I’ve never played a game that lets me take control of legendary Scottish historical warrior William Wallace as he fights back evil demonic invaders and hundreds of soldiers across various battlefields in an attempt to take back his homeland. Scottish Dynasty Warriors, but with a roguelike spin and comic book aesthetics. It’s the kind of game I didn’t realize I wanted. But after playing a few hours of Tears of Metal, out today on PC via early access, I’m very happy the world now has this game. And I want to play more.
It is very easy to describe Tears of Metal as Scottish Dynasty Warriors, but also…It’s almost impossible not to see the similarities between Paper Cult’s new game and the long-running Omega Force franchise. Both have you playing a lone badass warrior who must slash and chop their way through hundreds of fodder enemies while taking out powerful captains and high-ranking bosses, all while helping your armies push forward and complete objectives.
The developers behind Tears of Metal understand that these kinds of games live and die by how much fun it is to kill thousands of soldiers for hours and hours. Make it too easy or too hard, and it becomes a boring slog. These games need to live in the middle. They need to offer a bit of constant challenge, but let you overwhelm enemies and send dozens of men flying with big, exciting moves and attacks. They need depth, but some mindless action. It can be a tricky rope to walk. Thankfully, I can report that Tears of Metal nails this balance and, as a result, offers up some incredibly fun combat.
Just moving around and slashing enemies with the game’s basic attack immediately felt nice, responsive, and powerful. But as I started to mix in heavy attacks, combos, and more, I discovered that there was a lot more to Tears of the Metal than just “mash attack and move forward.” For example, as you progress through the game, you build up an army made up of different soldiers. These folks can be upgraded between battles and can lead charges and attacks during fights. Sending a massive crowd of swordsmen to attack one annoying captain or boss never got old. Even better is calling in a charge of spearmen who just attack random enemies in front of you in a flash, sending them flying in the process. Always made me smile.
The big difference between Tears of Metal and other similar “one guy fights thousands of soldiers” games is that Paper Cult’s new Scottish adventure is also a roguelite. Or roguelike? Whichever. The point is, each run in Tears of Metal has you setting off as William Wallace (or one of the other unlockable characters) on a new campaign on randomly selected battlefields filled with war, shopkeepers, random events, bosses, and other surprises. As you complete battles, you’ll unlock magical abilities and attacks for that run that can help you become a very powerful Scottish warrior by the end. Stuff like being able to blow up enemies or linking groups of soldiers together and dealing damage to all of them at once.
You’ll need those magic abilities and perks, because Tears of Metal will probably kick your ass at first. I expect most players will likely die many times before getting too far. In fact, I think the game’s difficulty is a bit too brutal. Healing during runs is very expensive or rare, and it makes the big boss fights challenging. The first big boss you face hangs out in a battlefield that contains no way to heal. And all it takes is one or two missed dodges, blocks, or parries against a captain, and you might be down nearly half your health. So uh…good luck!
But dying isn’t that big a deal. Each battle you encounter during a run takes only a few minutes to complete, and entire runs can go by quickly if you have a solid build. And after dying, I always had plenty of resources that I could use to improve my character or army, making future runs a bit easier. Also, if you want some help, Tears of Metal supports co-op with three other players.
Tears of Metal’s gorgeous comic book art style, banging music, and satisfying combat have me coming back over and over again to boot up my Steam Machine and do one more run. The game is a bit brutal early on, with healing being a pain in the ass at the moment and bosses being real bastards. I hope Paper Cult makes it a bit easier to heal as the game evolves and grows during early access. But even in its current state, this is one heck of a hack-and-slash roguelike action game, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to cut down a few hundred soldiers while screaming lines from Braveheart.