enough!

I know, after all that praise for SH3, it might sound crazy to put Silent Hill Arcade at the top, but hear me out.

It starts innocently enough: Eric meets his great-grandfather, who reveals that his new ship is an UFO and tasks him and his friend Tina to chase him “to the end of the universe”. The exaggerated script, kitschy old-movie visuals, and comically eerie soundtrack would already make for a respectable UFO ending.

But since this game was developed by the Konami arcade division, they thought that it would be a great idea to pay homage to the rich history of the company, so the whole thing scales up to a new level: Tina dresses like a Contra character, she and Eric board the Vic Viper to chase their captain, and the whole thing turns out to be a prequel to the first Gradius, being played by Robbie the Rabbit with the Gradius’ first stage theme blasting in the background with off-key recorders.

It’s an ending so epic and so amazingly absurd that I forgive this game for not giving me new weapons or other incentives to put another credit.

I really wish to be able to play SH Arcade in a real arcade cabinet in the future. I would gladly give it my hard earned money and play this a hundred times so I can see this thing in a bigger screen. The absurdity, the art direction, and the sheer amount of references makes this my favorite and my favorite Silent Hill UFO ending of all time.

Silent Hill returned from its long, fog-shrouded limbo when Konami announced a special streaming event back in 2022. It was a valiant attempt to revive a franchise that remained trapped in the Otherworld for years and, as a longtime fan who has the first entry in the series as one of his favorite games of all time, I couldn't be happier.

However, I was cautiously optimistic. Aside from Silent Hill 2 Remake, most of the revealed projects sounded like quick cash-ins (and even that one has a lot of room for improvement, something that the Bloober Team fortunately aknowledged and made their best to work upon it). Yet one project stood apart from the rest: Silent Hill f, developed by NeoBards Entertainment.

A Japanese setting, the respected Ryukishi07 as its writer, and the promise to twist the formula inside-out? That was enough to make it feel less like another SHINO (“Silent Hill In Name Only”) and more like a fresh reinterpretation of the series’ core. I felt genuinely intrigued, and couldn't wait to see what this was all about.

Three years later, the game is finally here. I picked it up the PS5 version at launch, fully aware of the reputation it had already built among fans and reviewers, and now that I unlocked all five endings, I understand why this is the most divisive Silent Hill game since the fourth entry.

The best way I found to explain my feelings regarding this game is by trying to answer the most common questions about this strange, fascinating game. So let's start with the most basic one…

What is this game about?

Silent Hill f follows Hinako Shimizu, a bullied high-school girl in 1960s Japan whose life decays literally and metaphorically under a mysterious floral curse that engulfs the town of Ebisugaoka. On one particularly difficult morning, she meets her childhood friends hoping to vent her troubles, only for them to witness the arrival of a deadly fog that corrupts everything it touches. What follows is a journey that begins as a coming-of-age drama, but quickly turns into a surreal spiral of trauma, guilt, and search for identity.

The first thing that caught fans’ attention and became one of the biggest points of concern was having this game taking place outside the titular town, which sounded gimmicky at first. Thankfully, setting the story in mid-1960s Japan proved to be an inspired decision since it reinforces the game’s themes brilliantly: the role of women in society, the impact of bullying into adulthood, the erasure of self through marriage, and the friction between boys and girls during childhood are already timeless topics, but placing them in this historical context gives them a cultural weight a modern U.S. town could never match.

The monsters embody those ideas perfectly. Following the series’ ethos, each grotesque creature blooms out of shame and memory, embodying physical manifestations of Hinako’s and her friends’ insecurities. The journal mechanic ties it together beautifully. As Hinako records her thoughts, it becomes both a gameplay guide and a psychological map of her trauma. Not only that, it helps a lot to organize puzzle solutions in a way that makes it intuitive and easy to consult.

But that same mechanic also highlights what I consider one of f’s most frustrating issues: the subtext is too explicit. Classic Silent Hill games thrived on ambiguity, leaving a lot of blank spaces in players’ minds to give us a sense of dread no other series has ever accomplished. The original Team Silent knew exactly how much to reveal and how much should be left for the player’s imagination, this amplifying the horror substantially. Silent Hill f, by contrast, insists on explaining everything. Hinako’s journal spells out each symbol and relationship in exhaustive detail, which works as an inspired mechanic due to her nature as a traumatized young woman but also serves as a place where most questions are quickly answered, generating a sense of closure without giving any space for misinterpretation. As David Lynch once said, “As soon as a story gives you closure, it gives you an excuse to forget you’ve seen the damn thing.” If that will be the case with f, only time will tell.

Speaking of explanations, as an attempt to give more bang for your buck and increase replay-ability, you have to finish f several times to fully understand its story. The game is structured so each run reveals new cutscenes and pages from Hinako’s diary, unlocking additional endings and context. It’s a clever metaphor for self-discovery, but also a divisive design choice. You’ll repeat many of the same sequences, though some cutscenes change subtly: dialogue shifts, character actions differ, and new layers of meaning appear. The game even tells you when you’re watching something new to mitigate the risk of skipping new scenes by accident.

For some, that means replaying a 9-to-10-hour campaign, which sounds exhausting for a survival horror game. For me, though, once I memorized the puzzles, it became a meditative loop. I finished it six times (one run ended with me failing a key requirement, so I saw the bad ending twice) and it took around 25 hours total to see all endings. Honestly, I beat f five times faster than I cleared a single run of SH 2 Remake (that one feels like an eternity), so your mileage can vary.

How does this game play?

Just like Silent Hill 2 Remake before it, Silent Hill f walks the line between classic survival horror and modern design. I think it was a good choice since the over-the-shoulder camera à la Resident Evil 2 and 4 Remake works well for exploration.

Thanks to it, you can better soak in the art direction, which is easily the best aspect of this game. Ebisugaoka’s decaying streets are pure nightmare poetry: blooming rot and fungal textures blending vibrant reds with ashen greys in a visual symphony, all stitched together by Akira Yamaoka’s haunting score. Some fans miss the fixed camera angles (and I secretly hope the upcoming Silent Hill Remake brings them back for certain scenes), but I didn’t find their absence here a major issue… well, except during a few cramped combat encounters, which I’ll get to later.

The transitions between the “foggy world” and the Otherworld, however, lack the same finesse from the past. Instead of that slow-burn dread that defined earlier entries, f cuts abruptly whenever Hinako faints or falls asleep. It makes sense narratively, but it breaks immersion once you realize the pattern. If she closes her eyes for more than a second, brace yourself: you’re going to the Otherworld. It's so telegraphed that kills any sense of surprise.

The ever-present mission prompts on the corner of the screen don’t help either. It’s as if the game doesn’t trust you to figure things out on your own, but at least the puzzles redeem it. On the higher difficulties (“Hard” and “Lost in the Fog”), they recapture that classic Silent Hill flavor with symbolic, unnerving, and occasionally brilliant head scratchers.

What about that infamous combat system everyone’s talking about?

I’m not going to lie: despite most purist say, I’m thrilled that the developers finally tried to evolve Silent Hill’s combat to follow modern design trends. But execution-wise, what the NeoBards team delivered here is a mixed bag.

In one-on-one encounters, combat is tense and satisfying. Hinako dodges, counters, and adapts gracefully, proving you can survive without ever touching a firearm throughout the whole game. But once multiple enemies appear in a confined space, everything collapses: cameras locks into corners, Hinako can’t react quick enough, monsters start to span special attacks leaving no space too react… it’s a mess. And since both Ebisugaoka and the Otherworld are built with narrow corridors and small rooms, that happens more than it should. That is where fixed camera angles would work wonders to mitigate this issue. Having a single point of view could help players to know where they are and react on time.

However, in terms of combat mechanics, this is a small complaint when compared to its most criticized aspect: the four-bar HUD (health, stamina, sanity, and weapon durability). It feels lifted straight from a Souls-like, despite the developers’ insistence that it isn’t. They even mapped target-lock to a face button (Square on PS5) instead of R3 to hide the resemblance, but you can still click the stick and get the same effect.

Personally, I don’t mind it. I love both Silent Hill and Souls-likes, so the mechanics themselves didn’t bother me. What truly ruins the mood, though, is the HUD design. Those intrusive bars, and the fact that they appear only when enemies are nearby, obliterate any sense of suspense. Every time they pop up, you know danger is coming. Needless to say, horror dies the second you can predict it.

Some might argue, “It’s a video game, of course it would have UI elements,” but survival horror lives and dies by immersion. Achievements popping up here and there are bad enough (even if f’s achievement descriptions are cleverly written to soften the spoiler effect), but plastering four bars on the bottom left corner of the screen is a design choice that undercuts everything else.

A future patch could easily add an option to disable those pesky objective prompts to help us to get more immersed. The same couldn’t be said about the status bars, though, as they’re too baked into the combat mechanics to let players to progress without them. That’s a shame, as the atmosphere in a Silent Hill game deserves better.

Can this game be considered a true Silent Hill?

After all this, it’s time to answer the biggest question about f.

Despite being marketed as the next mainline entry, Silent Hill f feels more like a side story. The simple fact that it’s set in Ebisugaoka instead of the titular town establishes that. Even so, can it really be considered a true entry in the Silent Hill series?

Yes, absolutely.

After six playthroughs, collecting every document I could find, and several rereads of Hinako’s journal, I can say with confidence that f captures the essence of Silent Hill. It channels the psychological horror, mirrors the lore mechanics, and explores the same thematic territory, all refracted through a distinctly Japanese lens.

But to talk about it, I’ll have to enter into spoiler territory. If you haven’t reached at least three endings yet, skip to the next session.

The original Silent Hill revolves around a cult known as The Order, which seeks to create paradise on Earth through communion with “God” via a drug made with a hallucinogenic flower called White Claudia. Their rituals twist what may have been a neutral spiritual power into a reflection of human sin and desire, birthing the nightmare world. The only known antidote is a red substance called Aglaophotis, capable of purging demonic corruption.

In Silent Hill f, the parallels are immediate. The Inari Cult shared by Ebisugaoka’s oldest inhabitants plays the same role as The Order. Hinako’s painkillers are derived from a similar sacred flower (under another name). And the Agura no Hotei-sama used to purify the Divine Sword and expurg a bad spirit from Hinako in one of the endings functions almost exactly like Aglaophotis. Even the “bad” ending in f has a melancholic ballad sung during the credits sequence, drawing parallels with the first game. The symbolism, the fog, the Otherworld… it’s all there. By those standards, f is a legitimate entry in the canon.

But the biggest problem, the one that makes so many fans argue that this is not a true Silent Hill game, lies in presentation. The requirement to replay the game multiple times to grasp the full narrative is already divisive, but Hinako’s mid-game werewolf transformation (which is contextually justified, yet visually and mechanically jarring) pushes things into anime territory. Combined with a few intentionally goofy endings, it occasionally feels tonally off from Silent Hill’s subtle dread.

What does the “f” stand for?

And that leaves us with this final question. The game itself never answers this, but I have some theories:

• Fox, for the Inari spirit at the heart of the story.

• Friends, a nod to its emotional core.

• Fog, the most obvious choice.

But there is the internet’s favorite answer, and honestly, mine too: f is for Frustration.

I liked my experience with f, but I didn’t loved it. For every inspired moment, Silent Hill f stumbles on something else. Its themes, characters, and overall presentation are outstanding, truly unique for a survival horror title, but its clunky mechanics and storytelling hold back what could be a modern classic. It is frustrating to think about all the potential of this game and have all those setbacks holding it back.

Still, all that aside, I’d recommend Silent Hill f to both newcomers and veterans. It’s flawed, yes, but it respects the series’ soul and dares to reinterpret it in some key aspects. The NeoBards team clearly knows what Silent Hill is about and made a great attempt to give a new spin to its lore, and that should be recommendable enough. After years of dormancy and misfires, maybe that’s the best we can hope for Silent Hill: a cautious rebirth. All we need is to see other developers learning from this game’s mistakes and improving upon it. Baby steps through the fog.

Usually, this is where I end things, but I need to come clean… nothing frustrates me more than that UFO ending! But that needs me to take other endings into consideration. That’s why in my next article, keeping with the Halloween spirit, I’ll be ranking every UFO ending in the Silent Hill series to prove my point. See you on the next post!

Franchise anniversaries are a tricky thing. They’re one of those gaming events that always swing between extremes. Either people don’t care, or they care way too much.

The idea behind these celebrations is simple: when a major game hits a milestone, say ten years, it deserves some spotlight. And every five years after that, it should come back with new games, cameos, or at least a wave of nostalgic merch.

A company that usually handles this with a decent sense of balance is Bandai Namco. Pac-Man, for instance, is turning 45 this year (feeling old yet?), and they marked the occasion with limited-edition clothing on their store, a themed stage and cosmetics in Tekken 8, and the release of Shadow Labyrinth, which I’ve already covered in detail here and here.

But balance isn’t what hardcore gamers want, right? They want big celebrations. Fireworks, concerts, remasters, statues… you know, the whole deal. Ideally all of this with a new game attached to it. The problem is that anniversary events tend to land on one of two sides: either they’re overloaded with flashy fluff that leads to spectacular stumbles, or they’re so underwhelming they barely match the legacy they’re meant to honor.

If you want an example of the “too much” approach, just look at Sega and its obsession with Sonic’s birthdays. Every milestone has to feel important, usually tied to a mainline release, which sounds good in theory, until you remember that rushing a game to meet a date rarely ends well. That mindset gave us both the joy of Sonic Generations and the meme-worthy disaster that was Sonic ‘06.

And on the other side of the ring, there’s Nintendo.

Oh, Nintendo…

Big N, Small Parties

Looking in retrospect, it’s actually pretty rare to see Nintendo celebrating its franchises’ anniversaries the way players expect.

One of the few shining examples where they did nail it was with Kirby. The Kirby’s Dream Collection for Wii, released to celebrate the pink puffball’s 20th anniversary, was everything a fan could ask for: six classic titles, brand-new challenge stages inspired by Return to Dream Land, a museum packed with historical goodies, and even a handful of episodes from the Right Back at Ya! TV show. The special edition went the extra mile, including a gorgeous art booklet and a CD featuring a lovingly curated selection of music from across the series. It was, quite literally, a dream come true (pun absolutely intended).

But when it comes to Nintendo’s other major series, things get inconsistent. Most anniversary games weren’t originally planned as anniversary releases, they just happened to come out around the same time. Others got modest concerts, themed merchandise, or a token nod during a Direct. Some were ignored altogether. The Legend of Zelda’s 30th anniversary had a beautiful symphonic concert series, but Donkey Kong’s 40th in 2023? Nothing. Metroid’s 35th in 2021? Same story. And if you’re a Star Fox or F-Zero fan… well, let’s not reopen those wounds.

Still, you’d think Super Mario, Nintendo’s poster boy and gaming’s global ambassador, would be treated differently. Except here’s the problem: when it comes to gaming mascots, Mario is bigger than anything. The days when he was just a character are long gone. Nowadays, he’s the symbol of gaming itself. And because of that, no matter what Nintendo does to celebrate him, it’ll always feel short.

Case in point: his 40th birthday.

As I write this, Nintendo just held a Direct outlining its plans to celebrate Mario’s big four-oh, and the reaction from fans has been… let’s say lukewarm, at best. No new mainline game? A handful of Japan-only events? Two overpriced remasters? That’s not exactly the celebration people had in mind.

But those reactions got me thinking: how does this compare to Mario’s past anniversaries?

Super Mario Anniversaries: A Celebration Through the Decades

When I started to revisit the past, I came to the conclusion that Super Mario is such a massive cultural force that anything Nintendo does to celebrate him will always feel smaller than it should, so we have to take this into consideration when evaluation how his creators decided to celebrate his anniversary. And spoiler alert: the 40th anniversary isn’t even the worst the plumber’s ever had.

To keep things fair, I’ll be looking back at all of Mario’s milestone anniversaries, starting with the 10th and going all the way up to the 40th, thus following the industry’s usual rhythm for franchise retrospectives. But I won’t limit this to official parties or commemorative merchandise. Each milestone will also be judged by the main games released in that anniversary year, since those tend to reveal what Nintendo really thinks about its mascot. Of course, I’ll also factor in side events, collaborations, and collectibles before giving each anniversary a final 1-to-5 star ranking.

Now, here’s something most people forget: Nintendo only started taking the idea of official “Anniversaries” seriously with Mario’s 20th. But I refuse to ignore what came before. Because believe it or not, even without an official label, the Italian plumber’s 10th anniversary was surprisingly special.

So, let’s start there…

10th Anniversary: The Babies’ Origins

Year: 1995
Main Attraction: Yoshi’s Island – Super Mario World 2

1995 was a strange but fascinating year for Nintendo. The SNES was taking its final breaths, the Virtual Boy was already a commercial ghost, and the Nintendo 64 was still a year away, meaning we wouldn’t see the groundbreaking Super Mario 64 just yet.

Still, Nintendo managed to mark the plumber’s 10th anniversary with an absolute classic: Yoshi’s Island. It might not sound like a huge deal today, but back then it was the talk during lunch breaks. Everyone was buzzing about how bold it was: for Mario’s 10th birthday, we wouldn’t play as Mario at all. Instead, we took control of Yoshi in a prequel that revealed the origins of the Mario Brothers.

It also introduced Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, who would later grow into separate playable characters (and absolute chaos agents) in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. For an anniversary without any real “celebration” attached to it, this was a surprisingly meaningful milestone, one that expanded the Mario mythos in ways that still echo today.

Other events & merchandise: None.
Verdict: The “anniversary” concept didn’t officially exist yet, but a mainline Super Mario release landing on a milestone year is rare enough to deserve credit.

★★☆☆☆

15th Anniversary: A Blank Sheet of Paper

Year: 2000
Main Attraction: Mario Story (a.k.a. Paper Mario)

Another transitional year for Big N, another missed opportunity to celebrate their mascot properly. Still, Mario wasn’t entirely left out of the spotlight for his 15th birthday. Alongside the releases of Mario Tennis and Mario Party 2 on the Nintendo 64, Japanese players got Mario Story, a spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG that would make its way west the following year as Paper Mario.

For RPG fans, this was a treat: a clever, charming adventure that laid the foundation for one of Mario’s most beloved subseries. But in terms of “mainline” action, things were quieter. Nintendo was still teasing the mysterious Super Mario 128 tech demo at SpaceWorld 2000, a glimpse of experimental ideas that would later evolve into Super Mario Galaxy years down the road.

Beyond that, though, Mario took a backseat. The Pokémon craze was in full swing with the release of Gold and Silver in the U.S., so we can probably forgive Nintendo for letting their plumber rest while Pikachu carried the company on his tiny yellow shoulders.

Other events & merchandise: None.
Verdict: Compared to the previous anniversary, which at least gave us an all-time classic, this one was a total snooze. We’ll still have to wait 5 years until Nintendo start to do Mario’s anniversary some justice.

★☆☆☆☆

20th Anniversary: Happy! Mario 20th

Year: 2005
Main Attractions: Mario Kart DS, Famicom-colored Game Boy Micro, and Super Mario Bros. (Famicom Mini / NES Classics, GBA)

By 2005, Mario was in great shape. Mario Kart DS had just dropped, arguably one of the best entries in the entire series, and the plumber’s party calendar was packed. The Mario Party series got two new releases (Advance for GBA and Mario Party 7 for GameCube), while Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time gave us an adorable, full-circle tale of the adult brothers teaming up with their baby selves.

It was also the first year Nintendo officially acknowledged the Super Mario series anniversary. But while the lineup of games was solid, the anniversary goods themselves were underwhelming. On one hand, there was the beautiful gold-and-red Game Boy Micro styled after the original Famicom. On the other, the Famicom Mini port of Super Mario Bros. on GBA, later released in the West as part of the NES Classics line, which is… well, it is literally just the original game, stretched to fit the GBA’s widescreen, resulting in visuals that looked oddly warped.

Worse still, this game came only a few years after Super Mario Bros. Deluxe on the Game Boy Color, a vastly superior port that, despite its screen crunch, it added The Lost Levels as an unlockable, hidden Yoshi eggs, red coin challenges, Boo races, and even a built-in calendar and planner (because, in a pre-smartphone world, why not?). Compared to that, the GBA release felt lazy at best. Still, it’s better than nothing.

Other events & merchandise: A Shigeru Miyamoto interview on Nintendo’s official website discussing the making of the original Super Mario Bros., plus a set of five collectible keychains distributed by Australian Burger King (a.k.a. Hungry Jack’s). That’s about it.

Verdict: Nintendo finally made Mario’s anniversary “official,” but the celebration itself was modest. Consider this a rehearsal for the truly grand parties to come.

★★★☆☆

25th Anniversary: An All-Stars Celebration

Year: 2010
Main Attractions: Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition

We finally reach an anniversary that truly meant something.

2010 kicked off with a bang. In one of those rare occasions where a mainline Mario game coincided with an anniversary year, players were blessed with Super Mario Galaxy 2. Released in May, it was universally acclaimed. Critics hailed it as the best 3D Mario game ever made at the time, and many still do. It felt like the perfect way to start a milestone celebration.

But the real festivities didn’t begin until September, when Nintendo rolled out a wave of special edition bundles. There were striking red Wiis paired with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a few rare European bundles featuring an enhanced NES version of Donkey Kong (complete with restored Pie Factory stages and new animations), and even Mario Kart Wii packs that included the iconic Wii Wheel.

All good fun, but what really caught everyone’s attention was Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition for Wii. And… oh boy, what a mixed bag that was.

The disc contained nothing more than the SNES ROM of Super Mario All-Stars (the original version, not the one that has Super Mario World), accompanied by a small booklet with some underwhelming artwork and developer quotes, plus a “best of” soundtrack CD. That’s it. No visual updates, no bonus features, not even a proper emulation layer. It was one of the most baffling releases in Mario’s history, though not the last time Nintendo would leave fans scratching their heads.

Other events & merchandise: A charming two-part Miyamoto interview on the old Nintendo Channel, the debut of The Mario Drawing Song, a massive themed cake event at Nintendo World Store in New York, limited-edition posters and gift cards, and a special Iwata Asks session featuring Miyamoto and Shigesato Itoi, plus several minor events around the world.

Verdict: It’s easy to let the All-Stars fiasco cloud our memory of this anniversary. Many fans still remember the disappointment and the countless “what could have been” articles that followed. But in hindsight, between the celebratory bundles, global events, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 standing tall as the crown jewel, this was one of (if not the) best Mario anniversaries to date. It truly felt special, a year where Nintendo made Mario’s legacy count.

★★★★★

30th Anniversary: Make Your Own Mario

Year: 2015
Main Attraction: Super Mario Maker

2015 was a rough year to be a Nintendo fan. After the massive highs of the Wii and the original DS, players looking for their Mario fix were now stuck between the struggling Wii U and the slow-burning 3DS. The handheld would later earn its redemption arc, but at the time, the Wii U was shaping up to be one of the biggest commercial flops in Nintendo’s history. And then, tragedy struck: the passing of Satoru Iwata in July left fans heartbroken. It was a somber year for the company, one defined by uncertainty and grief.

The biggest releases of the time were Splatoon and the Majora’s Mask 3D remake, both strong titles, but the Mario catalog painted a different picture. Mario Party 10 and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash were easily the weakest entries in their respective series (unless you count the portable Mario Party experiments), and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, released that December in Japan, landed with a quiet “meh” compared to the charm of its predecessors. Not exactly the kind of setup that screams celebration.

Yet somehow, Nintendo found a way to honor Mario’s 30th in a deeply admirable fashion, by finally granting a long-standing fan wish: let players create their own Mario levels in an official way. Super Mario Maker arrived with a comprehensive set of tools, a clean and joyful presentation, luxurious amiibo support, and a vibrant online community that exploded with creativity. It was a love letter to both Mario’s legacy and his fans’ imaginations, the brightest light in an otherwise gloomy year.

The celebration also included two 30th Anniversary Mario amiibo figures, a Japan-exclusive 3DS bundle, and a stunning two-disc soundtrack album (The 30th Anniversary Super Mario Bros. Music), which remains one of the finest Mario music collections ever made.

Other events & merchandise: The Let’s Super Mario charity campaign, a Mario Music Festival in Shibuya, themed Hot Wheels toy cars, beautifully designed hanafuda and playing cards, two collector’s books released exclusively in Japan, and a mix of smaller events and tie-ins.

Verdict: This one’s complicated. Nintendo did its best under tough circumstances, and Super Mario Maker shone as a brilliant, heartfelt tribute. But when you step back and see the whole picture, it’s hard to ignore the melancholy hanging over this celebration. Admirable effort, bittersweet execution.

★★☆☆☆

35th Anniversary: For a Limited Time Only

Year: 2020
Main Attractions: Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Mario Bros. 35, Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario All-Stars on Nintendo Switch Online

This anniversary was traumatic for reasons far beyond gaming since 2020 marked the start of the global pandemic, which threw release schedules into chaos and reshaped how people experienced entertainment. For Nintendo, it also turned Animal Crossing: New Horizons into an unlikely cultural phenomenon. Released at exactly the right time, it helped the Switch (already a hit) reach stratospheric success, cementing it as the company’s best-selling home console to date.

But Mario wasn’t about to fade into the background on his 35th birthday. While Paper Mario: The Origami King gave fans a charming single-player adventure and people who didn’t own a WiiU (basically, the majority of Earth’s population) could finally play Super Mario 3D World with its amazing expansion Bowser’s Fury, the real celebrations were the real deal.

The smaller treats included a gorgeous Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch handheld and the addition of the original Super Mario All-Stars to the Nintendo Switch Online catalog, a nice touch of nostalgia for subscribers. But the spotlight fell on two releases:

• Super Mario Bros. 35, a battle royale twist on the classic formula where 35 players raced through familiar stages, sending defeated enemies into each other’s screens à la Tetris 99.

• Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a compilation of Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy, complete with their soundtracks and light graphical enhancements.

Those two games should hit like a home run. The first presented a chaotic and addictive way to experience the first Super Mario Bros. game and the second reunited three of the best 3D platformers of all time. All well and good… until fans noticed the small print: both would only be available for a limited time, both physically (in the case of 3D All Stars) and digitally. Cue the collective groan of every preservationist on the planet.

The limited-time stunt became one of the most baffling marketing moves in recent Nintendo history. It created artificial scarcity, fueled scalper chaos, and turned a celebration of history into a ticking clock. It didn’t help that the emulation quality, while mostly competent, lacked the polish fans expected from such iconic titles.

Still, there was something quietly poetic about this lineup. Having Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario World, and Yoshi’s Island available on the Nintendo Switch Online service, plus the 3D All-Stars collection and the 3D World re-release, meant that, for a brief shining moment, you could play almost every mainline Super Mario game ever released on a single console. Well, except Galaxy 2, but Nintendo would “fix” that problem five years later.

Other events & merchandise: Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (a hybrid AR racing set using real RC karts), special themed Splatfests in Splatoon 2, limited-time Super Mario items in Animal Crossing, a LEGO Mario expansion line, and plenty of cross-promotional merch, from Puma sneakers to Monopoly sets and commemorative Uniqlo shirts.

Verdict: Let’s face it: Mario has had far worse birthdays than this one. Despite the tone-deaf “limited-time” strategy and the bittersweet end of Super Mario Bros. 35, this anniversary packed a lot of content for a year when the world had stopped spinning. A flawed but heartfelt celebration that still gave fans plenty to enjoy while stuck at home.

★★★★☆

40th Anniversary: The Weight of the Crown

Year: 2025
Main Attractions: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 Remasters, and Rosalina’s Storybook

Forty years. That’s an entire lifetime in gaming terms. And here’s Mario, once again celebrating in full glory. This time, though, the devil is in the details. Since this celebration is still unfolding as I write, it deserves a closer look.

The Switch 2 debuted this year alongside two major Nintendo releases: Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. Not only that, Mario Party Jamboree received a special edition for the new console. Echoing the 20th anniversary, we began this milestone with a new Mario Party (a somewhat rehashed and misled one, priced at $20 for the expansion and offering little beyond the original Switch version) and the biggest, most ambitious Mario Kart yet. The catch on this last one? The price tag: $80 for digital, $90 for physical. Not exactly a festive start.

Last year, Nintendo teased fans with a Mario-centric Direct. This time, however, the presentation was shadow-dropped during the first half of what was expected to be a massive showcase for the Switch 2. With the console’s initial lineup still feeling light, fans were expecting a huge blowout of new titles. Instead, the first segment was dedicated entirely to Mario’s 40th anniversary.

The big question on everyone’s mind: Would there be a new mainline Super Mario game? After all, Odyssey was eight years old by now, and even with Donkey Kong Bananza fresh on shelves, the idea didn’t seem far-fetched.

Nope. No new 3D Mario.

Instead, the announcements were… fine. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie finally got its first teaser. Super Mario Bros. Wonder was confirmed for an expanded Switch 2 version (which, at this point, had become standard Nintendo practice). There were a couple of smaller reveals (Mario Tennis Fever and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book) and, at the center of it all, the long-awaited HD remasters of Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2.

The remasters were genuinely exciting: two of the Wii’s finest games, finally updated with HD visuals, complete soundtracks, and even a physical edition of Rosalina’s Storybook, now featuring a brand-new chapter. But for many fans, it all felt like déjà vu. The memories of the 3D All-Stars fiasco were still fresh, and with each title priced separately at $40 apiece, the déjà vu came with sticker shock. Beyond that, the lineup leaned more toward museum exhibit than milestone celebration.

Other events & merchandise: the 40th Anniversary logo being featured in the Kyoto Marathon 2026, Nintendo Museum Official Book Vol. 1 to be available exclusively at Nintendo Museum, new Mario and Rosalina amiibo tied to the Galaxy remasters, a wave of amiibo reprints, and online tributes across Nintendo’s social media channels.

Verdict: There’s a lot here, sure, but the fine print makes everything taste a little sour. Maybe Mario’s shadow has grown so large that no celebration can truly measure up. At this point, how do you top yourself? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you just polish the crown and hope everyone still claps. Here’s hoping those remaster prices drop someday and that the new Galaxy Movie shines as bright as the first one.

★★★☆☆

Keeping the Flame Alive

After everything we’ve seen today, I can confidently say that the Super Mario 40th Anniversary isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to the Italian plumber. In fact, excluding the 15th (which basically didn’t exist), the 30th remains the true low point. The difference is that this latest celebration is unfolding in a strange, transitional, and somewhat controversial moment for Nintendo.

It would be tempting to say that each Mario anniversary reflects Nintendo’s state of mind at the time. And sometimes, that rings perfectly true — like the 30th, which mirrored the company’s turbulence in 2015. The 40th, though, feels more like a victory lap: confident it’s already won, yet hesitant to take a new leap. And maybe that’s the real story here.

When a company spends four decades defining what “fun” means, every birthday becomes less about blowing out candles and more about keeping the flame alive. Every birthday will feel hollow at some point, but at least they keep reminding us why we love Super Mario so much.

Here’s to forty years of jumping, running, and rescuing princesses. And here’s hoping that, next time, Nintendo throws a party truly worthy of the king of them all.

There are games you play that take part of the zeitgeist and everybody forget soon after, relegated to the bottom of our backlogs to never be played again. There are masterpieces that win universal acclaim, where you agree with their greatness despite spotting some flaws, but doesn’t stick with you for some reason.

And there are games that you know aren’t perfect, but feel like they were tailored for you, as if every design choice, every detail, was coded with your history and preferences in mind.

For me, Shadow Labyrinth is one of those rare titles.

As I mentioned in my review last week, I became obsessed with Shadow Labyrinth in ways I never expected. I don’t deny its flaws, nor the elements that may push it away from a wider audience. But the deeper I went, the more I played, read, and connected dots, the more I fell in love with it, for reasons most people wouldn’t even imagine.

Now, a warning: it’s unavoidable that there will be some spoilers ahead. I’ll try to keep them minimal, but if you’d rather wander the labyrinth blindly, bookmark this and come back later.

For everyone else, let me walk you through the 15 reasons why Shadow Labyrinth is the ultimate Namco sci-fi fantasy, and why this game means so much to me.

1. It’s the first Pac-Man game developed in-house by Bandai Namco in 7 years

The last time Bandai Namco itself touched a Pac-Man release was Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus back in 2018. Everything since then — like Pac-Man 99 (Arika), Mega Tunnel Battle (Heavy Iron Studios), World Re-PAC (Now Production) — was outsourced to other studios.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but while a lot of these games were enjoyable and created by skilled developers, they just didn't have the same vibe. With Shadow Labyrinth, even though it had a totally different approach, Pac-Man felt like it was coming back home.

2. The idea came from someone who had reinvented Pac-Man before

The project is the brainchild of Toru Takahashi, the executive producer who once helped reshape Pac-Man for a new era. He oversaw other minor Bandai Namco projects, like the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures games and Pac-Man Dash! for mobile. However, his most important project was none other than the groundbreaking Pac-Man Championship Edition for Xbox Live Arcade in 2007.

Back then, CE was an event: it was Pac-Man reborn to modern audiences without losing his essence. It managed to do two things at once: it brought our beloved yellow chomper back into the limelight in the new millennium and made him the face of the new Live Arcade service. Fast forward to 2025, and Takahashi put a reinvention of Pac-Man in the spotlight yet again.

And speaking of Championship Edition…

3. It secretly contains what feels like Pac-Man Championship Edition 3

Halfway through Shadow Labyrinth, you stumble upon glowing monoliths that transport PUCK into an alternative dimension called the MAZE. Suddenly, the game shifts gears into a frantic, neon-drenched challenge mode, fighting off G-Host bugs in levels that feel ripped straight out of Championship Edition 2 Plus, but with new rules and a fresh coat of paint.

It’s like discovering an entire extra game hidden inside an already big game. And for someone like me, who’s been waiting for CE3 for years, this was worth the ticket alone.

4. It was produced by Bandai Namco’s heavyweights

Shadow Labyrinth’s producer was Seigo Aizawa (of Pac-Man 99 fame), backed by none other than Katsuhiro Harada, the man who has helmed Tekken since its third entry. And to nail the Metroidvania structure, they brought in Tomoaki Fukui, who once worked on Kirby & the Amazing Mirror.

That pedigree matters. You can feel the collision of fighting game intensity, Kirby’s labyrinthine design, and Pac-Man’s DNA all under one roof. It’s not a coincidence the game feels so ambitious. After all, it was guided by people who knew how these genres work.

5. The main characters were designed by Klonoa’s artist

Yoshihiko Arai, the artist behind Klonoa, designed both the Swordsman and PUCK. And once you know that, you can’t unsee it: the same rounded edges, the same blend of cuteness and melancholy, and the fact that both protagonists have a Pac-Man symbol near their heads is no mere coincidence. The Swordsman, summoned from another world and draped in Pac-Man imagery, feels like Klonoa’s spiritual cousin. And PUCK being equal parts mascot, guide, and partner, carries the same energy as Klonoa’s iconic Pac-Man cap.

For longtime Namco fans, it’s like watching two branches of the family tree finally connect.

6. It became the climax of the UGSF saga

For those who don’t know, UGSF stands for United Galaxy Space Force, a canon curation of various Namco space-themed games that includes classics like Ace Combat 3, Dig Dug, Galaga, and Starblade that take part in the same shared universe.

Originally, Shadow Labyrinth wasn’t even tied to the UGSF timeline. Early prototypes toyed with ideas like Pac-Man ghosts possessing animals (thankfully, this bizarre idea was early abandoned.) Everything changed when Hisaharu Tago, current director of the UGSF project, joined in. He reshaped the plot into the sprawling sci-fi adventure we have now, positioning Shadow Labyrinth as a new climax for the entire saga.

Thanks to him, the game went from being just a reinvention of Pac-Man to becoming the culmination of decades of Namco sci-fi, woven into a single labyrinth.

7. It gave the perfect excuse to include more games into the UGSF timeline

At one point, PUCK and the Swordsman must retrieve the Dimension Warp Drive, an item first seen in Galaga ’88. This game was already part of the UGSF timeline before, but the character who holds such item is none other than the Emperor Galaga, a boss originally mentioned in Galaga Legions. That one choice cemented this 2008 game as an official UGSF entry.

From there, Bandai Namco had the perfect excuse to update the UGSF timeline in order to revisit some new information regarding the Baraduke games and even include Nebulasray, a classic shmup from 1994 that I always suspected to share connections with the series.

For fans like me who’ve spent years cross-referencing obscure manuals and Japanese blog posts, it felt like watching puzzle pieces finally click into place.

But nothing compares with its biggest revelation…

8. It finally recognized Xevious as a crucial part of the series

For years, Namco downplayed Xevious’s role in the UGSF. Even with all the references — the Xevian race popping up in Star Ixiom or Final Blaster, for example — the official word is that Xevious wasn’t a part of the timeline whatsoever.

Shadow Labyrinth changed that with one bold move: the entire game takes place on the planet Xevious, and its main villain is none other than Gamp, the arcade original’s antagonist. Its influence is so big that manifests even in hidden details: Operation Sheyenne and Operation Panzer, two key story beats, turned out to be lifted from working titles of the original Xevious game. Not only that, the Xevian language, once relegated to obscure manuals, is written all over the labyrinth (and even hidden in promo materials!)

Suddenly, decades of speculation became fact. Namco finally admitted what we always knew and, as a fan, I couldn’t feel happier for that.

9. It continued the story of an unreleased game

One of the biggest problems in the UGSF series (and the thing that fascinates me the most) is that its timeline is messy, littered with obscure references and even unreleased titles. The biggest of them is New Space Order, an RTS arcade game planned for 2004 as the original climax of the saga, but canceled after its short test run.

Shadow Labyrinth quietly resurrects it by picking up its unfinished threads and giving players the payoff that was shelved for two decades. When I realized this, a chill ran down my spine. It was like uncovering a piece of lost history, suddenly made whole.

So, for anyone who played Shadow Labyrinth, now you get the main reference for that super hard-to-get item in the MAZE sections.

10. It gave the Bosconian people an identity

I’ve loved Bosconian since I first played it on Namco Museum Vol. 1 for the original PlayStation. But until now, its “star destroyer” foes were just faceless enemies, only identified by their hexagonal space stations.

Shadow Labyrinth finally gave them culture, voices, and purpose. In the labyrinth, they’re upgraded from their status as mere targets to become merchants, guides, and allies, fleshing out a corner of the Namco mythos I never thought I’d see explored.

For me, this one was personal. It was a delight to watch one of my all-time favorite arcade relics elevated into the living fabric of the UGSF universe.

11. It even referenced Splatterhouse (for some odd reason)

On paper, Shadow Labyrinth is firmly a UGSF story. But the Bandai Namco team slipped in a curveball: in the Collector’s Edition, a hidden black-light map revealed Splatterhouse among its inspirations.

At first, I thought it was just a cheeky nod to some minor enemies… at least until I reached Jen Hybri, a grotesque boss in the Bosconian Ruins whose design clearly channels Rick from Splatterhouse. It was bizarre, unexpected… and surprisingly, it worked.

It was a pleasant reminder that Namco’s legacy isn’t cleanly divided. In fact, it’s so cohesive that even their darkest experiments bleed into their grandest universes.

12. It pays subtle tribute to The Tower of Druaga

If you’ve been a Namco fan long enough, you probably saw Shadow Labyrinth’s cover art and thought: that reminds me of the flyer art from Tower of Druaga. Like Klonoa, it’s not another coincidence.

The Druaga influence is everywhere, from the labyrinthine design to achievements like “Turmoil,” which rewards you with a medal engraved with Gilgamesh, the series protagonist. Even the MAZE soundtrack nods to it with “Babylonian Rhapsody,” a remix stuffed with samples from the original arcade. It’s not obvious to newcomers, but for old-school fans, it feels like meeting an old friend in disguise.

13. Bandai Namco’s artists celebrated with special tributes

When the game launched, Namco’s biggest artists marked the occasion with commemorative art pieces like sketches and celebratory illustrations. As you can see above, they all exude charm and charisma.

To me, this went beyond marketing fluff and showed how much the studio cared, how internally they recognized Shadow Labyrinth as more than a risky experiment. They all knew that it was a milestone worth celebrating, not just another release to push out the door.

14. The sheer amount of hidden details could make any Namco fan gush

There are so many other details hidden in this game that I could include at least more 10 entries. But since this list was long enough, let me list some of my favorites below.

• Following the UGSF tradition of positioning its entries in years that are related to the original games, the year Shadow Labyrinth takes place, 3333, references both Pac-Man’s development code (V3) and the canceled Bosconian sequel, New Bosconian (V33).

• The game is one of the rare occasions in the UGSF series that a character from a past game is referenced or plays a bigger role in the plot: in this case, Aegina, from Japan’s exclusive Shin-Gun Destroy! Girl's Tank Battalion.

• The achievement names nod back to Star Luster, a forgotten NES gem I adore. Each achievement references a ranking you get according to your final score in that game.

Every corner whispered: this game was made for fans like you.

And nothing speaks this louder than its ending…

15. Its ending quotes the very first UGSF game ever made

I won’t spoil the details, but during the game’s finale, the characters invoke a phrase you can see in the attract mode of Galaxian, the 1980 arcade title that started the entire UGSF mythos.

When I read that sentence, I knew I wasn’t just finishing a game. I was witnessing a pivotal moment in the USGF series. In that moment, the kid who pumped quarters into Galaga, the teenager who lost afternoons in Xevious, and the adult still chasing Namco’s cosmic breadcrumbs… all of them were there with me.

And yes, I’ll admit it: I cried. Sounds silly, but it was an incredibly emotional moment for me.

It brought things full circle. To think that the original Pac-Man from 1980 has a boss from Galaxian as one of the items he could eat, basically making it the first crossover in gaming, and now having both games colliding in such a special moment 45 years later is nothing less than magical.

That’s why this ending will stick with me, and with old Namco fans, for years to come.

But to explain how the whole UGSF saga came to this, I would need a whole new post. And that’s a story for another time.

When Secret Level was announced last August, I barely blinked. To be honest, I completely ignored it.

An “adult anthology series” based on different games? It sounded gimmicky from the start. I didn’t even bother to check the trailer. To deepen my aversion even further, I heard about a bizarre Pac-Man episode, my favorite video game character of all time, reduced to some robot sidekick for a swordsman wandering an alien planet.

My eyes rolled so hard I nearly strained them. Another Western attempt at being edgy just for attention, I thought. Needless to say, when the series finally dropped on December 10th, I didn’t think it deserved a single second of my time.

But then, only a couple of days later, something unexpected happened: Bandai Namco revealed Shadow Labyrinth at The Game Awards and, for everyone's surprise, they confirmed that very same “freaky Pac-Man episode” was a prequel to the game. What many of us dismissed as a throwaway experiment was, in fact, a move blessed by Pac-Man’s own creators.

The game itself looked… bizarre. A Metroidvania with Pac-Man elements? Strange, but just intriguing enough to hook me. As a lifelong Castlevania and Metroid fan, I thought, maybe — just maybe — this could work.

So I caved. To prepare to what would come in the following year, I sat down and watched that oddball Pac-Man episode, “Circle.” At first, it was as bad as I feared: a humanoid crawling out of an incubation pod straight out of Alien: Resurrection, greeted by a robot cleverly named PUCK babbling about “chosen ones” escaping “the labyrinth.” Cliché piled on cliché.

And then... the revelation.

The humanoid, naked, grabbed what looked like a flag from the ground to cover himself. The camera panned behind him, revealing what was printed on his makeshift cloak.

Right there, visible to me and everyone else in the world, was four letters. Four letters that, as a hardcore Namco fan, had amused me for decades…

UGSF.

I jumped out of my chair and screamed. In one sneaky cut, “Circle” unceremoniously announced that Shadow Labyrinth belonged to the United Galaxy Space Force series, Namco’s sprawling sci-fi timeline that ties together Galaga, Ace Combat, Dig Dug, and so many other classics in a shared universe.

In a heartbeat, my complete disdain turned into sheer obsession.

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When Subversion Is Not for Subversion’s Sake

The UGSF reveal flipped my perspective in an instant. Suddenly, this was more than just another edgy reimagining of an iconic character. It has a purpose behind this, and I was all aboard.

However, as most of us know, not every attempt at “reinventing” a classic earns that kind of reaction. In fact, most of them fail miserably.

Take Bomberman: Act Zero. Remember that? Back in 2006, Hudson Soft tried to give their cute, bomb-dropping mascot a gritty makeover for the Xbox 360. Gone were the cheerful colors and quirky charm; in their place, we had a faceless cyborg trudging through sterile arenas. It was a soulless, clunky idea that stripped away everything that made Bomberman beloved in the first place. Nowadays, the game is remembered more as a cautionary tale than a fresh start.

And that’s not the only example. Over the years, we’ve seen a wave of reinventions that lean on shock value rather than substance. It’s become pretty standard to find things like horror takes on beloved kids' characters (that dreadful Pooh movie, for example, made just to exploit an expired copyright) or franchises being taken over by creators who seem more interested in telling their own random stories rather than diving into what these iconic figures could bring to today’s world. Think of Star Wars after Disney’s buyout: I lost count on how many moments where established characters and lore were twisted to fit someone else’s vision, often at odds with the spirit of the originals.

Notice a pattern? These missteps usually come from two places: either people completely unrelated to the original IP, or corporate mandates from folks who didn’t understand (or worse, didn’t care about) what made the franchise special.

And that’s where Shadow Labyrinth stands apart. The game wasn’t conceived from an outsider’s edgy pitch. It was born from an in-house team at Bandai Namco, out of a genuine desire to do something bold for Pac-Man’s 40th anniversary and deliver it in time for his 45th. Heck, even Toru Iwatani, the original creator of Pac-Man, lent his full support! That sincerity shows in every part of this game. From the very start, its darker twist is backed by genuine conviction.

When the team decided to weave the game into the UGSF timeline later in development, though, it stopped being just a new look at Pac-Man and became a love letter to the studio’s past, a gift to old-school Namco fans who grew up with the company’s arcade golden age. Not only that, key developers of well established Namco series were involved to make Shadow Labyrinth the best game they could create. You can feel it everywhere: from the involvement of veterans behind Klonoa and the Tales of series, to the decision to release a fully complete game without holding content hostage behind DLC.

Now, after 45 hours of exploring its labyrinthine world, uncovering reference after reference (including a final revelation that left me screaming like the kid I used to be), I can say, with no hesitation, that there’s heart in every corner of this dark, twisted labyrinth.

A Metroidvania with a Souls-Like Inspiration

I’ll save the full story breakdown for another post, because the game is still fresh and part of the fun is piecing it together yourself. But here’s the gist: as most isekai stories you find out there, Shadow Labyrinth begins when someone takes a random video game player from our world and drops it into a fractured dimension where survival hinges on exploration, discovery, and trust in your unlikely companion, PUCK. From here, the game never sits you down to explain what’s happening. Like the best Metroidvanias and Souls-like games before it, it hands you a sword, points to the labyrinth, and says: go figure it out.

That design philosophy instantly clicked with me. I love Metroidvanias. I love Souls-likes. And this strange hybrid managed to capture the strengths of both. The world doesn’t unfold in a straight line, but coils around itself, daring you to return when you’ve grown stronger or smarter. Every corner hides a secret, every shortcut feels earned, and every revelation comes from your own persistence.

The Pac-Man DNA shows up in unexpected but delightful ways. When I saw the first trailer, I thought the idea of sticking Pac-Man to walls to chomp pellets would feel awkward or forced. To my surprise, it blended in seamlessly. Not only that, maze segments inspired by Pac-Man Championship Edition punctuate the pacing beautifully, breaking the rhythm of sword-swinging exploration with bursts of classic arcade energy. And PUCK, who I once dismissed as a gimmick, proved to be invaluable — both mechanically and narratively — grounding the whole experience in a way that made sense.

Exploration, though, is where Shadow Labyrinth shines, but its beauty hides behind its game mechanics. At first, some limitations feel rough: no double jump until very late in the game, some awkward platforming in the beginning, and a map system that seems more cryptic than helpful will make most people give up in the first few hours. Other quirks like a teleport system that only works if you buy an specific item sounds irritating for anyone who is used to its modern peers and take this feature for granted. Upgrades trickle in cautiously, with your sword combo capped at three swings until you invest in some attack expansions tied to the ESP system, a kind of stamina-meets-skill tree hybrid. Even the hookshot, the ACTIV, can be maddeningly precise if you spend most of the game using the D-Pad and suddenly needs to use the left analog stick to land it in the right place. Even GAIA, the mecha robot you can transform into after absorbing some enemies, feels a bit clumsy with its limited attacks. For players used to design conveniences established in the last decade, the whole experience can feel extremely punishing.

You might see this as a bunch of complaints and think that this game was rushed or created without any real consideration for modern Metroidvania conventions. However, once you grasp the philosophy behind these mechanics, nothing feels accidental. Every limitation is by design, so much so that it seems like every annoyance is intentionally crafted to encourage players to improve rather than just making them want to throw their controllers against the wall. As result, overcoming those restrictions never felt like busywork. Instead, it felt like you honing your abilities, the kind os mastery that made me prouder of clearing a room here than of besting entire bosses in other games. In fact, I often felt more accomplished than I did in games like Hollow Knight, since Shadow Labyrinth forced me to sharpen the basics, not just lean on fancy upgrades.

What impressed me most was how meticulously the world was built. Each new region, every snippet of story, every hidden reference felt deliberately placed as if the developers had spent their five years of work chiseling details into stone. The result is a huge labyrintic world that feels alive, not just a backdrop for its mechanics. It’s organic, cohesive, and, in its own way, strangely beautiful.

So… Is Shadow Labyrinth Worth a Shot?

I’m not gonna lie, knowing myself, I recognize that recommending Shadow Labyrinth without sounding like a total fanboy is hard.

It's hard to ignore the fact that the game has its rough edges. Some design choices will frustrate you, and its length (easily 30+ hours) demands commitment. If those hurdles already put you off, I don’t blame you.

However, to dismiss this game as just “Pac-Man gone edgy” would be a mistake. There’s no cheap subversion here, no hollow attempt at shock value. What Bandai Namco delivered here is something rare: a reinvention born from respect, conviction, and pure love for its own history.

Part of the magic of Shadow Labyrinth is stitching its lore together piece by piece, letting discoveries hit you in the order you earn them. And beyond the narrative itself, the game is overflowing with references, influences, and callbacks that deserve their own spotlight… but for that, I’ll need an entire post.

That’s why next week, I’ll dive into 15 reasons why Shadow Labyrinth is the ultimate Namco sci-fi fantasy, from obscure arcade callbacks to the way it ties together decades of the UGSF saga.

For now, all I can say is this: after 45 hours wandering its dark corridors, shouting at its surprises, and grinning at its audacity, I believe Shadow Labyrinth is more than a reinvention. It’s a celebration, in its most unhinged form, of Pac-Man, of Namco, and of what games can become when creators truly care.

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