Dead Cells meets Afro-Brazilian myth in Talaka, where forgotten Orishas become the enemy

Video games have mined the Greek and Norse pantheons so thoroughly that Zeus and Odin now feel like recurring cast members. Talaka reaches for a mythology the medium has barely touched: the Orishas of Afro-Brazilian tradition, the creatures of Brazilian folklore and the landscapes that keep them alive. Its premise turns that neglect into the plot. The legends are being forgotten, and as they fade they lose themselves to a corruption that makes them the very monsters you fight. In this hand-painted, watercolor roguelite, saving a myth means defeating it first.

The game comes from Potato Kid, an independent Brazilian studio founded by a trio of industry veterans, and it is published by Acclaim, the label that once brought Mortal Kombat, Turok and NBA Jam into living rooms and has been reborn as a home for indie games. Talaka is taking part in Steam Next Fest: October Edition, but nobody has to wait for the festival: a free demo is already live on Steam, and the team has just pushed new demo patches and a fresh set of screenshots to mark the occasion.

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The comparison the studio invites is Dead Cells: fast, fluid combat in which dodging, parrying and healing belong to the same rhythm. Each run reshuffles god-blessed weapons and skills drawn from what the studio puts at more than 150 combinations. The demo covers the first world, a slice of that arsenal, the mystical abilities and a boss fight that closes it out.

What separates Talaka from a crowded genre is where it puts you. Every biome is painted as a Brazilian place: the arid Sertão, the Pantanal wetlands, the streets of São Paulo and the dreamlike depths of the Dark Orun, named after the tradition’s realm of the divine. The player is a young warrior who once believed in the old stories and must now reconnect with the Orishas to learn why the myths have gone rogue. The new screenshots lean into that collision of the sacred and the everyday: a towering goddess in blue beneath a violet sky, a spiked beast stalking a purple forest, graffiti-tagged rooftops where folklore spills into the city.

In the announcement, Marc Anthony Rodriguez, Acclaim’s director of publishing and strategic partnerships, says the response to the demo has been incredible, and that players are connecting with “its world, unique character design and the Afro-Brazilian culture & mythos behind it.”

Steam Next Fest runs from October 19 to October 26. Talaka is due on Steam and current home consoles in early 2027, with no specific date or console list announced yet. If the full game holds on to the idea its demo sets up, its sharpest trick will be the one buried in the premise: a roguelite in which every run is an act of remembering.

Tags: Steam Next Fest, roguelite games, Acclaim, Afro-Brazilian mythology, Dead Cells, Potato Kid

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