During Summer Game Fest, one title that piqued my interest was a newly announced hidden gem called Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree. It offered a bright and colorful take on the Hades roguelite formula while bringing in its unique dual-hero system that aims to present innovation to a crowded sub-genre.

As we approach its launch on September 18, Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia has offered us a final preview of the game, and after spending considerable time with it, it’s looking like it has the potential to pleasantly surprise many players with its vibrant visuals and fast-paced gameplay.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Final Preview

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree introduces a compelling twist to the roguelite genre with its dual-hero system. Players control two characters simultaneously, one as the Tsurugi (attacker) and the other as the Kagura (support), from a roster of eight heroes.

While certain characters naturally fit a role better than others, any combination is viable, and the game encourages experimentation because assigning roles alters their abilities and attack styles.

Each hero features a unique inventory, attributes, and unlockable skills that could change how they are used. Though some abilities may initially appear repetitive, as more than one character will have them, deeper progression unlocks abilities that give each character a clearer identity.

Both characters have their separate HP bars that give the player one full bar (e.g. Tsurugi has 500HP and Kagura has 500HP = 1000HP) to start, but as the stage progresses, damage to each of your characters lower this. If your Kagura dies, don’t worry, they can still be effective in battle, but you’re just basically working with 50% HP remaining with your Tsurugi.

Fans of Hades and similar games will find familiar ground in Towa’s room-based progression and resource-driven upgrade system that allows players to purchase upgrades for deeper runs. Reaching the end of an encounter will award the player with “Graces,” which are basically improvements that players can use to build their character (think boons from Hades). There are multiple Grace categories, with Grace of the Merciful concentrating on HP restoration boosts, Grace of the Mighty that improve Honzashi attacks, and Grace of the Lucid that improves critical hits.

While many systems are similar to other titles, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree equips the Tsurugi with two swords, the Honzashi and Wakizashi, each offering different attack types.

For example, as a Tsurugi, Shigin can throw his Honzashi for long-range attacks, while his Wakizashi lets him charge to create a shockwave at a certain spot. When chosen as a Kagura, he can throw fireballs and summon balls of lightning to attack enemies. Rekka can slash multiple times and charge up a spinning attack as a Tsurugi, while as a Kagura, he can throw fireballs and set up an invulnerability domain. As you can imagine, finding the right combination will depend on your preferred playstyle.

Combat in Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is fast-paced, and weapon-switching called “Quick Draw” is essential, as prolonged use of one sword lowers the durability gauge. When empty, the use of Quick Draw is required to bring it back up and allow use of the weapon again.

The responsive control scheme will feel like second nature in the long run, but it takes a bit of practice due to the constant use of Quick Draw to switch weapons, along with the ability to control your Kagura both in attacks and movements.

While you control your Tsurugi for most of the game, you can also choose to manually move around your Kagura for better positioning and placement using the right analog stick. Some enemies and bosses will have attacks that have fast wind-ups, so it may require proper maneuvering to keep your HP levels up.

One new feature of Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree that we got to experience first-hand was forging, allowing players to craft various types of blades that will improve their damage, but also provide bonus attributes depending on how well they forge the blade. That’s right, forging is an involved process where players choose from various materials that dictate the base stats of the blade, and a series of mini-games determines any bonus attributes or stats.

In fact, some may find it a bit too involved, and the many mini-games may turn off more casual players. Thankfully, there is an option to automatically craft the blade, but that supposes that you don’t care about min-maxing for future runs.

Other features include the Shinju Shrine, where players can use collected Jade Ores to improve the chances of a certain Grace appearing throughout the run, Shinju’s Virtue that allows purchase of upgrades that give vendors one more item for sale, or a resurrection skill once downed in battle. Players familiar with roguelite titles will definitely be familiar with these, and it’s cool to see them make their way into Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, albeit in a different form.

Some nitpicks from our previous playthrough are still evident in this build, such as how hard it is to see sometimes when the screen gets crowded due to everything being so colorful, the way the visuals are communicated suffers a bit. Additionally, some character portraits are in low resolution, which should be an easy fix once the game’s launch version is ready. Overall, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree plays as smoothly as you would expect, which is great for a title that requires responsive controls.

While we haven’t played through the whole game just yet, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree looks promising in its current state. There seems to be enough content to merit multiple playthroughs, the story sounds interesting enough, and there are enough unique twists and features to make it stand out in its sub-genre. No final verdict just yet, but rougelite fans can finally cheer for an upcoming title.

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.