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CITADEL
Developer Liam Atkinson • Publisher Liam Atkinson • Release September 21, 2026 • Platforms PC
I love a game that gets weird and funky. Pair that with an ominous undertone with a philosophical flair and you’ve got a recipe for intrigue. In CITADEL, this narrative-focused text-adventure, I was immediately captivated by the mystery, and was curious how everything would unfold.
In the first few moments of CITADEL, you awaken in a pool of water, floating in the abyss while your mind blooms awake. This initial consciousness emerges through the text of the game, and I was quickly enamored by the unsettling vibes of the premise. The strange pixelated images, mixed with the green colorings of an original Game Boy offered an interesting mix of old-school vibe with sci-fi narrative mystery.
Like the protagonist, I was a bit confused about what exactly was happening and why, but I think that was the point. Even with those, and other questions, I was pulled into this story and desperate to learn more.
As the mystery slowly unfolded, I kept finding myself carefully reading every word in this text-adventure. Could there be a clue in the text? A throw away line that might have reverberating effects later on? I couldn’t be quite sure one way or another, but it wasn’t too difficult to meticulously follow along with the story. Since CITADEL is so text focused, I was happy to see that there is an option to see the “BACKLOG” of the game – essentially all the text of the story you’ve seen so far. A few times I accidently clicked forward too quickly, and this feature has been wonderful in ensuring I don’t miss a beat.
After about fifteen minutes into the game, I eventually found myself in front of a screen where a scripted scenario played out. Think of it like an episode of a show where you watch it for a few minutes and then the host asks, “what would you do in this prompt?”
This immediately made me think of those philosophical exercises where you and your friends would argue about which option was better or why they were crazy for choosing the other option.
In this scenario, I was deeply conflicted in which option I was about to choose. Not knowing how the game would advance or progress, I went with my gut. Just as quickly as this situation started, it ended.
I wasn’t sure how the game would react to this decision, but the story continued and my curiosity was even more piqued.
In the thirty-five minutes of playing CITADEL, I was presented with two more philosophical dilemmas within the game. All three were vastly different and presented widely varied. Even more interestingly, the stakes in all three varied widely as well.
In the first and third scenarios, much of their premises hinged on matters of life and death. However, the second scenario engaged in a much more nuanced and generation dilemma that could affect players in a slew of different ways. Since these situations were so different and intriguing, I found it actually quite difficult to just stop playing and write this impressions piece.
I have no idea how long this game is, nor do I have any sense of where it’s going. With that said, I can’t wait to get back to playing and seeing what other interesting, strange, and creative prompts are left to uncover in CITADEL.
Liam Atkinson, the solo dev for the game, has laid the groundwork for this strange and enthralling story, and I look forward to being able to uncover the mysteries.
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