Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Review – Beautiful Art, Flawed Co-op

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a lighthearted roguelike action adventure with hand-drawn, adorable anime-like art set in an unusual mystic realm where old magic coexists with new.Create sublime food out of what you find while hacking your way through monsters as half-suit-wearing, farmer-girl Towa. You take the role of Towa, leader of the protectors of the Holy Tree at Shinju Village as you and your mighty swords work to defeat Magatsu’s forces.

The lands are occupied by Magatsu’s forces, so you have to clear them as you work toward your goal of bringing peace back to the world. There is so much that's threatening around you, and your only path out is through boldness and conquest of the evils surrounding you. Lead the fight to suppress the giant monsters and ear their parts as you attempt to defend Shinju Village escorting them down 4 separate tracks!

CO-OP Duo Combat System

Take on the mantle of one Priestess Towa, Te-us defender and her faithful band of magistrates as you work to stop the attacker Magatsu. Fight alongside a Guardian of your choice on your one path into the fray! wield their unique Sacred weapon (Tsurugi/Kagura) to overthrow anyone that stands in your way. And because each guardian also comes with their own unique skills and weapons, there’s an almost endless variety of ways to pair them up for different combat styles and strategies. Venture through dynamic environments, commit frantic sieges against castles and cities, and spread Warepots to prevent Magatsuhi’s resurgence.

The time-traveling quests the guardians go on change and grow with the village as it ages. Cultivate relationships with its inhabitants, delve into their traditions and discover stories of their village from the mountain summit to the depths of the winding surging river. In between excursions, you will be able to Take even more quests at the dojo, tap into powerful Graces and craft new swords at the smithy to please your journey.

System Requirements

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i3-8100 / AMD Ryzen 3 3100
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 / AMD Radeon R7 250
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 8 GB available space

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i3-8100 / AMD Ryzen 3 3100
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD Radeon R7 250 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 650Ti / Intel Arc A310
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 8 GB available space

Community Feedback

Reception Reception of Owa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree has been mixed, with some appreciation for its style and originality, but criticism over its execution.

🌟 Positive Feedback

• Visuals & Style
  • Players think the game looks absolutely gorgeous, especially on Steam Deck (gorgeous cutscenes, beautiful character portraits, and cool environments).
  • Art-style and Asian culture inspiration receive universal acclaim.
  • Interesting and cute character designs, interactions are charming and memorable.
• Voice Acting & Music
  • General Full voice acting (even when its only Japanese) is a plus and considered top notch.
  • Music is what it is, and appropriately catchy.
• Combat & Characters
  • Once players get the feel for it, combat ends up being enjoyable, diverse, and tactical.
  • Variety of characters (fast vs. slow fighters, strengths/weaknesses) keep gameplay fresh.
  • The feature of weapon forging/customization is a rare stand-out in other games.
• Single-Player Experience
• Uncounted enjoy it, and often play solo.
• Hades and Cult of the Lamb will mix it up fairly good.
• Minigames, systems, and dojo/village-building kept things fresh.

⚠️ Negative Feedback (Main Issues)

1. Multiplayer / Co-op Problems
   • Biggest complaint: Player 2 hardly gets to play the game in a meaningful role (essentially relegated as turret/cd bitch).
   • It feels as though co-op was added on without any kind of care put into it, and so players are left with a sour taste if they bought the game specifically for multiplayer.
2. Too Many Systems, None Polished
   • Gamers are saying that the game is doing too much: village building, crafting, forging, upgrades, rogue like runs and all sorts of shit.
   • A lot of mechanics feel half baked, grindy or confusing.
   • “Jack of all trades, master of none” is a feeling that many share.
3. Combat Flow Issues
   • Too many new moves added, too soon.
   • The weapon's durability/degradation system is beyond annoying (having to change weapons every 10sec).
   • some characters feel slow as fuck or just clunky.
   • no mouse aim and ranged characters feel awkward.
   • Knockback + stunlock makes combat a little bit too easy sometimes.
4. Story & Pacing
   • Plot was confusing, choppy, and did not flow well.
   • Emotional beats (say, losing characters) don’t pack much of a punch.
   • Kind of like the story changed part way threw and some parts went missing.
5. Controls & UX
   • Default controller mappings are uncomfortable.
   • Some systems (forging, sword crafting) are tedious QTE-like button-presses.
6. Replayability & Progression
   • To others, the roguelike loop doesn’t quite have the depth of Hades.
   • Long gaps between runs — not very rewatachable.
7. Price vs Value
   • Some players say the game’s not worth full price as it exists right now.
   • Verdict: wait for 40–50% off and multiple patches.

Player Comments

“Beautiful art and music.”Honestly feels like I’m watching anime in some moments.”

“Co-op is a joke. My friend kind of just stood there, serving as a turret while I was actually playing the game.”

1) “I love the forging mechanic but why do my weapons break so quickly?” It’s just annoying.”

2: “Stor[ies]skip[ping] around too." I think the cutscenes look good but I don’t care about the characters.”

3: “Combat is pretty, but there are far too many moves to memorize at first. Takes a while to feel fun.”

4: “Some enemies just get stunlocked to death and that can make fights kind of boring.”

5: “This is 10 systems mashed together. None of them are shiny enough.”

6: “It’s fairly fun solo, but if you are getting in for co-op, don’t.”

I think that Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a [beautiful], if flawed game. Its art direction, music and single-player combat offer much to admire, yet a thin multiplayer mode, overstuffed systems and clumsy storytelling bring it crashing back to earth. The advice is largely straightforward: If you love fashionable singleplayer ARPGs this might be worth a peek, but don’t purchase it for the co-op, and maybe more of a discount or some updates sounds safer if you’re feeling uncertain.

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