Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Is a Promising Roguelite

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree offers a welcome twist to the usual roguelite formula, with the full game arriving this month.

Jason recently made the case that it's tough for any new roguelites/roguelikes to stand out in such a crowded market, arguing they need a unique hook beyond simply being “good.” When nearly 19,000 Steam games launched last year, I see his point when so many games struggle to achieve wider visibility. After trying Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, I believe this could be a contender.

Alongside 13z: The Zodiac Trials and Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac, I played a time-limited version of the now publicly available demo for Towa during Gamescom 2025 at the Bandai Namco booth. Created by Doraemon: Story of Seasons developer Brownies Inc, this takes place in a mystic realm with an older Japanese aesthetic.

As a priestess of Shinju, Towa is tasked with defeating Magatsu to defend her village, and she's joined by eight companions known as the Prayer Children. What's interesting is that instead of using the titular protagonist directly, each run involves choosing two of your companions to clear the way. I can't select every companion in this demo, but the blend of skills this offers is already apparent.

Each companion can be placed in one of two roles: the frontline attacker with a distinct swordfighting style and the magic-focused support that grants you different abilities. Similar to Hades, Towa offers multiple paths to pick from with differing rewards for temporary upgrades known as Graces. Whether that's fire bolt spells, healing, taking less damage while casting a spell, and more, you've got some strong choices.

Combined, Towa lets you lean into some powerful combinations with great customizability, offering welcome encouragement to experiment with duos across each run. Finding a winning strategy can be rather satisfying to pull off, and progressing through this world feels challenging without ever becoming unfair or overwhelming.

Unfortunately, one aspect falters with this. Your dual weapon system mandates you to swap between two different swords once the durability meter runs out. A nice idea in theory, so you don't just stick with one attack style, yet the execution makes this feel rather pointless. Swapping swords immediately restores durability on the previous one, so you can quickly switch back to keep going with no penalty.

I've not seen much about how this story unfolds yet or any major character interactions; the demo was ultimately rather limited, so there's plenty more I need to play. Still, it's a good first impression for Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree. I'm enjoying this refreshing duo's approach in a single-player setup, which leans into some strong gameplay customizability well. I'm curious to try this in online co-op when the time comes.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree arrives on September 18 for Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch. A demo is also available on each platform.