Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Preview – A Mystical Japanese Hadeslike

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree was revealed at Summer Game Fest, and I had a chance to get my hands on the game. It has beautiful art, and the gameplay is a close sibling to Hades with its own twists. 

Towa is set in a mystical realm inspired by Japanese mythology and folklore. That is where we get one of the heroes being a human/koi fish hybrid. Someone more versed in the mythology will likely see references in many of the heroes and enemies. 

Towa Shares a lot of DNA with Hades

It’s impossible not to bring up Hades, as so much of the framework of Towa is so heavily inspired by it. It’s a roguelite where you make runs to clear out rooms of enemies, make a selection based on a series of rewards you can get, then rinse and repeat. 

Like selecting a powerup from a certain god you may want in Hades, Towa similarly has themed upgrade paths based around certain abilities or effects. You can try to build around that one set or go for a more varied approach.

You dash around the battlefield quickly, avoiding the many hazards enemies will throw your way by dodging and unleashing powerful abilities of your own. They are shown with the circles, arrows, and other indicators on where exactly to avoid.

Towa has a couple of big combat differences from something like Hades, however. 

First, no matter which guardian you choose to fight with (there are eight total), you’ll have a set of two swords to use in a run. You’ll be forced to constantly swap between the two as the more you use one, the more worn it gets and must be resharpened. Wear one down with some combos, swap, and repeat.

A lot of the upgrades are specific to one sword or another, so you can change the effects and abilities of any sword quite a bit. Moreover, it's something to make sure you keep an eye on, as it would be pretty easy to have one sword be the only effective one and the other needing some help as no upgrades have done anything to it.

You can also bring another guardian with you on a run. They are a little more passive and just follow you around, but have their own abilities that you can use on a cooldown to help out as well.

Towa Follows the Guardians Over a Long Time

Towa takes place over a vast period of time, centered around Shinju Village. Over that course of time, as the guardians come back again and again to defend it, the village will evlove and the stories of those that live there will change. 

The village serves as your central hub where you’ll upgrade swords, abilities, and unlock new things over the course of time. It's where you'll learn more about the guardians, too.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a competent roguelite that will certainly charm people into giving it a try with its great style. I’m also not going to complain about another excellent roguelite taking its cues from Hades.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree was previewed at Summer Game Fest.