Roguelites are one of the most saturated genres out there, so it’s incredibly hard nowadays for a title to stand out from the crowd. At this point, it feels like we’ve seen the best that the genre has to offer, so if a game has any hope of carving out a distinctive identity, it needs to bring something different, fresh, and innovative to the table.

This is why Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree piqued my curiosity, as it implements a system where you bring two fighters into battle from a potential pool of eight characters. It’s also the first time Bandai Namco has thrown down its gauntlet in the rougelites arena, with Brownies Inc. behind the development. Admittedly, it’s not on the same level as the all-time greats in the genre, but it’s still a seriously great slice of rougelite pie that you should check out if you’re a fan of the genre.

A Dark Force Shrouds The Land

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a surprisingly story-focused game, and you will encounter quite a few cutscenes during your playthrough. The story follows Towa, a descendant of the gods, who lives peacefully in the Shinju village, overseeing its safety. This is until the evil God, Magatsu, wreaks havoc across the land. To defend against this menacing threat, Towa gathers eight guardians known as the Prayer Children to help her fight against these dark forces. However, after a series of bizarre events, the Prayer Children find themselves separated from Towa and are now in a mysterious parallel timeline.

The entire plot is heavily inspired by Shinto mythology, and this is reflected in the art direction, characters, and world-building. It’s fantastic, as it sets up the premise very well and helps you get invested in the plot. There has clearly been a lot of thought behind the overall world. The main cast of characters is also super likable. Sure, some characters are more fleshed out than others, but they all have their own distinctive personalities, which makes the exchanges between them thoroughly entertaining.

Double the Fun

The combat system here is quite comprehensive. Sometimes, the mechanics work in its favor, and other times, not so much. But before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s cover the basic fundamentals. Towa plays very similarly to other isometric roguelite titles out there. You will enter a dungeon room, defeat the monsters occupying the space, acquire a new ability, and then proceed to the next room. This cycle will continue until you’ve completed the dungeon. There are a few times when it breaks away from the norm, like a hot spring room that offers a new ability without having to beat any enemies or a shopkeeper that appears with goodies, but you get the basic gist of the setup here.

The main attraction to the combat system is that you can bring two characters into a dungeon crawl with you from a potential pool of eight characters. The catch, however, is that both fighters will play completely different roles in the battles themselves. Whomever you choose to be the Tsurugi will serve as your offensive fighter, acting as the guardian you assume control of. The other will be the Kagura, who will essentially be your magic spellcaster.

The Tsurugi can use two different swords in battle. With each sword, you can perform regular strikes, charged attacks, and fatal blows, which are basically mini ultimate moves. However, over time, the sword will lose its durability in battle, which will cause it to lose its potency, and as a direct result, its attack strength will be reduced by half. You obviously don’t want this to happen, so the game practically screams at you to alternate between both swords during the course of a fight. It’s a clever way of keeping you engaged in the combat scenarios at all times, without falling into button-mashing territory.

I really liked the fighting controls for the Tsurugi, as they make the confrontations feel incredibly fast-paced and exciting. This is most evident in boss battle encounters, as the game requires you to tactically dodge incoming aggression and then execute a barrage of attacks. However, I do have a minor complaint. You can’t switch between swords while executing a move, which makes perfect sense. But sometimes, you’ll have to wait quite a few moments after performing a move for it to register that you’re not attacking anymore. It’s nothing major that takes away from the experience, but it’s worth mentioning as it does hinder the flow of combat at times.

In comparison, the Kagura feels very bland and somewhat disappointing. If you’re playing in solo mode, the guardian will closely follow the character you’re controlling, and you can activate one of two spells by pressing the trigger button. After you’ve performed the spell, you’ll have to wait for a brief cool-down period before you can initiate it again. If that sounded a bit anticlimactic, it’s arguably worse in co-op. It’s practically the same, but now the second player controls the spells and can move the character. That’s it. When there has been so much meticulous thought behind the first character battle mechanics, it’s a shame that the other receives such afterthought treatment. For that reason alone, it’s challenging to recommend this one for couch-co-op fans, as both players will have distinctly different experiences while playing.

The abilities you can acquire are also worth delving into. As mentioned previously, when you defeat all the enemies in a room, you will earn a power-up called a Grace. You can usually choose between one of four abilities to learn, which will aid you during your run. Depending on how well you perform in that room, such as avoiding any damage, will also determine the type of Graces that will be available to you. Some of these abilities are relatively bog-standard, such as a particular sword dealing more damage, but others are unique and can change the dynamic of the battles themselves. My favorite skill you can earn is one where you perform a regular move, and a mini whirlwind appears, dealing additional damage. As you would expect, if you die on that run or complete the dungeon, you will lose all of the abilities you earned.

Eat, sleep, die, and repeat is the mantra of most roguelite games, but Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree might take this interpretation to a whole new level. When you have successfully completed a dungeon, the guardian you choose to be the Kagura will be sacrificed and will then be removed from the pool of characters you can select moving forward. As each guardian has a mildly different attack style and magic spells at their disposal, you’ll have to be careful when picking your characters. Without giving too much away, this plot point encourages multiple playthroughs to see the perspective from different angles, especially as in certain run-throughs, you may not connect so much to certain characters for obvious reasons.

A Relaxed Break Between Dungeon Crawls

Between runs, Towa will be at Shinju Village, where you can upgrade skills, unlock new spells, construct buildings and shops, and even partake in some fishing, if the mood takes you in that direction. There are also townfolk who live in the village that you can talk to and get to know better. Compared to the main cast of characters, they’re not that interesting, but it adds more activities to do in the town, which I appreciate. The entire village has a welcoming and relaxed vibe to it, making it a pure delight to explore.

Even though the village itself is a reasonably small size, there is actually quite a bit to do inside it. It can even be a little overwhelming when you first start playing, as you don’t know what facilities are worth investing your time in, especially as you have minimal resources at your disposal. But when you learn what works for you and your fighting style, there are a ton of ways to improve your character’s stats.

The place I found most helpful when it came to improving stats was the Blacksmiths, where you can craft new weapons through a button-press mini-game using the materials you gain or buy. You can even mould how the sword itself will look. Admittedly, I didn’t spend too much time on the customisation aspect, but I can imagine some people investing a significant amount of time crafting the perfect sword to dice their foes with.  

From beginning to end, the entire game looks absolutely beautiful. The overall design harbors an anime aesthetic, which is flat-out adorable, and uses a great range of bright colors so everything looks visually appealing on screen. The one thing I will say is that some of the in-game environments structurally look the same after a while. The soundtrack is beyond phenomenal, and there is a reason for that, as the legendary Hitoshi Sakimoto is behind the music, who is well-known for their works on Final Fantasy XII and Dragon’s Crown. It really matches the tense, combat scenarios, as well as the carefree ones.

It feels like I’ve played more roguelite games than I’ve had hot dinners this year (okay, that may be an overexaggeration, but you get the point), so I wasn’t expecting much from Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, but I was thoroughly impressed. Sometimes it misses, but it takes some big swings that really pay off, and I respect that. If you’re looking for a couch-co-op experience, I would politely suggest avoiding this. However, if you’re looking for a heavy plot-related title that features an interesting combat system, then I would definitely recommend taking a punt on this one.

Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided a PlayStation 5 copy of Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree for review purposes.