#side-scrolling

One of the NES games I played most often as a kid was Kung Fu. It was one of those side-scrolling beat-em-ups that every other kid had in their collection (along with Super Mario, Ice Hockey and Wrestlemania) so I logged lots of time on it.

The original arcade game, Kung-Fu Master — apparently inspired by the Jackie Chan flick Wheels on Meals — was also ported to the Atari 2600 in 1987.

Like Double Dragon, I’m fascinated by 2600 games released long after the console’s heydey, and this one is no exception. It’s surprisingly well-designed, one of the most colourful 2600 games I’ve played, with a close approximation of the original music cues... and overall quite close to what you’d experience on the NES.

Nier Automata always managed to surprise me the more and more I played the game. A game that’s built on its side quests and the characters that they involve, it works with interesting concepts of life and consciousness that’ll leave you feeling confused about your own existence, and then you’ll pull off some sweet looking combat combo and all will be good again in the world.

If you have no major experience with the Nier franchise prior to this game, or even the Drakengard series of which Nier is a spin-off from, I’m not sure how as there’s a distinct lack of dragons in Nier, you might be worried that you might be missing some concepts from previous games, but fret not, as far as I can tell, outside a few references here and there, Nier Automata can be played blind and still be an incredibly enjoyable experience.

If you were like me, you may have first witnessed the game when Yoko Taro, the game’s director, stepped out onto the stage of the Square-Enix E3 nightmare of 2016 wearing some bizarre mask that seemed completely alien and just added to the already baffling press conference. Regardless of this, the Platinum Games collaboration had me, and many others, intrigued and as it turns out the game is very impressive and fun.

The story takes place several thousand years in the future in which a mysterious alien race almost wiped out all of mankind with its army of machines. The few remnants of the human race escaped to the moon and then created humanoid androids to fight on the front lines to take back Earth and clear out the machines. Glory to mankind, and all that.

Following 2B, a female android designed for battle in which the B literally stands for “Battle”, you’ll find yourself interacting with fellow androids of the resistance as well as machines themselves as you explore the land and try to rid the world of the vile machines. Except, not all machines are vile or, at least, evil. There are numerous machines out in the world who are more than friendly and want nothing more than to live a happy life, or as close to one as they can get. It’s these interactions that provide a large bulk of what makes the game so wonderful.

The side quests provided by various machines and androids can range from helping a lost child back to their parent, that’s a machine child and a machine parent, teaching a machine about various aspects of life and the human condition or even a machine that learns the tenements of martial arts, with a big axe. On the flipside, your fellow androids have quests that reflect the length of this war with the machines, as they’re all exhausted and tired, often looking for resources to repair themselves or their friends or even just hoping to learn what happened to their lost comrades.

If you wanted a game that’s main theme was that of heavy existentialism then this is the place to look. While 2B talks about the cycle of life and death, in reality it’s something that affects very few in this world of robots as there’s always another body that their consciousness can be put in to, or another version to take their place and a lot of people start questioning their identity when that starts happening. It’s this crossing of the darkness that is life itself with the lunacy of an amusement park and the unhinged nature to be found with beings that have no true concept of death that makes the game such a delight.

The game itself plays as any sort of action orientated adventure game, with plenty of stylish moves and combos to use when destroying waves and waves of machines. Nier Automata takes a spectacle fighter and mixes it up with constant changes in perspective, turning the game into a side scrolling brawler or even a top down shooter. Incorporating bullet hell mechanics into a third person combat game may sound like pure, unrivaled madness and yet it somehow works and leads to a lot of the bosses working in an oddly unique manner. This all adds up to unique take on an already stable system and it pays off surprisingly well, while the combat is nothing to blow your horn over, it’s by no means a terrible process.

The combos and combat of the game are beautiful pieces of choreography for each weapon and character that had me often just stood in the middle of nowhere admiring 2Bs sweet moves, AND NOTHING ELSE, don’t look at my search history.

Nier Automata manages to break the shackles of its predecessor, which was generally not very good, and struts hard and fast with a stylistic piece of existential panic and confusion. The story progresses into ever darker tones and you’ll see characters you grow to love over the game change in front of you and leave you feeling a little hollow. The story, or at least the pacing, takes a massive dip in the middle of it all as you’ll find yourself repeating certain parts, but there’s at least enough new aspects introduced that the game in its whole doesn’t completely grind to a dull stop.

It’ll keep you surprised as to how far the game is willing to go to tell a story and keep you second guessing yourself, one moment that truly blew me away was when I realized there was a dialogue conversation going on during a loading screen so as to “avoid detection”, or something. Every character and group of characters struggle with humanity as they develop more and more personality whether its simple machines, to the androids of your party and even going so far as the simple companion robots and watching this all take place is where the game really shines.

Some of the few faults I have with the game stem from the difficulty, or the lack of it. If you find yourself taking part in a fair number of side quests, which you should, you’ll find that the cataclysmic events that take place in the story die all too rapidly. When a large boss is shortly disintegrated by your small pod’s gunfire, when you’re really meant to be punching this robot in its dumb giant face, the boss fights no longer seem impactful, but then maybe you’re not meant to spend hours of time just doing almost everything.

Kotama and Academy Citadel the stylish 3D side-scrolling metroidvania game finally has a release date for Linux and Windows PC. Thanks to Atomstring Games’ nonstop creative spark, this project feels alive, confident, and driven. Due to make its way onto Steam. I didn’t expect a quiet Steam trailer release to hit this hard, but here we are. One minute I’m scrolling, the next I’m picturing neon halls, impossible trains, and a girl who walks into an academy like she already owns it. Kotama and Academy Citadel is coming, and now, January 15th suddenly feels way too far away. This is one of those games that feels like it was made for late nights and Discord chatter. Where you boot it up “just to try the demo” and also realise an hour vanished. Atomstring Games is bringing us a 3D side-scrolling metroidvania set inside a sealed futuristic academy city, and it’s launching on Linux, January 15th, 2026. Demo’s already live, playable via Proton. No excuses.

A girl walks into an academy that worships strength

The setting is Carmel Academy. Think cutting-edge science, warped reality, and a social order built on one rule: power wins. Into that steps Kotama. She says she’s an exchange student. Nobody really buys it. She’s here to compete for the Carmel Star, a title every student dreams about and most will never touch. In this  Kotama and Academy Citadel academym, it's gearing up for its 100th anniversary, which means a brand-new selection process for the Carmel Star. For Kotama, that’s the opening she’s been waiting for. What follows is a journey through a massive, twisted campus where sci-fi and surreal fantasy bleed together. Classrooms turn into battlegrounds. Corridors loop back on themselves. And yes, you’ll be hopping on trains that rip through space-time like it’s just another commute.

Kotama and Academy Citadel | Release Date Trailer

Combat that rewards confidence and clean inputs

What really sold me on Kotama and Academy Citadel is how it handles combat. This isn’t mashy. It’s fast, sharp, and punishing if you hesitate. Kotama fights with precision, chaining weapons and skills into flashy, controlled chaos. Bullet time lets you breathe for a split second before everything explodes again. Her signature move, Fluid Detonation, feels like a statement. It’s the kind of ability you save for that exact moment when a fight starts slipping, then flip the whole thing on its head. If you’re the type who like squeezing performance out of tight mechanics, this will speak to you.

Rivals, allies, and Kotama and Academy Citadel choices that do matter

You’re not alone in this academy. Other elite students are chasing the same crown, each with their own baggage and ambitions. You’ll talk to them. Help them. Sometimes also fight them. Those interactions don’t just add flavor, they shape the ending and decide what happens to Carmel Academy itself. And beneath all that competition? Something darker. A century-old plan. A crisis brewing under the polished surface. And questions about who Kotama really is, and why she’s so determined to win.

Why Linux play should pay attention

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