Catmaze
Catmaze is a fairy metroidvania inspired by Slavic myths. Age-old tales will come to life in the unforgettable adventure of Alesta, a sorceress whose courage guides her through mysterious paths and dark forests in search of the lost road to Nav, the world of the dead.
Sync your Steam wishlist to find the lowest game prices instantly. No login required, just paste your Steam profile URL!
⚡ Try Wishlist Radar!
Sync your Steam wishlist to find the lowest game prices instantly. No login required!
⚡ Try Wishlist Radar!
Close
Kotama and Academy Citadel on Steam
Quick menu
In the Academy Citadel, strength reigns supreme: only the most powerful survive and thrive. Fight your way through the high-tech Academy in your quest to get the highest of honors for a student, and uncover secrets that can save it in its direst crisis in this 2.5D side-scrolling Metroidvania.
Kotama and Academy Citadel is a metroidvania, female protagonist and exploration game
developed by Atomstring Games
and published by 2P Games.
Released on January 14th 2026 is available on Windows, Linux, Steam Deck and Steam Machine.
It has received 3,015 reviews of which 2,431 were positive and 584 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.8 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam, but you can find it for 13.39€ on Instant Gaming.
The Steam community has classified Kotama and Academy Citadel into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Kotama and Academy Citadel through various videos and screenshots.
Load More
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10+
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 25 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Please ensure NVIDIA graphic card driver above 472.12
Linux
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480
- Storage: 25 GB available space
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
After 100% completion, I regret to inform you... that this game is much more than a g00ner trap I was gifted Steam credits by a friend to explicitly get this game since they knew my love for metroidvanias. When I saw the art style and a few reviews, I doubted my friend's judgment. I'm pleasantly surprised and glad to admit that I was prejudiced and wrong. Maybe because my expectations were below the floor but... this was highkey kind of amazing ?! This is basically metroidvania Stellar Blade and I'm dying on this hill. Not only does the story actually make sense for a metroidvania, this little thing has some mechanics that are implemented more brilliantly and seamlessly than that triple-A g00ner trap: - I don't know who designed the parry system in this game, but it is c r i s p and high feedback. Also it's not a low-interaction/spammable parry and actually requires you to face the right direction ( for 2/3 weapons ). Plus, you get parry and invulnerability mechanics beyond the basic one that demand more brain cells than just a single keystroke. love Love LOVE! - An actual point-of-no-return that serves as a pivot for the story. You may complete all endings in 1 playthrough. No forced replayability like Stellar Blade. - All collectibles are discoverable organically if you explore enough, no need for guides. - NPC questlines aren't overtly obscure, their logs will provide hints for progress, chef's kiss. - The central storyline guidance works very smoothly with the Temporal Coil mechanic, you're only forced to go back when it's relevant for progress. - Pretty smart health recovery system. - The devs also know ball: many references to other cult classics. That reference to Portal 2 caught me off guard. One final praise: Although the big bosses are not numerous in this game, they are impeccably designed, just wow. Not only are they visual spectacles and require your mechanical skill, they actually feel impactful when they hit. Also properly challenging when fighting them beyond normal difficulty. The art is honestly just complementary, they could make the same game with cute animals or zombies and the core of the game is still freaking fire.
Cute Girls, Fun Metroidvania. To be frank, I didn't think much of this game initially. My bias towards Chinese games tended to be negative—all style and no substance—and it didn't help that this game at first glance also looked like one of those "goner games." However, I am more than happy to admit I was wrong. Kotama and Academy Citadel is a very competent metroidvanias. Even though the game breaks no ground in this subgenre, it's the little designs connecting the core features that elevate the gameplay to a new height. It's still flashy, but it's a "fun and moderate" kind of flashy I can get behind. Things I Like About Kotama and Academy Citadel: [*] Combat: The gameplay is pretty solid. The control is smooth and responsive. The parry-centric combat is a tried and true formula, and the whole "hitting enemies enough times and then exploding them with a special attack, aka Fluid Detonation" is interesting. However, like I said before, it's the little things that make the combat click better. Successfully parrying an enemy slows down time and accelerates Kotama's attacks for a very short duration. This feature allows you to burst down a chunk of enemy health, especially in combination with weapon skills and Fluid Detonation. Since parry window is very generous as well, you can easily feel unstoppable in combat. [*] Weapons: Even though there are only three weapons in the game, their qualities are nothing to scoff at, and all of them offer a unique pseudo-gating ability. Umbrella Spear is the most well-rounded of the three. It has good reach, balanced offensive and defensive options, and the innate ability to glide for longer distances. Whip Hammer is easily my favorite, sacrificing combo potential for longer reach and a heavy-hitting charged attack. It also lets you bounce on enemies to reset your mobility and crushes certain barriers when airborne; Liquid Blade is the most agile of them all. It's a great weapon for those who enjoy swift attacks, fast combos, and high mobility options. It is also the only weapon for mid-air parrying and breaking special doors. What's more, you can unlock Morph Attack to start intertwining the move sets of the three weapons to further customize your combo. [*] Fast-Paced and Compact Exploration: Interestingly, Kotama and Academy Citadel feel quite different when it comes to pacing. The overall progression feels faster than its peers. The map is smaller and focuses only on the core areas instead of adding any optional ones. Mind you, this is fine though. Not every metroidvania needs to have a ton of additional content to be worthwhile. Sometimes a straight-to-the-point approach is just as effective as the content-rich one. [*] Currency As Heals: Another little design that manages to make a big difference. Kotama has Chronoshell and Life Jade, the former being armor and the latter life points. You can only replenish Chronoshell in the wild, and you use the currency, aka Luminite, to do it. Now this is a very interesting design. Using currency to heal may sound like a worse idea than healing with consumables, but the developers add two things to help this mechanic stand. First of all, you earn faster than you spend. Enemies drop so much Luminite that it is impossible to run out of "heals." Second, Fluid Detonation regenerates Chronoshell as well. If you pull off your combo well, using currency to heal is easily the last thing you do. Things I Like And Dislike About Kotama and Academy Citadel: [*] Temporal Coils: An interesting mechanic that is sadly underutilized. Basically, every time you enter an unexplored room (resting at a checkpoint makes all rooms "unexplored"), the timer ticks up an hour, and the NPCs may behave slightly differently accordingly. Enemies also become substantially stronger when you run out of Temporal Coils. This design makes side quests a bit unusual. Depending on the quests, you might need to pathfind a better route to reach the NPC before the nightfall. Yet, the novelty ends here. The game doesn't dwell much on the subject, and the quest variation rarely goes beyond "must reach this NPC before x o'clock". Things I Dislike About Kotama and Academy Citadel: [*] Some Complaints: [*]Due to unclear guidance and faster progression, the game's difficulty curve may become imbalanced depending on when you begin to scavenge hunt. [*]I don't mind the oversexualized characters, but I find a lot of them to be too messy and overdesigned in their outfits. [*]Of course the female-to-male ratio is ridiculous, being 100 to 0. [*]Backgrounds of all levels are often bland and uninteresting. 中文小簡評 我承認我對大陸遊戲的偏見嚴重影響我對《少女與學院城》的印象，第一眼看去原本以為又是款華而無實且專門賣肉的下流之作，殊不知簡單把玩一下遊戲直接賞我兩巴掌，這款不只不是那種鬼東西，還是款非常能打的類銀河系惡魔城。雖然這款的設計在同行中不能說是新穎，但從一些小機制上可以看出製作團隊有用心想讓遊戲更加豐富些，值得嘉許。 喜歡的點 [*]戰鬥體驗直覺，操作反饋及時，架招為主的打法好上手。「流體引爆」的設計類似《P的謊言》體幹打滿後用重攻擊打僵直的快版，將敵人打滿紫色光圈後可用重攻擊打出爆傷，簡單且頗具深度。成功格擋後也會有個非常小的時間緩速，同時加快女主攻擊速度，不僅可以瞬發續力攻擊，也能濃縮一些持續傷害的發動時間，再搭配武器技能、流體引爆以及格擋判定十分寬裕等特色，讓你能輕鬆在戰場上所向披靡。 [*]武器雖然只有三把，但各個實力非凡，傘槍攻守兼具、鞭錘犧牲連擊換來攻擊距離與更強的續力攻擊、液刃高機動高連擊，每把也同時搭配近期類銀河系惡魔城常見的「雙用途關鍵技能」，不僅能在戰鬥大展身手，更能在探索上幫助你克服難搞的跳台關巧。中後期也能解鎖變化攻擊，讓你在戰鬥中自由切換武器應對，增加連擊的變化性。 [*]《少女與學院城》在節奏安排上明顯比同儕來的快，地圖小而精實，專注於核心區域而沒有額外的地區可探索，這樣直覺了當設計挺新鮮的，不會比內容塞滿滿來得差。 [*]有趣的一點是女主有分兩種生命條：時流殼和生命玉，前者更像是護甲，後者為生命點。女主在探索時能用貨幣「輝晶」回復時流殼，乍聽之下感覺是個比回血消耗品還糟的設計，然而實際遊玩並非如此，製作團隊確保敵人掉落輝晶數多到你幾乎花不完，你也能透過流體引爆快速回殼，連擊打得好完全不用擔心消耗輝晶回血的問題。 又愛又恨的點 [*]時空線圈算是有趣的設計，可惜實際表現不盡人意。每進一個新房間(走過一次不會再增加時間，中繼點存檔後所有房間都會歸類為新房間)線圈就會減一，時間便會推進一個小時，線圈消耗完敵人則會獲得強化，NPC也會因時間不同而有些微的變動，你會需要根據NPC指定時間規畫行動路線，算是解任務的一點小變化。可惜新鮮感止步於此，遊戲對時間推進的變數並沒有太多著墨，僅限於「必須在某個時間點之前到達某個 NPC」的範疇。 不喜歡的點 [*]遊戲難度可能因指引模糊、進程過快亦或是玩家探索程度不同而有劇烈起伏。 [*]這款我在意的不是賣肉的部分，而是角色造型設計過度，服裝過於花俏雜亂。 [*]關卡背景十分單調。 [quote=author]If you like what I write, please consider a follow to [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45738167/]my curator page, thanks! 如果你喜歡我寫的東西，可以追蹤[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45738167/]我的鑑賞家 喔！
I went into this expecting one of those “looks okay in screenshots, probably plays like ass” metroidvanias. Instead, I got a game that is actually fun, runs well, and so far has avoided the usual indie genre diseases of: fake difficulty floaty controls “inspired by Hollow Knight” as a substitute for identity bosses designed by people who think frustration equals quality So yeah, nice surprise. The first thing this game gets right is that it actually feels good to play. That already puts it above a depressing amount of games in this genre. Movement is responsive, combat has a solid rhythm, and the whole thing doesn’t control like your character is fighting underwater while wearing concrete shoes. Now, the combat does have parries, and I’ll be honest: I usually don’t worship at the altar of parry mechanics like half the internet. A lot of games shove parries in because they want to cosplay as “hardcore” instead of just making good combat. But here? It works better than I expected. The game is not constantly screaming PARRY OR PERISH, PEASANT. You can still play with spacing and timing and not feel like the devs are trying to humiliate you for existing. Another thing I liked: healing is tied to a trade-off. That’s actually a neat system. You don’t just face-tank like an idiot and mash heal forever. It adds tension without turning the game into some joyless spreadsheet of suffering. More importantly, it feels like a mechanic, not punishment porn. The bosses so far are also solid. They’re not braindead, but they also haven’t gone full modern indie brainrot with: endless phase spam unreadable particle diarrhea fake-out delays every 2 seconds “difficulty” based on the boss moving like a crackhead They pressure you, sure, but they still feel like fights, not personal insults. Performance has also been great on my end. Smooth framerate, responsive gameplay, no immediate technical clown show. That matters a lot in a metroidvania, because when a game wants timing and movement but runs like fermented soup, the whole thing falls apart. This one didn’t. So the short version is this: I expected mid. I expected maybe decent at best. Instead I got a metroidvania that is actually enjoyable, not overly punishing, mechanically interesting, and far more competent than I thought it would be. No, I’m not saying it’s the new king of the genre. Calm down. It’s not descending from the heavens to dethrone everything ever made. But it is one of those rare games that beats your expectations instead of crawling under them. If you want a metroidvania that feels good, doesn’t immediately disappear up its own ass, and isn’t trying to win awards for “most obnoxious boss design,” Kotama is worth a look.
Similar games
View all
Afterimage
Afterimage is a hand-drawn 2D action adventure that emphasizes fast-paced combat with diversified character builds, non-linear levels, and a gripping story set in the ruins of a fantasy world.
Nyaruru Fishy Fight
This game is a Metroidvania game with intense battle. Explore the world and collection power-ups with your cute cat girl! When magic curse suddenly occurred in a small town and all the residents grew cat ears, the real cat girl Nyaruru started her way to uncover the truth...
Shantae and the Seven Sirens
Shantae is back in an all-new tropical adventure! In her fifth outing, the Half-Genie hero gains new Fusion Magic abilities to explore a vast sunken city, makes new Half-Genie friends, and battles the Seven Sirens in her biggest, most thrilling quest yet!
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
A NEW interactive animated adventure! In this action-adventure game, Arzette must explore the Kingdom of Faramore, slay fearsome foes, acquire powerful items, discover secrets, assist colorful characters, and defeat the evil Daimur!
Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune
This is an anime-style Metroidvania game with an RPG progression system, numerous weapons for switching, and an emphasis on equipment building. It offers three switchable characters, smooth gameplay, impactful combat feedback, and anime-style story scenes.
9 Years of Shadows
Fight to bring beautiful colors back to a hand-crafted world of darkness and discover the story of Europa, a young warrior, and her ghostly childhood companion, Apino.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse
Crimson Curse —Will Your Fate Bloom in Despair or Salvation Set 23 years after Castlevania Dracula's Curse - follow Rose Belmont's journey in an all new 2D Action-Exploration title from KONAMI, Evil Empire and Motion Twin.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition
The ultimate edition of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero comes with all of the previously released DLC, Modes, and Costumes in one epic collection! Includes an exclusive Blue Bathing Suit for use in Beach Mode!
Akatori: Сhapter One
Join young Mako as she ventures into a wild world of exploration and finds a mysterious bird companion. Navigate through two distinct realms with your staff and face off against an ancient sentinel in this prologue to the action-packed metroidvania Akatori.
Ultros
ULTROS is a psychedelic metroidvania where you wake up stranded on The Sarcophagus — a cosmic uterus holding an ancient, demonic being. Trapped in the loop of a black hole, you will have to explore The Sarcophagus and meet its inhabitants to understand the part you play...
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
Shantae embarks on her first full HD adventure! When a mysterious crime wave sweeps Sequin Land, it’s up to Half-Genie Hero Shantae to save the day! Use Shantae’s devastating Hair-Whip Attack to send monsters flying, or Belly Dance to transform her into more powerful forms!
Frequently Asked Questions
Kotama and Academy Citadel is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.
No, Kotama and Academy Citadel is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.50€ on Steam.
Yes, Kotama and Academy Citadel received 2,431 positive votes out of a total of 3,015 achieving a rating of 7.79.
😊
Kotama and Academy Citadel was developed by Atomstring Games and published by 2P Games.
Yes, Kotama and Academy Citadel is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, Kotama and Academy Citadel is not playable on MacOS.
Yes, Kotama and Academy Citadel is playable and fully supported on Linux.
Yes, Kotama and Academy Citadel is playable and fully supported on Steam Deck.
Yes, Kotama and Academy Citadel is playable and fully supported on Steam Machine.
No, Kotama and Academy Citadel does not support VR.
Kotama and Academy Citadel is a single-player game.
Yes, there is a DLC available for Kotama and Academy Citadel. Explore additional content available for Kotama and Academy Citadel on Steam.
No, Kotama and Academy Citadel does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, Kotama and Academy Citadel does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Kotama and Academy Citadel is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Kotama and Academy Citadel.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 19 September 2026 23:13 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 23 October 2026 10:04 UTC |
| Steam price | 27 October 2026 20:31 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 19 October 2026 05:52 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Kotama and Academy Citadel, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Kotama and Academy Citadel
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Kotama and Academy Citadel concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Kotama and Academy Citadel compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
17
Developer
Atomstring Games
Publisher
2P Games
Release
14 Jan 2026
Platforms
Clicking and buying through these links helps us earn a commission to maintain our services.