Back in 2020, a little game called Hades released and took the gaming world by storm for being an incredible artistic and gameplay rich roguelike. We knew it would inspire many to delve into making their own games in the genre to reach that same pinnacle that Hades did. At Summer Games Fest, Bandai Namco unveiled their first roguelike game (they just publish Elden Ring: Nightreign) in Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree. Then, we got to go hands on with the game during our time at the show last weekend, and enjoyed our short time with it.

From the get go of playing Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, you can see that this game took a lot of inspiration from Hades. If you liked that game, then imagine that but with Japanese folklore and a lighter tone to the story. Where it differentiates itself is the fact that you are controlling two characters at once in this game. Fun fact, Towa herself insn’t one of the characters you control when you’re out in the world exploring. Instead, you choose two of the eight guardians available. Towa, herself, is only playable in the main hub area where she can compete in mingames like fishing and jump rope.

As for gameplay, while the game will be able to be played in with a co-op partner, the developers want the game to still be enjoyable as a single player game first and foremost. Overall, they are doing a good job as it wasn’t difficult controlling two characters. One character is more the main character that you control and does most of the offense, and the second character is more of a support character that you can have use certain skills and attack. However, the main thing you will be doing is swapping between your two main weapons as they get dull and weaken over time, so you must swap them to increase their strength again while you clear out rooms full of enemies on the way to the boss. Runs also won’t be too long as I was told they would be about 30-45 minutes to complete a full run of the game.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is set to release at some point in 2026.