Kotama and Academy Citadel

Kotama and Academy Citadel hits the ground running and expects you to keep up from frame 1. It's a beautiful and well animated metroidvania that packs a punch when it comes to art and gameplay, but leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to creating a cohesive beginning-and-end narrative experience.

Kotama and Academy Citadel was a fun experience that you can tell it took years to put together. With a lot of passion behind each character, story, and twist that I came across. Sure there was some very voluptuous reasons to play the game. The gameplay more than makes up for it. There’s even the creative mechanics that you’ll learn how to preform and execute on the fly. So, if you pick up the game, don’t give up so soon. You’ve just start your way to being the next Carmel Star. I just hope they read this and understand to just have certain pop-ups when getting the same item again only once. I give Kotama and Academy Citadel the Thumb Culture Gold Award

Kotama’s game doesn’t always nail every aspect that same of the greats of the genre do, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have a solid combat system, boss fights, and excellent visuals and information relaying. This is a solid Metroidvania title to add to your ever-increasing backlog.

There are a lot of different things in Kotama and Academy Citadel. It has a great combat system, a smart way to heal, and a strong visual personality through the way the characters are designed. Plus, it has rough platforming, a story that isn’t focused, technical problems, and systems that aren’t fully developed and never quite reach their full promise.

Kotama and Academy Citadel is fun once you stop trying to brute-force it. Enemies hit hard, healing costs money, and fights make more sense when you start switching weapons and reacting instead of rushing in. It’s rough in spots, and the story doesn’t push itself to the front, but if you like metroidvanias where getting better comes from playing smarter, it’s easy to stick with.

Kotama & Academy Citadel is a competent metroidvania that clearly understands the fundamentals of the genre and delivers a solid overall experience. The fast, combo-heavy combat and the vast map packed with content are standout features, and the colorful anime-style atmosphere helps make the adventure engaging. Still, its approach is quite conservative: the traversal abilities follow the expected pattern, and the main structure is almost entirely linear. Although it introduces interesting ideas, the game does not explore these mechanics deeply enough to leave a lasting impact. The result is an enjoyable, but not a particularly bold experience.

Kotama and Academy Citadel stands out as a cheerful counterpoint to a genre that’s lately leaned hard into gloom and grit. It’s also my latest addiction; a consistently enjoyable trip whether you’re experiencing it at its highest highs or pushing through its not very significant lows. As a bonus, it’s also shockingly affordable for just how much visual personality it brings to the table.

A good metroidvania is all about that fluid movement, rewarding exploration and a simple yet exciting combat. Kotama and the Academy Citadel checked all that except for some polish issues

A fairly by-the-book platformer where gameplay never goes to any great heights or depths. Certain small aspects regarding platforming and combat can occasionally become annoying, but these negatives aside, the art and general charm of the game is quiet compelling. The story hints at some dark sci-fi plots, and exploration is satisfying, if sometimes annoyingly difficult. The characters are especially attractive with their highly animated visual novel portraits, which gives a sense of life this genre often doesn't have. Overall, though, Kotama and Academy Citadel feels like it needed more cohesion to really come together.