Akatori abilities — staff unlocks and traversal moves explained

How ability unlocks work in Akatori

Everything in Akatori runs through one item: Mako’s staff, which carries a mysterious red bird sealed inside it. Contrast Games describes the staff as a weapon, a traversal device and a key to the world’s secrets, and the Steam page states directly that you “unlock all the abilities of your staff to explore every corner of the world.”

That sentence confirms the metroidvania structure — abilities gate exploration and are earned over time — but it is also where the official detail ends. As of August 6, 2026 (the game has released on PC), no official source lists the unlock order, unlock locations or whether abilities can be upgraded further. Those details need release-build in-game testing, so this page separates what has been shown from what has not. The August 9 official Steam Community update also says a gameplay and bug-fix patch is being prepared; it does not publish an ability unlock table.

Demo mechanics: what the June patch changed

The June demo patch confirms more than the original feature list: basic attacks now build Energy much faster while automatic regeneration is lower; charged attacks can turn during wind-up; Dodge includes a counterattack; bamboo traversal, airborne behavior and wall grabs were reworked; and underwater Breath is now separate from Energy. These are demo-build facts, not final damage or timing values. See the staff database for the evidence table.

Availability also needs a platform label. Contrast Games disabled the Steam demo on July 22 and the full game released on Steam on August 5. Microsoft’s official store still lists a free Akatori Demo for Xbox One, Series X|S, PC and handheld, so “demo available” refers to that Xbox listing, not Steam.

Confirmed staff moves

These moves appear in the developer’s feature descriptions, the launch-date press release coverage, or the public Steam demo. “Shown in demo” means press coverage of the February 2026 demo described the move as playable.

The staff also interacts with the environment: official material says it helps “solve tricky mechanisms and discover secret places,” which suggests puzzle-style uses beyond combat and movement — though no specific mechanism types have been detailed.

Combat abilities shown so far

Combat is described by the developer as movement-driven rather than a separate system. Confirmed points:

• Light and charged attacks were both present in the demo, per press coverage, and can be chained into combos.
• The throw-and-recall loop is central: the staff leaves your hands as a projectile and returns mid-flow, which implies windows where Mako is unarmed. How the game handles those windows is not yet verified.
• Enemies are part of the arena. The developer confirms “living ecosystems” where more than 20 regular enemy types fight each other, trigger traps and react to hazards — so positioning enemies against each other may be a real tactic rather than a trailer flourish.
• Boss design varies by encounter: rhythm-based battles, underwater escape sequences and multi-phase fights are all confirmed to exist. The demo’s boss was the Bumblebee, plus a chase against a giant Serpent.

What is not yet verified

To be explicit about the gaps, none of the following exists in any official source yet, so we do not publish it:

• The order or location of ability unlocks in the full game
• Damage numbers, combo scaling or charged-attack multipliers
• Any skill tree, upgrade currency or ability-enhancement system
• Boss weaknesses or recommended loadouts
• Whether amber crystals (the setting’s core resource) function as a player currency at all

If a guide elsewhere claims a “best ability order”, it is extrapolating from a 45-minute demo. This page will be revised against tested gameplay of the released build.

How abilities connect to exploration

The reason the unlock list matters is the map. Akatori confirms five distinct worlds, and the demo already demonstrated ability-flavored areas — a bamboo zone designed around gliding and an underwater section with breath-limited exploration. That pattern suggests each region leans on specific staff abilities, which is exactly how backtracking-driven metroidvania maps usually open up. See map progression for the confirmed world structure, and the beginner guide for what to expect in your first session at launch.