I can only imagine the pressure when a person is from outside of the normative game developer corners of the world to make a game that puts their culture at the forefront. It’s risky: I don’t want to risk becoming token, don’t want to get pegged as generic and lost in a crowd of games. But some of the absolute best games utilize their historical and cultural contexts that make the most memorable and exciting games.
The list that hit that sweet spot is growing: Dungeons of Hinterberg, Arco, Hellclock, A Space for the Unbound, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, and Venba are all indies that within the last five years have hit the mark. Talaka could join them.
The game manages to blend in the deities of the Candomblé religion, specifically the Orixas, as your guiding NPCs, with significant events in Brazil’s history. It makes for an excellent premise and narrative influence on abilities, art direction, and enemy design. It’s a chain of one spectacle linked to another, and it’s directly due to its cultural setting. It’s what makes the game standout in the highly competitive field of roguelikes that relentlessly sweeps over Steam. Otherwise, it’ll feel exactly like the back-of-the-box description it gives you.
Talaka is a 2D side-scrolling roguelike, taking after games like Dead Cells and Rogue Prince of Persia. The movement is generous, with the titular Talaka able to double jump to huge heights and speedy dodge rolls to zip around the map. It’s a quickly paced game. Arenas are small, and obstacles are few. So far, there’s plenty of room to refine power-ups. What you’d expect is there. The peripheral aspects of Talaka are impressive, but the nuts and bolts leave a lot to desire.
However, Talaka isn’t easy. It compensates for the quick rooms with a nearly overwhelming barrage of projectiles. The demo started to crack a bit here. I wasn’t sure on the hit box sizes, and my ability to deflect back attacks didn’t feel dialed in. I’m no expert here, but as the tiny rooms began to fill with more objects, I began to feel more oversaturated by the information on screen and performed worse. That’s when the fatigue of the genre set in again. Another run? Let’s trudge back to the starting line.
And Talaka’s short spurts do feel like a sprint. The pacing here is designed to keep you moving, progressing, and upgrading within 30-second segments. It certainly helps with momentum, though the abilities themselves didn’t feel significant unless it was something that directly altered gameplay rather than a static number boost.
But that is also where the hope is. Talaka is pulling inspiration from a cultural and historical setting that can break mechanical conventions. There’s something in there with the Orixas that can add more variety and innovation to a genre that folks are, by now, deeply familiar with. I’m feeling confident that developer Potato Kid has more tricks up their sleeve. The aesthetic of the game is enough to recommend it for a wishlist and an eager eye on the patch notes and development updates over the next few months.
The Talaka demo is now available on Steam, and don’t forget to wishlist the game while you’re there!
