Towaga: Among Shadows

Sunnyside Games’ Towaga: Among Shadows sees you take on the role of Chimù, a light-wielding warrior who is tasked with saving their entire tribe from annihilation at the hands of Metnal the Destroyer. The game begins with a beautifully designed cutscene, but one that is absent of all sound (including music). I restarted the game three times on my first attempt to play as I thought there was an issue, but no - the silence is apparently intentional, evidenced by all other cutscenes playing out the same way.

There are different game-modes available, split between Single Player and Multiplayer modes. Single Player gives you the choice between Story Mode (self-explanatory); Survival Mode, where you must try to survive as long as you can (also fairly self-explanatory); Flying Mode, which is the same as Survival but in the air; and The Void Realm. Story Mode has 42 stages to get through, which teach you different spells along the way and increase the likelihood of a decent run in the Survival variants. The Void Realm is like a more intense Story Mode, only unlockable after defeating Metnal the Destroyer, and cut down to 20 stages. Multiplayer has Light Clash, where you can go up against your friends (2-4 players) in a series of intense battles.

Controls are simple, with the left stick controlling movement (only in the flying segments, otherwise you’re in a fixed spot on the ground), right stick for your beam of light - your primary method of attack/defence, and the Left Trigger to use your active spell. Getting used to the different types of enemies, and figuring out which spells work best for you is key. For myself, I find the first spell you learn - Wind Gush - to be my most effective, as the instant kick-back against enemies when triggered gives me that much needed breathing space. Other spells include Blizzard Blast, to freeze monsters that come into the ray; Earth Shock, to petrify nearby monsters; Lava Slugs, burning bullets that will do damage over time; and Bat Bullets, which will drain back some health to you. All of these spells can be upgraded to increase their effectiveness, plus a final spell can be learned: Void Touch, which will cast a random spell each time you activate it.

Various upgrades can be made to your character’s Build, too, from increased Life and Mana Points, to faster recovery time and a bigger, stronger beam. These, as well as the spell upgrades, can all be purchased via the Profile menu in the little hub area (where you can also chat with Kurro and other people you rescue), using the purple-gems which serve as the in-game currency. These felt fairly simple to gain and use for upgrades to begin with but now that I have finished the main story - it’s definitely becoming a bit grindy to try and upgrade everything, as the Survival Modes don’t seem to reward you with much (although that could just be because I’m not as good as I’d like to be!).

The art style of Towaga: Among Shadows is beautiful, with well detailed scenes and enemies having a consistent design that flows well through them all. You can find missing pages from Ikal’s journal as you progress, which will explain a bit more of the story to you, as well as unlocking Memories which can be watched from within the Codex. There’s also a Bestiary to document the enemy creatures, and other sections which allow you to read up on various elements of the game; I always love when games have a robust encyclopaedia type area, as finding out a bit more backstory and lore is always good. Extra costumes are also unlockable, and will change Chimù’s appearance, as well as having other effects such as gaining an extra Mana Point.

As mentioned above, the cutscenes have no music or any sound really, which feels a bit odd. The stages themselves have music that gives off a very end of the world/we’re counting on you vibe, although the enemy noises tend to drown this out a bit. Enemies make all sorts of guttural screams that will send a shiver down your spine, and between this, exploding enemies, and using your various spells - the background music does tend to seem quite quiet, although I feel that this works quite well with how chaotic things can get.

Overall, I had a tonne of fun with Towaga, and with the leaderboards always being there egging me on, I feel that it’s definitely going to be a title I come back to time and time again to see if I can get any further, even after I’ve finished hunting down all of the collectibles.

In the end, we decided to give Towaga: Among Shadows the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.

Have you played Towaga yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to Forever Entertainment for the Towaga: Among Shadows Xbox review code!