Kotama and Academy Citadel PC review — Getting pacing down to a science

I was a bit apprehensive regarding Kotama and Academy Citadel. The fact that it was a Chinese anime-style game with seemingly bland art direction and gooner bait CG artwork made me think the game would be janky and underwhelming. But genre fans seemed to really be enjoying it, and, after Mio and The Perfect Pencil didn’t really fill my desire for Metroidvanias with tight, rewarding exploration loops, I figured I’d give it a go. And, y’know, what, I’m very glad I did. The game might be kind of generic-looking and have a mostly throwaway plot, but it’s one of the best Metroidvanias I’ve played in some time due to its excellent combat, level design, and terrific breakneck pacing.

As I said, Kotama and Academy Citadel‘s story is nothing special. Kotama (who has next to no personality) is a student at an academy, and she wants to be the Carmel Star, who is basically the student with the most power. In order to get there, she has to secure votes and meet with the school’s principal. There’s more to it than that (a lot more, thanks to the huge amount of lore you’ll find,) and there’s a big sci-fi angle (everyone is some sort of enhanced human and the school is trying to find a planet to terraform or something,) but I never really cared about any of this.

The game’s main goal is to have you find four keepsakes belonging to important folks at the school to gain entrance to the principal’s office. For these objectives, you’re given marks on the map showing you where they are. Early on, I assumed this meant the game would be on rails, but that’s far from the case. Yes, you’re meant to do these four areas in order, but other than that, you’re free to explore any of them however you please. The game doles out new abilities at a near constant rate, and gates requiring these abilities are all over the place. It’s rare to see a Metroidvania where you’re constantly getting new abilities and exploring all over to use them as much as you do here.

Gameplay-wise, everything here is exemplary. Kotama herself may be non-existent as a character, but as a player character, she absolutely rules. It takes almost no time before she gets a double jump, dash, air dash, and more. The controls are uniformly excellent, with lots of challenging platforming sections that reward you with more upgrades and mods. Almost everything in Kotama and Academy Citadel rewards you with something that feels legitimately worthwhile, whether it be health improvements, upgrades that expand your equip capacity, or mods to equip that significantly change aspects of the game.

Platforming is responsive and much of it is as intuitive as it is creative, although I personally still haven’t gone through the game’s optional nightmare gauntlet. Combat is just as good, which is rare for the genre. Kotama gets three weapons (which also have their own abilities) that can all be upgraded with materials you find. Each weapon has a multi-hit combo as well as a strong attack that’s used in a really unique way. As you land hits, enemies get coated in fluid. Using a strong attack on them will do extra damage, build up stagger on an enemy, and partially heal Kotama’s Chronoshell.

Chronoshell is another interesting feature. Instead of a life bar or just health chunks, Kotama has a combination of both. Chronoshell is a shield that depletes when hit. If you’re hit while it’s at zero, you lose a health chunk. But if you hit an enemy covered in fluid, you get some health back. Kotama and Academy Citadel uses this to emphasise aggressiveness to heal, similar to the rally system in Bloodborne. You also have a parry that coats enemies in extra fluid. It all adds up to a really engaging combat system that mixes well with the way health works.

Bosses are a standout here, in part, but a few of them can be kind of cheap. One in particular is a pretty large difficulty spike and has two phases. It’s perfectly doable, but even the subsequent fights were mostly easier. The true final boss in particular seems incredibly tough, and they need to be unlocked by finding 10 films that the president tasks you with locating, otherwise, you’ll get a fakeout ending after the previous boss. But the true final boss uses a move that can only be countered with an ability obtained from defeating an optional boss that requires you to find all 12 film items. Kotama and Academy Citadel really wants you to work for that good ending.

There are also a lot of side quests in the game, all with their own very good rewards. These typically dole out a lot of votes, too, which you’ll need to open up a few areas throughout the game. One of the main ones (which is also tied to the hardest-to-obtain film) requires you to complete most of the major side quests so that the students you help board your headquarters, which is a train. The train is your base and your fast travel mechanism, as it’s used to ferry you between the different parts of the school. Every aspect of Kotama and Academy Citadel seriously flows so well together. It’s an incredibly well-oiled machine.

Kotama and Academy Citadel won’t wow anyone with its story or presentation, but it’s one of the most enjoyable Metroidvanias I’ve played in recent memory. I had so much fun from beginning to end (save for when bosses frustrated me) and didn’t want it to stop, so I ended up doing most of the side quests and finished with 97% map completion. Simply getting the bad ending and calling it a day can be achieved in 10-12 hours or so, but actually getting the good ending and seeing most of what it has to offer takes a good deal longer. It all comes together for a really wonderful game that I definitely see myself replaying in the future.