"Crisp clan warfare, marginal upgrades and no mid-run save"
About
Tears of Metal is a musou-roguelike from Paper Cult, playable solo or in four-player co-op. Musou means the Dynasty Warriors mould: you carve through crowds of enemies as a lone powerhouse. Here you play a warrior of a Scottish battalion reclaiming an island from invaders who are drilling into a sacred Mother Stone. Each campaign is a run, and along the way you collect emblems, perks, artifacts, and clan abilities that reshape how you fight. Combat leans on a parry window and a dodge on cooldown, and a 'heat' mechanic ramps the danger as you push through a map. It's in Early Access, so systems and balance are still shifting.
Verdict
There's a real game in here: the combat feels good when it clicks, the art and score sell the fantasy, and cleaving through a battalion of invaders as your clan rallies behind you is a fine time. But the roguelike half hasn't caught up. In-run upgrades feel too small to define a run, so you end up grinding meta-progression instead of theory-crafting, and the lack of a mid-campaign save turns every session into a commitment. Early Access leaves room for the balance and quality-of-life gaps to close, and if they do this jumps a tier. For now it's a strong recommendation with your eyes open.
You'll like it if …
- +You want a musou crowd-clearer with a roguelike run structure and a co-op group to bring along
- +The Braveheart-and-bagpipes theme is exactly your kind of flavour
- +You enjoy grinding meta-progression across many runs
You'll dislike it if …
- −You need per-run builds that meaningfully change how you play, not incremental stat bumps
- −You can't reliably commit to a full campaign in one sitting
- −Cooldown dodges and parry-reliant combat wear on you
Breakdown
- +The core hacking and parrying feels crisp, with generous parry windows and room to string combos
- +Cutting a path through packed enemy waves lands the musou power fantasy the Scottish setting promises
- −The dodge sits on a cooldown while enemies get hyper armour you don't, so trades feel one-sided
- −Attack telegraphs are inconsistent, with players citing a confusing lag between the indicator and the blow
- −Late-stage enemy scaling spikes hard and attack patterns start to repeat
- +Emblems and clan abilities add per-run variety, and the heat mechanic pushes you to weigh risk against reward on a map
- +Characters like Brienne of Dunbarton give distinct starting kits to build around
- −In-run upgrades feel marginal, and reviewers describe the different 'builds' as barely moving the needle
- −Progress leans on repeating runs to stack meta-growth rather than shaping a strong build within one campaign
- −Item synergies are thin, so runs converge instead of branching
- +The Scottish framing, clan names and Braveheart nods give the whole thing a clear identity
- −There's barely any story or character arc beyond cosmetic attachment to your warrior
- +Cel-shaded art and comic-style hit effects give combat a readable punch
- +The soundtrack draws consistent praise across reviews
- −Heavy enemy spawns tank the frame rate, with reports of drops to 15fps during effects
- −Animation locks occasionally undercut how responsive fights feel
- +When it behaves, the control precision earns praise for tight parries
- −No mid-campaign save means a run is all-or-nothing, locking out anyone who can't sit through a full campaign
- −The dodge sometimes refuses to fire even off cooldown, and hit detection can drop inputs
- −The camera zooms in too close for the twin-stick move-and-look scheme, especially in tight spaces
- −Co-op lobbies hide basic info: no ping shown until you're already in a game
score
