Elta: Defy All Odds is Shaping up to be a Fantastic 3D Metroidvania on Steam Deck - Preview

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It's not often we see Action-Platformers in the year 2026, so I was pretty intrigued by what a modern take on the genre would look like. Enter Elta: Defy All Gods. I got a chance to preview the demo that's launching tomorrow, October 1st,

Elta: Defy All Gods (Demo) - Gameplay Impressions

Elta: Defy All Gods describes itself as an Action-Platformer with Metroidvania elements, and it sticks fairly close to the genre norms. You'll have platforming sections intermingled with combat sections, as well as collectibles that allow your character to increase their maximum health, damage output, and gain experience to unlock new abilities and moves.

First things first, the combat feels fantastic. The game feel has really been refined here, and it makes both your attacks and dodges feel very satisfying. The game enters slow motion whenever something dramatic happens in combat, and it adds more weight to your moves. That, combined with fairly heavy use of visual effects, really makes the combat a spectacle, something I wasn't expecting in an "action-platformer". It felt reminiscent of Batman: Arkham Asylum, jumping between enemies to land impactful slow-mo hits.

Alongside that, the movement feels pretty smooth; you can jump, double-jump, mid-air dash, dodge, and wall-run. You have a fairly varied and non-restrictive moveset, which is a must in a platformer. When you put that together with the fluid combat that expands as you level up and unlock new moves, it creates a very free-flowing experience.

As far as the storyline goes, that might be a weak point of Elta; we barely get to see any real story in the demo. There's no dialogue, the protagonist is seemingly silent, and what's going on isn't really explained. Hopefully there is an actual storyline planned out, but so far, beyond meeting a cute mini-dragon sidekick and a gargantuan antagonist who doesn't bother fighting you directly, you're just here for the tight combat and competent platforming.

A couple of criticisms I would level against Elta: Defy All Gods is that while the levels do feel somewhat open-worldy, they have arbitrary invisible walls scattered throughout them, keeping you locked on a linear path of the developer's choosing, which feels unnecessarily restrictive, no trying to cheese the game by jumping up awkward-looking slopes here. Also, when saving the game, you end up in a "saving screen" for about 10-15 seconds, which feels strange, considering most games save instantly nowadays.

Elta: Defy All Gods (Demo) - Steam Deck Performance Tested

The demo of Elta: Defy All Gods runs quite well on the Steam Deck. The controls work perfectly, and performance is better than I had expected.

The game recommends the low preset, and I suggest you stick to it. I found that having a Resolution Scale of around 60% works best, and I limited the game to 40 FPS in SteamOS. You will get dips into the mid-30s in intense combat situations, but generally, you can play the game at 40 FPS for that bit of extra smoothness.

When entering new areas, the game seems to compile shaders, so expect heavy CPU usage and a very low framerate for a short period.

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