When I first heard the title Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, I wondered why the developer had chosen such a long name when something short and memorable like ‘Towa’ would have sufficed. However, having played the finished product, in which character interactions and development are integral to the story, I’m happy to include ‘Guardians of the Sacred Tree’ every time I mention the game. After all, the Guardians are as important as the protagonist, sometimes even more so.
Tsuguri and Kagura
Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is an action roguelite where you live as a goddess among the people of Shinju village. This peaceful place is under threat from a dark force: Magatsu, who wants to destroy the village and take over the world, together with his servants the Magaori. As the daughter of the gods, it is your job to stop them, with the help of your allies, the Prayer Children. These eight devoted friends live outside of time with you. In other words, they are like ancient Greek demigods. They are champions with significant powers who help their god in battle.
Following the events of the prologue, Towa and the Prayer Children are separated, each playing their own part in the story. Towa plays a supporting role in the village, while the Prayer Children battle their way through an isometric map filled with battles. While it may sound similar to other action roguelites on the market, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree introduces a highly customisable system: Kagura and Tsuguri. Or ‘Staff’ and ‘Sword’ in English.
Rather than playing as one character at a time, you journey in pairs. One character acts as your physical attacker, slashing at enemies with sword strikes, while the other uses magic to turn the tide of battle. Every one of the eight Prayer Children has his or her own move set as Tsuguri and specific Kagura magic elements. Moves can overlap, but when you discover that each character also has its own unique stats, choosing a party becomes a balancing exercise that can make or break a run. Find a playstyle that suits you best.
This creates an exceptional flow in combat. The Tsuguri, who switches between two blades, and the Kagura, who uses magic spells, add depth to combat that would otherwise be generic. To make matters even more interesting, there are plenty of upgrades to help these characters along the way. Each of them giving you a clear choice to boost your physical attacker or magic users stats and give their attacks extra power. Elemental damage, knock-back and weapon durability. Every element you know and love in this genre is present. Even vendors and events will appear during your playthrough. Unlike other roguelites I’ve played, I haven’t discovered a game-breaking build where I do massive damage. However, tipping the scale in favour of one of your two party members offers an experience unlike anything else I’ve seen in the genre. I mostly wanted better swordplay when upgrading, but some upgrades really made a strong case for the other side.
One final point about the runs is that this isn’t a single map that you complete multiple times. There are different zones to tackle. Each zone has a certain number of bosses, with a final boss at the end. Once you have completed a zone, the story continues and the next zone is unlocked. They are more difficult and longer than the last. This makes it feel like a breath of fresh air and a true accomplishment. It’s a real journey through this world. I won’t reveal how, but the story even forces you to change your preferred party members, so each run feels different from the next. It’s a real breath of fresh air in a genre that some people consider one-note.
Shinju
Then there is Towa, who is ‘stuck’ in the village and unable to fight alongside her friends. However, this doesn’t leave her powerless. Through her interactions with the villagers, she can buy and create upgrades for the Prayer Children. You can purchase permanent stat boosts. These improve damage, defence and movement speed. You can also visit a shrine to determine the rate at which the party finds certain temporary upgrades along the way. Lastly, there is a forge where you can create new Kagura swords. The forge even has a fully fleshed-out minigame in which you go through the entire process of making a katana blade. The better you perform in the timing-based button prompts, the more stat points you can distribute. It’s a welcome change of pace and a chance to relax between combat runs. However, it can become stale if you have enough ores to forge multiple swords in one go. This is lucky for those who don’t want to spend too much time in the forge. You can have the smith do the work for you, but be aware that he will do an average job — nothing special.
However, the village doesn’t remain static. You can unlock new buildings and enlist the help of other characters. So far, I have also unlocked a fishing minigame and a builder to add new buildings to the village. The place truly feels alive and grows alongside the characters as the story progresses.
The friends you make along the way…
In my opinion, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree excels at character development. The game isn’t about its main story, which can feel convoluted at times. It’s about the personal interactions between the characters. The Prayer Children’s journey fleshes out their internal relationships and grows their bond. It’s also about the interactions between Towa and the villagers, which are genuine and make you care about this village. For me, this game isn’t about changing the world; it’s about the friends you make along the way and the people you want to protect.
Every character is believable. From a child that wants to prank his teacher to Bampuku, the bulky dog Prayer Child who wants to show the world how much he has grown. The voice acting makes it even more impressive, despite the occasional recycled line. (Oh how I wanted to hit the crow in the village after the twentieth “Traha! Traho! Trahee!” In passing)
Combine this with the stunning hand-drawn character artwork and environments. The result is a game that feels unique and stylish in an extremely well-represented genre. Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree manages to stand out among its peers. It offers familiar gameplay in a world that you will want to care about. I want to save this world as much as Towa herself does. And that is something that not many games manage to achieve.
It is also worth mentioning that this game is very well optimised. Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is released on the PlayStation 5, both Xbox Series X/S, the Nintendo Switch and Steam. I played the preview build on Steam Deck and the Switch version for my review. Both versions felt good to play on a small handheld screen and on my TV. If the other versions are as good as the two I’ve tried, you won’t have any excuse not to play this game.
Conclusion
Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree offers something new in a well-represented genre. With eight prayer children to choose from, the Kaguara and Tsuguri system offers a wide variety of gameplay styles, and the game even encourages you to mix things up through narrative story beats. While it doesn’t offer game-breaking upgrades like other games in the genre, the balancing act of choosing between Sword and Staff upgrades is unique in its own right. The village where you purchase upgrades truly feels alive, and the characters feel believable and grounded in a story about saving the world. This makes you connect with the characters on a personal level and want to protect them even more. Combine this with the stunning visuals and beautiful hand-drawn artwork, and you have a roguelite that can stand alongside the best in the genre.
