Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is promising, but we still have a ton of questions

Ever since Hades dropped in late 2020, we've begun to see a deluge of games gunning for the same gameplay loop that Supergiant perfected, each of them with their own twist. Bandai Namco and Brownies recently revealed Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, and during Summer Game Fest we had the chance to get a small hands-on with the game - and while we still want to see a bit more of the game's RPG elements, we're excited to play more.

If you've played Hades, then you already know a good deal about how Towa plays; choose a weapon (in this case, players choose a character to wield the swords, and a character to wield the staff; corresponding to the primary attacker and the supporting attacker respectively), and then head out of the hub into a run. As you clear rooms of enemies, you'll be awarded a buff for your run, and multiple options for which room to tackle next. Which buff do you want to go for? Do you want currency that can help with meta-progression, or do you just need some extra healing?

On the surface, Towa is very derivitative, and it's easy to tell that such a short demo doesn't do a great job of showcasing the game's strengths. One aspect that we did get to play with is weapon switching; while you choose which of your characters wields the divine sword and the divine staff, in reality the swords come in a pair. As you attack with one, the blade dulls. Once it's fully depleted, you'll do significantly less damage to enemies - and this degradation happens deceptively quickly.

Weapon durability will regenerate when sheathed, and yet at the same time the moveset for each of your character's swords can be very different. Add in the different spells that support characters can contribute, and the weapon crafting system that we were unfortunately unable to demo, and there's quite a bit I personally would love to check out. For what it's worth, the game does feel nice to play, the artstyle is appealing, and what I could hear of the soundtrack seemed good. Yet it's not hard to see how that's not really enough to get a read on things quite yet.

Truthfully, while I did rather enjoy what I got to play of Towa, I really feel like I need to see more of what actually sets it apart before I can well and truly tell how I feel about it. RPGs and roguelikes both don't really click in 15~20 minute demos, and the demo we did play was exactly that - the same demo build that will be playable at events like Anime Expo in the near future. That's all well and good for folks attending the show for leisure, but it makes my job a bit harder when I'm running up against the same strict time limit.

Maybe I'll take another look or two at Towa during Anime Expo to try and get a better look. Maybe not. Either way, I suppose the demo build was enough of a success to pique my interest; color me interested in checking out more of Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree when it launches September 19.