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Companions are allied characters who march with the hero through a Tears of Metal campaign. They sit apart from the rank-and-file battalion and from the commanders who lead its three troop types, and Paper Cult lists the companion layer among the core systems available in the Early Access build alongside the village, Emblem and equipment systems. The studio has said it intends to add more companions across the Early Access period in response to community feedback.
Where Companions Are Managed
Companions are assembled from the War Preparations screen that opens every campaign, described in full under Gameplay. The screen carries a dedicated Companions panel in its lower left corner, kept separate from the Infantry, Spearmen and Archers columns and from the twelve commander slots tracked along the top. The panel shows filled slots against a total. In the published screenshot of the screen the counter reads 0 of 2 while five slot frames are drawn, four of them greyed out. Paper Cult has not published how the remaining slots are opened, so the relationship between the counter and the drawn frames is not documented.
Named Companions
One companion has been named publicly so far. Paper Cult has not published a companion roster, so the table below covers only what the studio has stated directly.
Companion | Added | What Paper Cult Has Said |
|---|---|---|
Aodh, the Vigil | August 13, 2026, in version 0.12.58540. See | An old scholar hauling a book heavier than the armour of most men. Once he is convinced to march with the party he keeps watch when a fight breaks out, and the studio described the result as the enemy's first blows never quite landing the way they intend. He is unlockable rather than granted. |
No numbers have been published for the effect Aodh applies, no unlock condition has been stated, and the wording above is the studio's own rather than a measured value. Two further heroes are visible but not obtainable in the build, which is a separate matter from companions; see Playable Heroes.
Companions and Emblems
Emblems granted to an ally persist from one run to the next and are lost only when that ally dies, so investment in a companion that survives compounds across a campaign. That makes protecting a companion a different calculation from protecting a line soldier, since ordinary troops are replaceable and their losses are permanent in a different way.
Post-launch balancing has touched companion-adjacent systems more than once. The August 13, 2026 patch corrected a ranged Ally Command that interacted incorrectly with the Gambling Clan ally Emblem and could produce hugely inflated damage, and shrank the vortex created by the Crusader ally Emblem. Earlier work made level 1 allies more survivable, stopped them taking more damage than intended during boss fights, and made them immune to damage from Bombers and Elite enemies.
What Is Not Documented
Paper Cult has published no complete companion list, no recruitment method, no per-companion statistics and no explanation of how companion slots are unlocked or expanded. Companions appear on the studio's list of content it plans to grow during Early Access, alongside further playable heroes, a new Emblem family, equipment and Charms.