When I heard I’d only be getting 15 minutes to try Bandai Namco’s newly announced roguelite Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, I was slightly perturbed. Fifteen minutes, after all, isn’t a lot of time to fully evaluate a game, especially at an event with demos scattered in every direction.

Some genres, however, are able to show off their best attributes in a short amount of time, and as I’ve now learned, roguelites are chief among them. In just a quarter of an hour, Towa and her guardian pals made quite an impression on me, and I left that demo very interested in continuing my journey to help Towa free the world from the malevolent Magatsu’s influence.

Towa, in fact, represents one of my favorite phenomena in covering video games; before Summer Game Fest, I knew nothing about it, but now that I’ve played this demo, it’s something I want to play more of as soon as possible.

If you’re not familiar, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is an action roguelite played with an isometric perspective. Each run consists of you choosing two guardians and taking them on a quest to defeat the evil Magatsu through multiple areas filled with demons, monsters, and other enemies, which you’ll fight with sword combos, magical attacks, and other abilities. Each area is set in a hand-drawn background of mountains, forests, and more outdoor locations.

My demo began with me choosing two of four guardians enlisted to help Towa with defeating Magatsu and saving the world. The final game will have eight guardians to choose from, but for demo purposes, I was offered four. I was immediately drawn to the giant half-man, half-koi named Nishiki for my first selection, with a samurai maiden named Rekka as my second choice.

Each guardian I chose was imbued with the power of one of two sacred weapons; my first choice Nishiki was given the power of the sacred sword, or Tsurugi, and served as the point character I controlled for the demo. My second choice, Rekka, was given the power of the sacred staff, or Kagura, and while Rekka was mostly controlled by the CPU, I was able to activate certain special abilities at will–though both local and online co-op will be available at launch for those who have a buddy to play with.

As I chose my guardians, I was immediately struck by my surroundings. Towa’s world is gorgeous, with every corner of the screen splashed with vibrant flair. The hand-drawn visuals added a notable breath of life to the world too, as even the enemies I encountered in my run had a charming pop of color to them. This world was very pleasing to the eye, which made playing through it that much easier.

After I selected my heroes, the game took a standard roguelite approach: I controlled Nishiki and Rekka as they traveled from area to area, fighting enemies that slowly grew more powerful as I proceeded. After some battles I was allowed to choose a Grace–a temporary power-up that aided me for the rest of the current run–before I headed to the next room. Some rooms provided a brief solace, either to allow me to heal or to purchase more temporary upgrades from the shopkeeper.

Gallery

There was one notable wrinkle in combat that, in my opinion, separates Towa from other roguelites. Each character has two different weapons–typically, one strikes faster than the other while dealing less damage, while the other is larger and stronger, but slower. As I attacked with one of the weapons, a small meter on the bottom of the screen decreased; once it reached zero, my current weapon lost much of its power, and I had to switch in order to restore the lost meter.

This encouraged me to use both weapons instead of focusing on just one option, which required me to learn more about the character I’d selected. That learning requirement, in turn, kept me engaged, as I had to learn two different styles of combat within one giant fish-man’s ability set. I could then also work switching weapons–which, thankfully, happened instantaneously–into my attack combos, so that I was never in a place where both of my weapons were lacking meter.

It may sound tedious in writing, but I really liked this balancing act in practice; it kept me from getting into a monotonous lull while fighting big groups of enemies, while also providing two different weapon styles to learn. With eight characters on the roster, and all of them operating on this two-weapon system, that’s a lot of different styles to learn once the full game launches, and that’s very exciting to me.

The path continued room by room until I was eventually greeted by a boss–in this case, a hulking beast with multiple legs. I defeated the boss, headed back to camp with extra experience to help me permanently level up my characters … and the demo ended before I could proceed from there. This was a very quick 15 minutes.

I was surprised to learn that Bandai Namco was entering the roguelite arena, as I thought the ship may have sailed on opportunities for new AAA roguelites like this, but I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree. Roguelites and I usually don’t mix, but I couldn’t help but find this colorful world, its cast of characters, and the challenging battle system they use while fighting the dark forces of Magatsu enthralling. After going from unknown to undoubtedly on my radar, Towa is one to keep an eye on.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree launches September 19 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com