Developer Contrast Games has just released Akatori, a new platformer openly built in service to the long tradition of metroidvania games. It features large maps waiting to be explored, a variety of abilities waiting to be discovered and put to use, and a mixed art style that sets it apart from similar games.
But how does it actually play? Will genre fans find something really worth investing their time into? Read on in our Akatori review to find out.
The Good:
- Smooth movement makes exploration and platforming feel good
- Great mixed art style combining pixel animations with traditional graphics
The Bad:
- Combat is fine, but lacks variety
- Generally linear experience, for better or worse
Review Details:
- Reviewed on: PC
- Platforms available: PC
- Official release date: August 5, 2026
Tight platforming, middling combat
Akatori sees a spunky young martial artist journey out into the world from her temple home at the game’s outset. That journey initially begins with her serving as a guide, but as the situation around her and the group she’s guiding deteriorates, it quickly evolves into an adventure of exploration, self-discovery, and saving the world. Naturally.
Exploration is the key word here, because Akatari is a platformer in the metroidvania tradition. That means large maps filled with interconnected rooms, progression gates, and obstacles that vary between combat with enemies and platforming challenges.
Among games that have followed in the footsteps of Metroid and Castlevania, Akatori takes a relatively straightforward approach. There isn’t a great amount of backtracking that’s required to progress through most of the game. Progression is mostly linear, with helpful notes being made dynamically on the in-game map pointing towards most (but not all) objectives.
This does smooth out the experience quite a bit. We rarely found ourselves confused as to where to go next. But it also means that the game doesn’t quite scratch the explorative itch that some titles of this type really do.
Fortunately, movement and platforming in Akatori are generally fun and pleasing, which means that the game’s linear progression still feels good. Double-jumping and dashing around just make sense here, and later movement abilities such as hanging from walls and gliding more gently through the air both open up new platforming opportunities and fit neatly along with the existing options.
Combat is also fairly smooth, though it doesn’t mark out quite as highly as movement and platforming do. That’s mostly because it tends to come down to mashing the attack button until the enemy disappears in a poof of resources. You can add some optional style to the exchange if you’d like, but it’s rarely necessary, and most combat upgrades feel perfunctory even if they might seem like more than that on paper.
The aforementioned resources are split into two types. One is a more traditional trade resource used to purchase items from merchants. This, too, is kept pretty simple. Most purchases will likely be healing items, which we didn’t find ourselves having much need of as we played outside of boss encounters.
The other resource fills a meter that theoretically makes enemies stronger, and it can only be reset at the game’s save points. This might sound like a highly consequential mechanic, but it didn’t really come off that way during our time with the game. It was mostly only noticed when a new shrine containing an additional unlockable move was found, as these shrines require a full enemy charge meter in order to access and as such will typically require some quick farming.
The boss encounters do switch up the combat quite a bit. Most are traditional platformer bosses, with varied attack patterns that must be avoided based on visual cues. There are some gimmicks mixed in, and these battles did inject some healthy variety into the game.
Variety is also found in the form of such sporadic elements as swimming, hopping between bamboo stalks, and snowboarding. These are deployed with mixed success, but none really overstay their welcome.
A pleasing pixel mix
What might stand out most when first looking at Akatori is its visual design. The game makes good use of a mixed art style, with most characters and a few choice stage elements drawn through pixel art, while the majority of the game’s stages and backgrounds, as well as a few enemies and obstacles, use more traditional three-dimensional graphics.
The marriage could easily have been discordant, but here it works quite well. In our review of Akatori, we made particular note of the finely-tuned animations given to many of the pixel-art characters. The main character, teenager Mako, is rendered with obvious and appreciable care.
The game’s general style draws upon Eastern fantasy themes, with its varied zones using different color palettes to set themselves apart from each other. There are a few fancy set pieces that stand out along the way, but many of the game’s rooms will likely blend together with others in the same zone.
There is a story to Akatori, and much of it is told through the frequent interactions that occur between heroine Mako and the titular Akatori, a god rendered as a bird who can also become a staff, as well as other things when the moment calls for it. Their interplay can be fun, but it’s weighted down by an inconsistent translation.
Better work on the game’s dialogue could have added to the experience, whereas what’s here was enough to get just one laugh out of us while more generally feeling like something we could’ve skipped through without missing anything.
That said, few players will be booting up Akatori for its storytelling. This is a game that openly advertises itself as a new metroidvania experience. Judged in that context, our review found Akatori to be a generally fun and free-flowing platformer, albeit one with only decent combat and depth.
The Bottom Line: Akatori is a solid metroidvania with fun movement and a brisk pace, though some may find its experience to be a little shallow.
Score: 7.5/10
