Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Hands-on Preview at Summer Game Fest

At Summer Game Fest 2025, Bandai Namco revealed Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, a new Japanese folklore-inspired roguelike that wears its inspirations on its sleeve.  We went hands-on with the game for a quick look at what Towa will have to offer us when it arrives this September.  Here’s a quick peek at what we picked from our time with it.  

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is set in a world steeped in ancient Japanese mythology. The game’s premise revolves around guardians tasked with protecting the Sacred Tree, a mystical force not unlike the World Tree in other mythologies. We only got a passing look at the storyline, so that’s about all I can impart on that topic.  

One thing I can comment on is the absolutely gorgeous visuals.  A blend of watercolor painting and anime-style Japanese art, the game is overflowing with green grasses, forests, shimmering lakes and more.  Even these screenshots don’t tell the whole story – this is one you’ve got to see in motion.  I suspect we’ll see more dour environments as we get closer to whatever big bad lies at the core of the game, but what we saw so far was beautiful to behold.

At its core, the game is a roguelike experience, where each run is unique, and the environment constantly shifts. The parallels to games like Hades and its sequel are immediately apparent, though this game has a few elements that make Towa unique.  At the beginning of the demo I could choose one of two guardians (though there is nothing preventing the team from having more – the team weren’t saying one way or the other).  One guardian takes on the role of primary attacker, armed with close-range weapons or magic, and the other will take a support role with ranged abilities, area-of-effect attacks, or healing spells. It sounds like such a minor thing, but in practice it makes for a completely different type of gameplay.

 As you tackle foes, you’ll hammer on them with your weapon.  As you do so, you’ll get some visual and auditory clues that your weapon is wearing out.  When it’s no longer sharp, you’re expected to let it recharge a meter, or better still, switch to your secondary character and make them primary for a few.  On paper, the weapons degradation system sounds like it’d be a nuisance, but in practice swapping between weapons and characters pushed me to be more thoughtful about my approach and timing.  If you know an enemy is more susceptible to melee attacks, timing your meters so you have those at your fingertips is wise, meaning thinking ahead instead of just dodging and hammering away is key. Each guardian has its own health, abilities, and weapons to manage, so you’ll also be apparently upgrading them as you go, leaning into the roguelike elements of the game.

Each run in Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is designed to last about 30 to 45 minutes – precisely the amount of time we had for our demo.  If you want a quick roguelike hit, Towa is aiming to deliver exactly that.  Given that all of the levels and foes are procedurally generated or placed, no two runs should ever be exactly alike. As you progress, the difficulty ramps up, with new enemies and more complex obstacles introduced, as you’d expect. To help you cope with that, you’ll get drops.  These drops are similar to what you’ve seen in other games, offering a bump to attack damage, environmental effects, or other similar augments.  

The other major departure from the norm is the addition of cooperative play.  While our demo was single player, the full game will have the ability to team up with your friends, meaning you’ll be able to bring a total of four guardians into the field.  It seems like that would create some awesome synergies but we’ll have to wait to try those out.  

We won’t have to wait long to get our hands on this fast-paced gorgeous roguelike.  Coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on September 19th, 2025, this looks like it’ll be something special.  

Stay tuned right here at GamingTrend.com for more on Towa and the Guardian of the Sacred Tree as well as everything else we saw at Summer Game Fest 2025!