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I can't quite wrap my head around Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, the first roguelike publisher Bandai Namco is releasing in its decades of existence, and a mostly satisfying Summer Game Fest demo that otherwise made me wonder, what's the point?
To Towa developer Brownie, whose game director Shuhei Yamashita – along with Bandai producer Daisuke Nagaoka – spoke to me through a translator, the point is that Towa is "unlike any roguelike." But the undeniable fact is that Towa is actually a lot like Hades.
"We are very inspired by Hades," the developers explained, "we have a great respect for [it], especially its action scenes. We use it as sort of a reference for [Towa], but Towa is not just [Hades]. We use it as a base, and we have added these values."
Most obvious, to me, is the pleasant, by-the-fire sense of togetherness Towa instills in you by being a game about companionship. You get to choose your lead tsurugi ("sword" in Japanese) and support kagura (which refers to a mystical staff) from a charming team of eight heroes sworn to serve the priestess Towa.
But, during my 30 minutes with Towa's demo, I wasn't as interested in the politics of the game's main campsite Shinju Village – despite it being heavy with red flowers, and evocatively stained with watercolor – than I was enamored with how good combat felt.
I'd decided to tap the "Virtuous Seeker" Nishiki, a sinewy Koi fish whose profile suggests he is a cannibalistic seafood eater, to be my tsurugi and the mean-looking girl with bangs, Rekka, to be my kagura; I'm a woman constantly in search of a Beauty and the Beast dynamic, what can I say.
It worked out. The two had synergy. As I swapped between the two blade masters' swords each time one's power was depleted by performing hits, I started feeling safe in the fact that I was not alone. When one soldier became exhausted, I took comfort in knowing there was another to the side of her, ready to help.
Entering Towa's overgrown, monster-infested world as a duo instead of as one, vulnerable champion made for a strong sense of flow during battle; instead of constantly checking my health status with typical roguelike paranoia, I simply made sure to swap between my characters' weapons as often as if we were trading dance steps. To the game's credit, while its controls are more elaborate than the straightforward attacks in Hades, the flow Towa forces you into is conducive to ridiculous combos, which I was able to achieve with only a few minutes of experience. Also, the fish guy kept rolling around like a boulder made of meat, which was awesome.
"One thing [about Towa] is that [we wanted to create] characters that have completely different silhouettes, so each individual character features a different silhouette," says the game's developers. "That was more of a purpose [behind their designs] than a mythology."
So, I love that there's big guys and mean little ladies – as one myself – and I like how Towa feels like soda-popping through combat in a flashy game like Final Fantasy 16, but I can't get past the seriously explicit Hades references.
Greek tragedy
Every time I started enjoying the particulars of Towa's world, I was confronted by Boons (called Grace in Towa), gates advertising the next level's prizes, and stations with replenishing waters – all important elements of Hades' combat loop and map layout. In Hades, these things have monumental meaning for the game's take on Greek mythology.
But, in the Towa demo I played, which didn't elaborate much on the game's story, these elements felt like they formed a scrapbook of what roguelikes its developers actually enjoy – they hadn't been diversified enough to distinguish from their source material. Each time I noticed them, I felt a little tug at the back of my head reminding me that I could be playing Hades – a game I already love and know well – instead. Since Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree offers so much to enjoy in its duo combat, I don't understand why the game allows itself to be overshadowed by its inspiration like this.
Towa will be out September 19 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
