Metroid Prime, But Punching

Elta: Defy All Gods blends unusual inspirations and styles, from brawling melee to 3D exploration and gear-gated progression. It’s an unusual formula that takes a few minutes to wrap one’s head around. But the more I played of an early demo, the more things gelled.

Players control a powerful warrior that calls to mind honor-bound warrior aliens like Predator or Star Trek’s Klingons. Having proven itself as the superior fighter, you control this figure as it descends onto a planet (supposedly one of three distinct worlds) to fight against the gods that decimated your people centuries earlier. While the initial action suggests a stoicism and a penchant for violence, one of your first encounters connects you with an adorable creature that looks like a baby dragon, which our hero seems to worship as a god. It’s a strange juxtaposition of visual and narrative ideas, but it helps the game stand out. Partnering with the creature (named Elta), you gain the first new ability, a grapple, that begins to open up the 3D map you’ve been traversing.