Set the Scene
I’ll be honest: I’m not the biggest Metroidvania person. It’s not that I dislike the genre. I’ve played plenty of games that fall under the Metroidvania umbrella and enjoyed them, but some of the genre’s most beloved conventions are also some of the things that frustrate me the most as a player. I don’t always love the way maps are designed, and I frequently find myself wishing these games would give me a little more direction instead of expecting me to remember every blocked-off doorway and unexplored hallway I’ve encountered along the way. I understand that exploration and discovery are fundamental parts of the appeal for many Metroidvania fans, but I’m probably an outlier in that regard.
That is part of the reason Kotama and the Academy Citadel caught my attention. The game’s anime-inspired science-fiction aesthetic immediately appealed to me. I’m a huge anime fan, and the opportunity to explore a futuristic academy filled with colorful characters and flashy combat sounded like exactly the kind of Metroidvania that could potentially win me over. The premise is also interesting: Kotama is an exchange student at the Carmel Academy Citadel, where students compete in the Carmel Star Election, with the winner earning the prestigious Carmel Star.
Unfortunately, Kotama and the Academy Citadel eventually ran into the same problems I’ve had with other games in the genre. There is a lot here that I genuinely like, particularly the combat, boss encounters and overall presentation, but the game combines its Metroidvania structure with enough Souls-like mechanics and intentionally opaque exploration that I often felt like I was fighting the design as much as I was fighting the enemies.
Gameplay
The first thing that stood out to me about Kotama and the Academy Citadel is how well designed the individual pieces feel. The platforming works. The enemy encounters generally feel deliberate. The various abilities you acquire throughout the adventure open up previously inaccessible sections of the academy in the way you’d expect from a Metroidvania. There is a clear sense that the developers carefully considered how these mechanics interact with the world, and that attention to design is one of the game’s biggest strengths.
The problem is that the game is also clearly designed around the expectations of a very specific type of Metroidvania player. If you already enjoy Souls-like combat, limited direction, backtracking and figuring out the world largely through your own experimentation, Kotama has a lot to offer. If, like me, you occasionally look at a Metroidvania map and think, “Can somebody please just tell me where the hell I’m supposed to go?” the experience becomes considerably more frustrating.
That distinction matters because I don’t think the game is poorly designed. In many ways, I think it is designed quite well. It is simply designed around a player who enjoys some of the things that I personally struggle with.
Combat Is Easily the Best Part
If there is one thing I want to make abundantly clear, it is that Kotama and the Academy Citadel has excellent combat.
Kotama’s attacks have a satisfying amount of weight behind them without feeling sluggish, and enemy attacks are generally telegraphed clearly enough that when I got hit, I usually understood why. The real star of the combat system, however, is the Fluid Detonation mechanic.
As you attack enemies, you build up a purple substance called Fluid around them. Once enough Fluid has accumulated, you can detonate it with a powerful attack. Doing so deals significant damage, breaks through the enemy’s detonation points and can stagger them, creating an opening for you to really go to town.
More importantly, detonating Fluid also restores Kotama’s health. That turns the mechanic into much more than a simple damage tool. Considering how much punishment Kotama can take, particularly in the later portions of the game, understanding when to build Fluid, when to detonate it and when to use a parry becomes critical to surviving encounters.
The parry system fits beautifully into this design. Successfully reading an enemy’s attack and responding with a perfectly timed parry can turn a dangerous encounter into an opportunity to recover health and deal massive damage. When everything comes together, the combat becomes genuinely captivating.
There is a satisfying rhythm to recognizing an attack, parrying it, building up Fluid and then detonating the enemy when the opportunity presents itself. It gives the combat a level of tension that I wasn’t expecting when I started the game.
Pros
Combat Is Easily the Best Part: If there is one thing I want to make abundantly clear, it is that Kotama and the Academy Citadel has excellent combat.
Kotama’s attacks have a satisfying amount of weight behind them without feeling sluggish, and enemy attacks are generally telegraphed clearly enough that when I got hit, I usually understood why. The real star of the combat system, however, is the Fluid Detonation mechanic.
As you attack enemies, you build up a purple substance called Fluid around them. Once enough Fluid has accumulated, you can detonate it with a powerful attack. Doing so deals significant damage, breaks through the enemy’s detonation points and can stagger them, creating an opening for you to really go to town.
More importantly, detonating Fluid also restores Kotama’s health. That turns the mechanic into much more than a simple damage tool. Considering how much punishment Kotama can take, particularly in the later portions of the game, understanding when to build Fluid, when to detonate it and when to use a parry becomes critical to surviving encounters.
The parry system fits beautifully into this design. Successfully reading an enemy’s attack and responding with a perfectly timed parry can turn a dangerous encounter into an opportunity to recover health and deal massive damage. When everything comes together, the combat becomes genuinely captivating.
There is a satisfying rhythm to recognizing an attack, parrying it, building up Fluid and then detonating the enemy when the opportunity presents itself. It gives the combat a level of tension that I wasn’t expecting when I started the game.
The Bosses Are the Highlight: The combat system is at its best during the boss fights. Boss encounters force you to understand the game’s mechanics rather than simply mash your way through enemies. Their attack patterns, telegraphs and openings make learning their behavior important, and the Fluid Detonation system gives you a tangible reward for playing well.
What surprised me most is that these were some of the few moments where I actually enjoyed failing. Usually, dying repeatedly in a game is enough to make me want to throw the controller across the room. Here, I often found myself wanting another attempt because I understood what had gone wrong and knew that I could probably do better on the next run.
That is one of the clearest signs that the combat works. When the game is asking me to learn an enemy, recognize an attack, land a parry and capitalize on the opening, Kotama is at its best.
Unfortunately, those moments aren’t always enough to overcome the parts of the game that frustrated me outside of combat.
Three Weapons, Three Different Ways to Play: Kotama starts with an umbrella weapon, but eventually gains access to three different weapons, each of which serves a distinct purpose.
The Umbrella Spear is the most balanced option, offering solid reach, offensive and defensive utility and the ability to glide longer distances. The Whip Hammer trades some of the Umbrella Spear’s combo potential for greater reach and heavier attacks. It can also bounce off enemies to reset your mobility and break certain barriers while airborne.
Then there’s the Liquid Blade, which is the fastest and most mobile option. It is particularly useful for players who prefer quick attacks and aggressive combos, and it also allows Kotama to parry in mid-air and break certain special doors.
The weapons aren’t simply different flavors of the same combat system. Their unique movement and environmental abilities also function as progression gates, which is an important part of the Metroidvania structure.
Later on, Morph Attack allows Kotama to combine elements of the three weapons, giving the combat system another layer of customization. For a game with only three weapons, there is surprisingly little reason to complain about variety here.
The Anime Style Is One of Its Biggest Strengths:
Visually, though, Kotama and the Academy Citadel absolutely delivers the anime-inspired aesthetic I was hoping for. Kotama herself is vibrant and immediately recognizable, with bright pinks and purples standing out against the blues and silvers of the futuristic academy. The contrast gives the game a strong visual identity, and she looks great in motion.
The character designs are also unapologetically anime. Some of them are extremely exaggerated, particularly when it comes to proportions and revealing outfits. The game occasionally pushes into the territory of obvious fan service, and there are enough suggestive jokes and visual gags that I suspect the developers knew exactly what they were doing.
The Fluid mechanic itself is probably the funniest example. Kotama’s starting weapon is an umbrella. When she times it correctly against an incoming attack, she can block it and cover the enemy in Fluid. Once the enemy is sufficiently coated, she can unleash a powerful attack that breaks its poise.
I’m not going to sit here and pretend the whole “covering enemies in fluid and then detonating them” thing doesn’t sound like it was designed with a very specific sense of humor in mind.
It’s not extreme enough for me to consider it a major problem, but the innuendo is absolutely there. And honestly, I appreciate that the game embraces its identity rather than trying to hide it.
Steam Deck Is a Fantastic Way to Play:
One of the biggest surprises for me was just how well Kotama and the Academy Citadel performs on Steam Deck. I played the game on both PC and Steam Deck, and the experience was solid on both platforms. But something about this game feels particularly suited to a handheld.
The relatively contained environments, 2.5D presentation, responsive controls and anime-inspired visuals make it feel like the kind of game I could have imagined playing on a PlayStation Vita back in the day.
If someone had handed me a Vita and told me this was some kind of hidden gem released specifically for that system, I probably would have believed them. That is a genuine compliment. The game feels comfortable in your hands, and the Steam Deck is arguably one of the best ways to experience it.
Cons
A Metroidvania That Doesn’t Always Want You to Explore: This is where my relationship with Kotama became complicated. One of the fundamental pleasures of a Metroidvania is exploration. You discover a new ability, remember an area you couldn’t previously access and eventually return to see what has changed.
Kotama and the Academy Citadel understands that formula very well. The problem is that its other systems sometimes work against that core idea. Temporal Coils are one example. When you enter an unexplored room, the clock advances, and as time passes, enemies become more dangerous. Certain NPCs, events and side quests can also change depending on the time of day.
That creates an interesting wrinkle because sometimes you’re not simply trying to figure out where you need to go. You need to figure out when you need to arrive there.
In theory, I really like that idea. In practice, it occasionally made an already opaque exploration system feel even more confusing. The game can ask you to reach a specific location at a specific time to trigger something, which adds a light puzzle-solving element to navigation. It’s an interesting concept, but I didn’t think the Temporal Coil system was developed enough to become one of the game’s defining mechanics. Instead, it often felt like another layer of complexity sitting on top of a genre I already find difficult to navigate.
Votes, Side Quests and Missing Information: Votes are another interesting system. By helping students around the academy, Kotama earns Votes, which contribute toward her becoming a Carmel Star. In a way, they function as a completion percentage, giving you another reason to explore the academy and help the people you encounter.
I liked the idea considerably more than the way it was presented. I couldn’t find a clear way to track all of the side quests I had completed or still needed to complete, and that felt like a missed opportunity. If the game wants me to explore every corner of its world and discover optional content naturally, that’s fine. But give me some kind of tool to keep track of what I’ve already done.
This is one of those situations where I don’t necessarily want the game to hold my hand through everything. I simply want enough information to prevent me from wandering around wondering whether I’ve already completed something. That distinction comes up repeatedly throughout Kotama.
The Story Never Grabbed Me: The premise is actually pretty damn interesting. Kotama is an exchange student entering the Carmel Academy Citadel and attempting to win the Carmel Star Election despite being new to the school. Her journey involves helping other students, uncovering secrets and eventually discovering information connected to a larger crisis threatening the academy.
On paper, that’s exactly the kind of anime-inspired setup that should work for me. Unfortunately, the story never really pulled me in. Much of the lore is delivered through conversations with NPCs and notes scattered throughout the world, and I frequently found myself struggling to piece together what was actually happening. There were moments where I understood the broad idea of the story but didn’t feel invested enough in the characters or their individual problems to care about the larger narrative.
That was disappointing because the game’s aesthetic made me expect more from its characters. I wanted to care about Kotama’s journey. I wanted to understand the students around her. I wanted the academy and its impending crisis to feel like something I was actively working to save.
Instead, the story often felt like something I was technically experiencing while my attention remained focused on the combat and exploration. Some dialogue also appears to have formatting issues or was not fully translated into English. That became especially frustrating when tutorials were affected because I could tell that I was missing information that might have helped me understand certain systems.
I also would have appreciated clearer cues when gameplay dialogue was occurring. There were moments when I wanted to know what the hell was happening in an area, only to realize later that I had apparently missed some dialogue while moving around.
Is This a Good Single Player Experience?
Yes, but with an important caveat: Kotama and the Academy Citadel is a good single-player experience for the kind of player it was clearly designed for.
If you love Metroidvanias, Souls-like combat, challenging boss encounters and exploration that expects you to figure things out on your own, there is a lot here to appreciate.
The combat is excellent, the bosses are memorable, the weapons provide meaningful variety, the world is carefully constructed around your abilities and the anime-inspired presentation gives the game plenty of personality. For me, however, the genre conventions eventually became a barrier. I don’t particularly love Souls-like games, and I’m already someone who struggles with some traditional Metroidvania design philosophies. Put those two things together and you have a game that constantly asks me to engage with systems that aren’t naturally my favorite.
I want a little more direction. I want the map to help me understand what I’ve already done and what I haven’t. I want the story to give me a compelling reason to continue exploring. And I want the game to make me feel like I’m on an adventure rather than simply moving from one combat encounter to the next. Kotama doesn’t really give me those things.
That doesn’t make it a bad game. In fact, I think the opposite is true. There is clearly a very good game underneath my personal frustrations with the genre. I just don’t think it was made for me.
Why This Passion Score?
My 59/100 Passion Score reflects the fact that I genuinely liked Kotama and the Academy Citadel, but I never reached the point where I fell in love with it.
There are elements here that I absolutely respect. The combat is easily the strongest part of the experience, and the Fluid Detonation mechanic is an inspired addition to the Souls-like combat formula. The boss fights are genuinely fun, the weapons provide meaningful variety and the character designs give the game a visual identity that immediately separates it from a lot of other Metroidvanias.
I also really enjoyed playing it on Steam Deck. There is something about this game that feels perfect for a handheld, and I could easily see myself recommending it to someone looking for a new Steam Deck game. But I spent too much of my time fighting against the structure of the game. The lack of direction frustrated me. The story never grabbed me. Some of the translation and dialogue presentation made it harder to understand what was happening. The Temporal Coil system added complexity without completely winning me over, and the combination of Metroidvania exploration and Souls-like mechanics made the experience feel like a slog at times.
Eventually, I started feeling like the game overstayed its welcome. I never found that moment where everything clicked and I thought, “Okay, this is f#cking great.” Instead, I spent most of the game thinking, “This is good. I like this. I just wish I liked it more.” And I think that’s the fairest way I can describe my experience with Kotama and the Academy Citadel.
