P.Ackman for Windows

An arcade classic reimagined as horror

P.Ackman is a free game that pays homage to the arcade classic Pac-Man while also parodying it by turning it into a survival horror game. The familiar set-up of controlling a yellow character and avoiding ghosts remains intact, but the overall tone is now genuinely creepy.

There are many variations on Pac-Man available, from Pacman 2005 to Deluxe Pacman, but this one has a real twist. P.Ackman is designed to inject an element of real horror into the game while retaining the recognizable iconography of the original Pac-Man.

Pac-Man as first-person horror

In the game, Pac-Man is reimagined as an astronaut in a yellow suit who is trapped on board a spaceship. The ghosts, meanwhile, are now the spirits of deceased spacemen. The game uses a first-person viewpoint as you see through the eyes of P.Ackman and navigate the dark, futuristic surroundings.

familiar elements, new setting

The pill-eating element of the original Pac-Man is re-invented for the new setting. To survive, you will need to consume pellets of oxygen that will prevent you from suffocating. Pac-Man's fruit becomes a series of holographic key cards. Rather than eating ghosts, you shoot them with the Power Pellet Gun.

More survival horror than Pac-Man

It should be noted that P.Ackman owes almost nothing to Pac-Man in terms of gameplay. This is a first-person survival horror through and through, its only connection to the arcade classic being its humorous usage of Pac-Man iconography. In other words, it uses Pac-Man as a joke, not a true inspiration.

Fairly tame horror

Despite the comical elements of its premise, P.Ackman is tense and contains some fairly graphic gore (the corpses of dead astronauts are littered through the setting). This means that it will be unsuitable for children. However, as far as survival horror games go, it is fairly tame.