You know that feeling when you fire up a demo that, on paper, checks every single box of your favourite genre, but a few runs later, you’re staring at the screen, wondering if Netflix has quietly updated its “So bad it’s good” section?
That was me with Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree.
From Brownies Inc., Towa dresses like the next big roguelite, waving its sacred staff and whispering: “Hey, remember Hades?”
Usually, I’d be first in line. I’ve lost more hours to Hades than Zagreus has lost to dying at daddy’s feet, and the promise of an anime-flavoured twist should’ve hooked me.
But instead of a thrilling new obsession, I got a reminder that not every roguelite needs to exist just because it can.
Stuck in Hades’ Shadow
Let’s not sugarcoat it: Towa is a Hades-like.
You clear rooms, fight monsters, collect currencies, grab buffs, and return to your hub where NPCs chatter endlessly.
None of that is inherently bad; it’s a tried-and-true formula, but Towa never steps out of the shadow it borrows from.
Its supposed “twist” is pairing two characters, one sword-swinger and one spell-slinger, to create build combos.
On paper, that sounds great.
In practice? Not so much.
Sacred Staff, Dull Combat
Combat is where Towa should shine, but instead it sputters.
Most characters differ only by which flavour of elemental sauce they serve their attacks in, fire, ice, or lightning – all reheated versions of the same move set.
Combos are shallow, charged skills feel clunky, and the whole thing plays like action-RPG leftovers.
The dual-character control should’ve been exciting. Instead, it felt more like staring at my thumbs in confusion.
And in co-op? The second player might as well be Luigi in Super Mario Galaxy – technically useful, but mostly along for the ride.
Characters I Wanted to Love
Here’s the frustrating part: Towa looks good.
Its art style has charm, the characters sport quirky designs (yes, there’s a buff koi monk), and the sheer amount of voiced dialogue in a demo surprised me.
I wanted to care. I tried to latch onto these characters.
But between recycled combat lines, sluggish pacing, and archetypes that never grew beyond their tropes, I tuned out faster than when an MMO NPC insists on explaining “the history of my people.”
Potential Buried in Frustration
I respect when developers try to bend a genre into something new.
That’s how we get Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, or even Hades in the first place.
But Towa’s so-called twist isn’t sharp enough to cut.
Beneath the anime gloss and sacred jargon, the demo left me with a simple truth: I’d rather be back in Hades, dodging Dad’s disapproving fireballs, than slogging through Towa’s awkwardly sacred corridors.
Bottom Line:
The full release may smooth things out.
Maybe the characters will grow beyond archetypes, the combat will deepen, and co-op won’t feel like Player Two got stuck as Cappy in Mario Odyssey.
I genuinely hope so.
But this demo? It didn’t capture me. At all.
So while Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree might eventually blossom into something worth worshipping, right now it’s more “sacred miss” than “sacred hit.”
And me? I’ll stick to Zagreus – god-killer, chaos-enabler, and my one true roguelite flame.
