Although I would never consider myself to be a roguelite fanatic, I am always astounded at the creativity in this genre. We have found ourselves in the depths of Hades in…Hades, to the monster filled Spire of Slay the Spire, and all the way to…whatever The Binding of Isaac is. But there is now an upcoming entry in this genre that couches the gameplay in the world of Afro-Brazilian mythology. This game: Talaka.
Talaka is an upcoming action-platformer meets roguelite from the minds at Potato Kid, with publishing being handled by Acclaim, Inc. The game itself launched into its early access beta phase in July 2026 and the demo of the game is now available on Steam.
Gamer Social Club was able to get our hands on a preview of the demo just before it launched publicly. So, let’s cut to the chase and dive into our first impressions of Talaka‘s demo.
The World & The Story
The World
Talaka‘s world is…unusual. While Talaka is a young artist who has left her home, only to return due to the disappearance of her grandmother. We spend most of the game within the drawings that Talaka has made when she was younger. Drawings and paintings of the various Orishas of Afro-Brazilian culture.
Yes, somehow, Talaka is drawn into these surreal water-color paintings to find out what has happened to her grandmother. She’s also been tasked with determining what is happening to the Orishas of the world as well. Because the world of the Orishas is…being erased…for an unknown reason.
The Story
As we noted above, Talaka focuses on the aforementioned young woman with a penchant for artistic flair. She one day leaves home to see the other cultures of the world and become a contributing member of society (don’t we all yearn for that?). One day, she receives a call that her nana has gone missing and no traces of her can be found.
Upon Talaka’s arrival at home, she discovers one of her early paintings of some of her culture’s Orishas. Orishas, which we mentioned earlier, are divine spirits of the Yoruba religion of West Africa that have “travelled” via the diaspora of the African peoples to other practices. Practices such as Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé.
While Talaka does find her nana…it’s not truly “her” nana.
Eshu and the other Orishas, in response to the concern of what you have reported to them, lend you their powers and abilities to right whatever wrongs are occurring.
The Gameplay
Gameplay Loop
If you have played a roguelike before, then this will be…a refresher to the genre. Talaka‘s core gameplay loop, as a roguelite, revolves around incremental success with a lot of death mixed in there. Every run will feature the opportunity to create a unique blend of weapon attacks, skills, and unique abilities. These will either lend Talaka in her endeavors…or not. But regardless, there is no penalty to death as we’ll just come back again!
Unlike other roguelites I have experienced, Talaka is a 2D platformer. Which I will definitely say makes it a bit more challenging. But that also could be the fact that I was just getting stomped by various enemies during my time with this demo. Maybe it’s a skill issue?
As with any roguelite, not only will you need to contend with enemies, but also environmental hazards as well. Which, as this is a platformer, only makes the combat more challenging.
As with titles like Hades, with the completion of each room, Talaka will have an option to pursue one of several pathways, each yielding their own promise of a new ability, skill, currency/items, etcetera. Thus, we can really see how much variation that there will be with each run.
Upgrades Galore
As Talaka is a roguelite, we’re not starting from scratch each time. When Talaka “dies”, she is brought back to a haven where many of the Orishas she has met will be present. From these Orishas, Talaka can purchase various upgrades to her more “static” facets, like her health and healing abilities. Seriously, a roguelite that allows healing mid-combat? I love you!
Mini-Bosses
Yes, there are mini-bosses. Several of them in fact. And they are not friendly. Not in the slightest.
The Good
Truly Unique Artistic Style
One of the facets of Talaka that immediately caught my attention was their use of water color aesthetics. It especially fits the story of the game itself, as we find Talaka navigating her own artwork from when she was a child.
A Unique Look into Afro-Brazilian Culture
Talaka does an absolutely phenomenal job at introducing the player to the aspects of the culture that might be unknown to them. Myself included, as while I had a vague idea of what Orishas were, I never delved too deeply into their cultural significance to the peoples who believe in them.
It’s one of the remarkable things that I continue to see in modern gaming: the inclusion of various cultures that I would have otherwise never been exposed to. This is something that still always has me looking into the gaming sphere with open eyes because I’ll never know what new thing that I’ll learn about.
The Bad
Platformer + Roguelite Combat = ROUGH
It might just be a skill issue but Talaka seems incredibly unforgiving when it comes to the combat facets of the game. I know that, as it’s a roguelite, you are expected to lose/struggle. A lot. However, I felt like I was constantly getting my teeth kicked in. And I think the biggest culprit was the wombo combo of platforming with the precision gameplay that a roguelite can demand.
Again, this might just be me being a bad gamer, but I struggled.
Extremely Close-Range Weapons versus Less Accurate Long-Range Weaponry
This was a slight bone to pick, but I definitely didn’t love the choices of weaponry that I was receiving in Talaka. The close-range weapons that I ran across were…comically close-range. To the point where not taking damage when attacking was…nigh impossible. The long-range weapons, on the other hand, had some extreme range, but with little to no ability to control trajectory.
This just compounded the struggle bus that was my time with Talaka.
The Overall
I do believe that there is something very promising here in Talaka. It’s telling a very unique story that has not been told (to my knowledge) before in a videogame format. And there is surely an enticing gameplay loop in there that a roguelite fanatic will salivate over. But as it stands right now, Talaka does need some work. My hope is that Potato Kid will be putting in the work to truly make this a memorable game!
Gamer Social Club was provided an early access copy of this demo for the purposes of this first impression review. This review was played on PC (Steam).
