You control Pac-Man eating dots in a maze while ninety-eight other players do the same thing at once online, and eating certain pellets lets you send ghosts to slow down your rivals. Managing your own maze while watching for incoming attacks from other boards keeps every round tense even though the core game is simple. It turns a very old arcade formula into something surprisingly competitive.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
Why it lands
A brilliant reinvention of an ancient formula, proving battle royale tension can work even in a decades-old maze game.
How it plays
Sending ghosts to rivals adds a sharp layer of strategy atop familiar munching, and matches move at a thrillingly frantic pace.
Style and score
Bright, retro-flavored visuals keep the focus on readability during the chaos, a smart choice for a game this fast.
Who it's for
Perfect for quick competitive sessions, though the lack of any single-player depth means it lives or dies on its online population.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You control the familiar yellow circle from an overhead maze, eating dots and avoiding ghosts just like the original Pac-Man, except now you can see ninety-eight other tiny mazes running at the same time on the sides of your screen, all playing the same game against each other. The stick simply moves Pac-Man through the maze, and eating one of the four big power pellets lets you eat ghosts for a short time, which sends a slowing obstacle called a jammer Pac-Man into an opponent's maze of your choosing. Your first ten minutes will feel just like classic Pac-Man, until you realize you can tap a button to target specific opponents, like the ones about to win, and that doing well against ghosts directly hurts other real players.
Most of your time in a match is spent balancing two things at once: surviving your own maze by avoiding ghosts, and using power pellets strategically to send jammers at opponents instead of just eating dots for points. As players get eliminated the game speeds up and the remaining boards fight harder for survival, so a match that starts calm becomes frantic in its final minute as the last handful of players trade attacks. Individual matches only last a few minutes, so it is easy to play match after match trying to improve your placement.
Session to session it has the pull of a game you can play in short bursts while still improving over time, since the targeting choices add real strategy under the simple controls. What may frustrate newcomers is losing quickly to more experienced players who understand jammer timing, and that some extra modes and themes cost more money on top of the free base game. Since the core game is free for Switch Online members, it costs nothing to see if the format clicks with you.