An art style can sell me on a game in a heartbeat. Just look at my Steam wishlist that has amassed to 830+ games, and continues to grow on a daily basis. There’s just something about video games as an art form that can deliver a broad spectrum of eye candy and sights you’ve never seen before. So when I first saw Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree and found out it was my favorite genre in a roguelite, I had a keen eye on it. Tack on publishing from reputable Bandai Namco, and it looked like a surefire winner to me.

Within Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, you can expect tons of exposition and lore inside the Shinju Village, where you and your eight companions hail from. Each of these octuplet warriors has its own playstyle, and you’ll be able to pick two at a time when entering the plane of battle. One will handle melee combat, whereas the other will deliver spells to continue your combos and get you out of sticky situations. There’s not much in the way of enemy variety, but in each subsequent run, you’ll be able to tear through the lesser enemies without issue.

At the root of any roguelite is how well its combat feels, and within Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, it’s nothing to write home about. You’ll mash your attack buttons until your sword’s durability is depleted, necessitating a switch to your secondary sword, rinse and repeat. Don’t worry, your character will use one of two voice lines to let you know you need to switch (dozens of times a run) until you wish there was a mute button nearby. Even with the constant audio indicators off, though, you’re going to fight the same enemies in the same ways far too many times to feel something rewarding.

What’s most painful about Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is its artificial difficulty. In single player, facing a boss is nigh impossible, because you can only directly control your sword-wielder, meaning if you maneuver your way out of an attack, you can’t guarantee your partner will do the same, dealing a blow to your limited health. While there is a button to control both simultaneously, no one can possibly do so as well as lay down enough offensive damage to win the fight. This push for co-op restricts the fun for anyone who wants to enjoy the game solo.

Sadly, an art style can only carry a game so far if the game itself isn’t fun. As Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree forces you to sit through minutes and minutes of menial NPC interaction, only to set you up with button-mash bog-standard combat and frustrating boss battles, it’s hard to recommend this when another roguelite in Hades II just released to maximum fanfare.

A PC Review Copy of Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree was provided by Bandai Namco for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree

$29.99

4

Score

4.0/10

Pros

• Beautiful Scenery/Art Style
• Variety in Characters

Cons

• Nearly Unavoidable Damage
• Incessant Dialogue Frequency
• Bland, Repetitive Game Structure
• Some Rough Voice Acting