Around half a decade ago, Afterburner Studios released their debut title, Dreamscaper, to acclaim from critics and players alike. It was an extremely polished roguelike with its own aesthetic and ambiance that stood out even amongst titles like Hades. This kept the bar of expectations high, and when their newest title, Elta: Defy All Gods, got revealed during Gamescom 2026, the years of waiting paid off with an action-packed trailer and a promise of a demo to come in October.
Elta: Defy All Gods is a third-person action-adventure game with Metroidvania elements that lets the story take a more subtle approach. Between weighty brawls, smooth platforming, and condensed exploration, this game’s demo gave the best first impression of every bit of its offerings, even with some small technical issues here and there. But in just about an hour, give or take, it is more than worth playing for yourself!
Victus and Elta
In the opening of Elta: Defy All Gods, you play as a mysterious robot fighting its way towards a giant ocean deity. It is in this small section that the game puts all of its cards on the table. It shows you every bit of movement tech, fighting combinations, and some cool abilities along the way. This is an excellently built tutorial that made me excited to find upgrades throughout the demo.
After this section, you are put into the hulking husk of Victus, a big red robot on the search for his colony’s god on a mysterious planet. This is shown in a really cool cutscene that looks like a movie with excellent pacing and awesome action sequences. When he arrives on the planet, he journeys and finds a small green dragon pal named Elta who joins him. The demo ends after a boss encounter that, on the first try, I finished with almost no health left.
That is as far as the journey goes, as the game pushes you to explore a little and test out the very satisfying combat. This is where Elta: Defy All Gods is going to excel the most.
Fluid Exploration and Combat that Packs a Punch (Literally)
Elta: Defy All Gods nails its action combat with expertise. Victus weaves heavy punches and has the ability to juggle an enemy in the air with the right timing in combat. Victus does not have a block or parry function and instead relies on dodging and counterattacking. As you play, you will unlock skill points to unlock new combos and passives. Such as combos for light and heavy attacks that mix together. As well as the ability to deliver a flying kick when you grapple towards someone.
In combat, as you deliver more attacks against enemies, you will build up a little meter to use abilities. In the demo, there was one really cool melee ability with two variants. The ability sends a shockwave against enemies. This sounds basic, but the upgrade you unlock either creates a fiery funnel or lightning strikes. But it’s not all punches and shockwaves; there’s some really cool exploration tech used in Elta: Defy All Gods.
Victus has the ability to jump, with unlocks in the demo to glide and grapple across the map. This is used excellently to open up new paths and find hidden treasure. For example, after unlocking the grappling hook, there is a slope with a very missable grapple point that leads to a treasure chest. If you fail this, you will have to go all the way back around through the area you unlocked the grappling hook just to try again. The game does not really hold your hand to find hidden loot, and it’s refreshing to see how well all parts of the gameplay blend together. Speaking of which, there are three difficulty modes and two guidance modes.
I tested Hard and Normal and found myself enjoying Hard way more than Normal. This was due to the fact that I could enjoy the combat for longer than Normal allowed. Despite the fact it made the boss harder to beat. As well as trying “Metroidvania” mode and appreciated the lack of waypoints after unlocking the grappling hook. I can only imagine how the two modes differ in the full game.
Technical Aspects of Elta: Defy All Gods
Elta: Defy All Gods has two options on the Xbox Series X|S. Quality mode, which offers better graphics and lighting at thirty frames per second. As well as performance mode that has a consistent sixty frames per second. I used performance mode and only found a few dips in performance during the exit after finding Elta. After this, it ran very smoothly. The game did not stutter, freeze, or crash in either of my playthroughs.
As for small problems that I found in the game, in one section you could fall off the terrain into nothing, but not through the map itself, as you see below.
There were also a few textures that bleed off terrain, with one being most noticeable in the temple where you find Elta. But that is as far as the problems went.
Closing Thoughts on Elta: Defy All Gods
Elta: Defy All Gods is shaping up to be quite the meaty action-adventure title. The combat is absolutely satisfying, and the exploration is really well thought out so far. The few technical issues I found did not break my immersion, as I know the game is arriving next year. But with all of this being said, you should absolutely play this game on your preferred platform of choice. It is arriving on February 2nd with a price tag of $29.99 USD on:
