Tears of Metal Beginner Guide: Your First Campaign
A spoiler-light Tears of Metal beginner guide to runs, permanent progression, Emblems, soldiers, village upgrades, and sensible first priorities.
Treat the first campaigns as information-gathering runs: learn one hero, choose upgrades that reinforce one plan, protect experienced soldiers, and spend permanent resources on the bottleneck that ended the last attempt.
What is confirmed
- A campaign runs through three acts with varied encounters and bosses.
- Emblems and other run rewards shape the current attempt; village and soldier progression persist between campaigns.
- The game supports solo play or online co-op for up to four players.
- Mid-run saves are a stated development priority, so confirm the latest patch before starting a long session.
Understand the two layers of progression
Tears of Metal combines a temporary campaign build with a persistent metagame. During a run, you cross battlefields, complete objectives, collect power, and assemble synergies. Between campaigns, your settlement, unlocks, and surviving soldiers create long-term momentum.
That distinction changes how a beginner should judge failure. A lost campaign is not automatically wasted if it reveals a weak point, advances an unlock, or improves the next attempt. The practical goal is to leave each run with one clear lesson and one permanent improvement.
A low-risk first-run plan
- Stay with the starting hero long enough to learn attack timing, defensive options, rallying, and crowd control instead of switching after every loss.
- Pick a small number of effects that work together. A coherent Emblem direction is easier to evaluate than several unrelated bonuses.
- Read the battlefield objective before chasing every group of enemies. Progress and survival matter more than clearing the entire screen.
- Keep valuable soldiers out of avoidable danger. Soldiers can gain permanent skills, but a soldier lost in battle is gone permanently.
- After defeat, identify the actual limiter—damage, survivability, army control, or economy—then buy an upgrade that addresses it.
These are conservative editorial recommendations, not claims about a single mathematically optimal build. Balance is changing during Early Access.
How to choose upgrades without a tier list
A launch-week tier list can age in a single patch. Use a repeatable decision rule instead: first ask whether an option strengthens what your current build already does; then ask whether it solves the encounter type that is ending your runs; finally compare its immediate value with a speculative future combo.
Immediate, reliable power is usually easier for a new player to convert into progress. Once you recognize Emblem families and weapon patterns, you can take more conditional choices because you know what future pieces would complete them.
| Situation | Safer beginner priority | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You die during dense waves | Survival, space, or crowd control | More time alive creates more chances to deal damage. |
| Bosses take too long | Single-target damage that fits your existing actions | Avoid rebuilding the whole run around one late pickup. |
| Your build has no clear theme | The option that repeats an existing family or trigger | Consistency makes the build easier to pilot and improve. |
| Two upgrades look equal | The one that works immediately | Unconditional value is less dependent on future drops. |
Before starting a co-op campaign
Confirm that everyone is on compatible storefront builds before forming the group. The August 14 v0.14.58630 notes still say main-branch crossplay compatibility is temporarily disabled and direct mixed-storefront players to the older Crossplay Beta branch.
Also plan the session length. The August 13 update still lists mid-run saves as active work. Until a patch confirms that feature is live, assume a campaign may need to be completed in one sitting.
What to do after the first three runs
- Write down the act, encounter type, and cause of each defeat.
- Compare whether the same problem appears across runs; repeated problems deserve permanent investment.
- Use the character and Emblem guides to narrow the next experiment to one variable.
- Check the patch tracker before relying on an old unlock route, price, or multiplayer workaround.
Questions players ask
Does progress carry over between campaigns?
Yes. The official descriptions distinguish temporary campaign growth from persistent soldier skills, settlement expansion, shops, permanent upgrades, and unlocks.
Can I play Tears of Metal solo?
Yes. The game supports solo play as well as online co-op for up to four players.
Can I save in the middle of a run?
Paper Cult has described mid-run saves as an active priority. Check the latest official patch notes before assuming the feature is available in your build.
How this guide was verified
We use official store listings and developer announcements for changing facts. Strategy recommendations are labeled as editorial guidance.
- Official Steam store page ↗Release status, game structure, co-op count, content scope, and PC requirements.
- Official Early Access launch post ↗Three-act launch scope, three playable heroes, full progression loop, and planned additions.
- Official Steam announcements and patch notes ↗Current build notes, multiplayer priorities, unlock fixes, and crossplay notices.