Paper Cult's Tears of Metal launched into Steam Early Access on July 22 with an 87% positive review rating and a peak of 4,500 concurrent players — a strong start for the studio's follow-up to 2021's Bloodroots. The four-player co-op action roguelike, nicknamed "Scottish Dynasty Warriors" by its community, also landed on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass as a day-one title, with crossplay enabled between Steam and Xbox ecosystems.
The Pitch: Medieval Co-op Roguelike with Army Command
Each run drops you and up to three friends into occupied regions of a stylized medieval Scotland, tasked with liberating territory alongside an army of AI-controlled soldiers. The core loop follows familiar roguelike structure: enter a handcrafted arena, survive waves of enemies, pick from spell-like upgrades that modify your five core moves (Strike, Heavy, Parry, Block, Dash), and push toward a boss. Between runs, permanent upgrades and unlockable weapons persist, while character customization and build-crafting encourage experimentation across sessions.
Combat draws clear inspiration from Omega Force's musou formula — massive enemy counts, wide-arcing melee combos, the satisfaction of clearing a screen — but Paper Cult layers in tactical depth through the upgrade system. Combining a fire-infused Heavy attack with a Dash that leaves explosive trails creates a distinctly different playstyle than a Parry-focused build that counters into lightning chains. The variety keeps the loop fresh even when the base moveset feels limited.
Why This Works: Paper Cult's Iteration on Bloodroots
Bloodroots established Paper Cult's knack for kinetic, improvisational combat — its "everything is a weapon" hook turned environmental objects into lethal tools. Tears of Metal trades that solo creativity for co-op chaos and army management. The shift makes sense: the studio's first game proved they could nail feel and flow; this one tests whether they can scale those strengths to multiplayer and procedural progression. Early reception suggests they've largely succeeded.
The Game Pass launch is a calculated move. Day-one inclusion guarantees a player base for a co-op-dependent title, and crossplay removes the platform fragmentation that kills many indie multiplayer games at launch. For Paper Cult, a self-published studio, the Microsoft deal likely provided crucial funding to reach Early Access without compromising scope.
Where It Stumbles: Early Access Growing Pains
The 87% positive rating comes with caveats. Several playable characters are locked behind future updates, meaning the full roster — and the build diversity they enable — isn't available yet. Combat depth remains a concern: the five base moves don't evolve much without upgrades, and some players report repetition setting in after 10-15 hours. Bugs and performance hitches on lower-end hardware are present, as expected for Early Access.
There's also the question of long-term retention. Roguelikes live or die by their meta-progression hooks. Tears of Metal has permanent upgrades and unlockables, but whether the endgame loop — pushing higher difficulty tiers, optimizing builds — sustains a community beyond the initial curiosity wave remains unproven. The "Scottish Dynasty Warriors" label sets expectations for endless replayability that the current build may not yet support.
The Broader Context: Co-op Roguelikes Are Having a Moment
Tears of Metal arrives alongside titles like Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor and SpellRogue — games blending action-roguelike structure with multiplayer coordination. The genre's evolution from solo runs to shared chaos reflects a market hungry for "game night" experiences that respect player time. Paper Cult's twist — commanding an army rather than just surviving together — differentiates it enough to carve a niche, provided the content pipeline delivers.
For now, $22.49 (10% off until August 5) buys a solid foundation with visible ambition. The Xbox Series X/S launch later this year will test whether the crossplay promise holds at scale. If Paper Cult executes their roadmap — new characters, maps, enemy types, and difficulty tiers — Tears of Metal could become the co-op staple its Early Access numbers suggest it wants to be.
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