3D Beat-'em-ups are super rare these days, so to see one in the wild is an intriguing prospect. Elta: Defy All Gods goes a couple steps further, adding Metroidvania elements, a skill tree, and a cute little dragon buddy (who is also your god). Will you overcome the monsters and the puzzles in your path? Will you defy these aforementioned gods (and I do mean all of them)? Afterburner Studios has set forth the challenge: it's up to you to complete the task.
A demo for the game is available during October 2026's Steam Next Fest, occurring between 10/19 and 10/26. Play the demo (and thousands more) while you have the chance!
Is Elta: Defy all gods worth playing?
TL;DR: Yes!
I went into Elta expecting a button-mashing experience, and I'm left with something that's really fun and engaging (but also button mash-y). If you traded out the main character's fists for a sword, you'd think this was a simple action platformer...but the visceral nature of punching your enemies is vital to the combat gameplay. When your fists meet their face, it feels impactful with the concussion-blast visuals, but also floaty enough that you don't feel weighted down and sluggish. You'll bob and weave, performing counters, grapples, and uppercuts to pound on fish monsters, which in turn gives you experience to improve your bonds with Elta (Elta is the widdle dragon...but remember: it's your god, so you have to protect it with all your might! That it is also cute is irrelevant...maybe).
You and Elta will journey together to do...something. Presumably defy the other gods, if the title is to be believed, but what that entails beyond "punch them, then punch 'em some more" is a mystery for now. Elta has a few tricks of its own, allowing you to pull yourself to floating grapple spots or pull on doors. Later on, Elta can lift you ever-so-much to provide gliding assistance for a time. Your bonding grows in a way that isn't just points in a tree: you rely on Elta as much as it relies on you.
This leads into the 3D Metroidvania exploration, which left me with a solid impression in this early glimpse. You can choose to go with a "pure" experience and turn off waypoints, resulting in you having to figure out the path on your own. I feel clever in these moments, finding hidden upgrades tuck in corners or locked behind a puzzle. I don't need a guiding fart trail to lead me down the corridors...but if you get stuck, the option exists, so points for accessibility. I'm ultimately reminded of Metroid Prime in all the best ways, even if it's not first-person.
I did have a couple niggles that...didn't so much as frustrate me or upset me, but I would like them addressed somehow anyway. For example, the game's tutorial starts with and teaches you about abilities you won't have after the story starts in earnest, which is supposed to hint at your future potential but you can totally feel the downgrade. It creates a feelsbad moment that might be hard to fix. Beyond that, when you break open red canisters, health orbs drop out; if you're not damaged enough to completely absorb one, it won't heal you at all. If an orb heals for, say, "20" health, but you only have "19" damage (a faulty example, as you can't really tell), I'd rather the game just healed me anyway. It's confusing when it happens and rather nebulous.
The last thing is kind of goofy, but the use of verticality in the Metroidvania areas means you might find yourself above a goody, one that you could theoretically jump down to from above. In Elta, if you fall even a slight amount, the game just automatically dumps you back where you were. I'd rather see some kind of fall damage was implemented, instead of such a hard cut-off punishing your exploration. It's like a horizontal version of an invisible wall; the visuals imply the world is open and vast, but it really isn't when you think about it.
None of this is to say I dislike the game; far from it! The game is staying on my Wishlist, because I love Metroidvanias, punching my way through bad guys, and cute dragons. This game is a triple-threat, so defy your own gods and side with Elta!
Elta: Defy All Gods has a release date of February 2nd, 2027: if you want to try it out in the interim, you can find the demo here. The demo was available before the Steam Next Fest arrived, so it stands to reason it will remain up afterward.
Are you interested in Elta: Defy All Gods? Did you play any other cool demos during October's Next Fest? Let us know in the comments below!
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