Roguelites are a dime a dozen these days, with even the mighty Elden Ring trying its hand with Nightreign. Most, if not all, are compared to Hades as a benchmark, with some succeeding in standing out in a crowded genre. This upcoming title from Bandai Namco could be another.

During Summer Game Fest, I got some hands-on time with Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, and while it was just around 30 minutes, I feel that this title could surprise many others who choose to give this a chance.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Preview

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a fast-paced roguelite with an interesting twist – two playable characters. One character takes the role of the Tsurugi (attacker) and another the Kagura (supporter), and based on which role the character takes, their abilities will also change. It’s a really interesting premise, and its execution is quite well done, albeit a bit shallow.

In the demo I played, we were only allowed to choose between 4 characters, and with the limited time, I only got to try out two – Rekka and Nishiki. Rekka is a young female blademaster who is proficient in the use of swords, while Nishiki is a humanoid fish (weird, I know) who can summon water and lightning. With 2 characters to choose from in a playthrough, online and couch co-op are options, but the game is also completely playable solo.

As the main attacker and the character you’ll be controlling, the Kagura can dodge, deal a fatal blow (which uses one bar of energy), and attack. By default, characters under the Kagura role will have 2 weapons they can change between, and this is a crucial mechanic because prolonged use of one weapon will deplete a bar that will need to reload, thus the need to switch to the other. Each weapon will also have a different attack and skill, so switching is incentivized.

The Kagura serves as the supporter, and the player cannot directly control the Kagura most of the time, but can choose to manually move them around if needed. As an example, if Rekka is the Tsurugi, she will utilize sword based attacks and abilities, while placing her in the Kagura role will see her throw fireballs or put up an invulnerability field.

As you can imagine, with 8 characters at your disposal, players can choose certain character combinations that will suit their playstyles. This is where Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree stands out, as its dual-character and dual-role system promotes quite a unique proposition compared to other similar titles.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree follows the usual Hades gameplay structure, where players will progress through rooms, where each room will provide random buffs and resources that will accumulate and empower them to take on the boss at the end of the level. Some of the buffs that I saw from my playthrough were very straightforward stat increases, but other rare and epic buffs have some added effects to them, like knockback. Hades offered a TON of possible ability perks and effects, so it remains to be seen how vast the reward pool in Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is, as it will speak directly to its longevity and effectiveness as a roguelite.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree was a nice surprise amidst bigger titles that I got to try out during Summer Game Fest. The game looks fantastic with its colorful hand-drawn art style, and the character and enemy designs are vibrant and very anime-inspired. If there was any gripe, it’s that its visual language doesn’t communicate attacks and hits quite well, as I had a hard time recognizing if I was hit or not between all of the visual effects going on.

My time with the game was brief, but Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree has definitely piqued my interest, and I’m looking forward to playing more of it in the coming months.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is coming to PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series on September 18, 2025. The PC version via Steam will release on September 19.