Revision 6

Tears of Metal features multiple playable heroes, each offering a distinct approach to combat. Heroes have their own fighting styles, attack patterns, and abilities, allowing players to tailor their playstyle to their preferred method of engaging enemy hordes. New heroes are unlocked by completing special objectives throughout the campaign. Paper Cult has confirmed that three playable heroes will be available when the game enters Early Access, with additional heroes planned during the Early Access period. Two of the launch heroes have been named publicly, Wallace and Ruadh Stonecrusher; the third has not yet been revealed.

Confirmed Heroes

Ruadh Stonecrusher was confirmed by Paper Cult in February 2026. Ruadh wields a massive hammer and specializes in carving through large groups of enemies with heavy, wide-reaching strikes. The character's playstyle emphasizes raw power and crowd control over speed or precision.

Starting Hero

The game's opening act features a starting hero named Wallace, who appeared as the playable hero in the public betas and the Steam demo. Players begin the campaign with this hero and unlock additional heroes, including Ruadh Stonecrusher, through progression and special objectives. Wallace picked up extra weapons and skins over the course of the public tests, and the demo let players strengthen both the hero and the wider army with weapons, trinkets and skins.

Hero Synergies

In co-op play, different heroes can combine their abilities and artifact builds to create powerful synergies. Paper Cult has designed the hero roster so that each character offers distinct combat approaches that complement each other in a four-player team. Additional playable heroes are planned for release during the Early Access period. Paper Cult spent much of late 2025 working on the additional playable characters specifically, and has listed more voice acting among the changes intended for the full version.

Hero Selection

Heroes are chosen from a selection screen that shows the whole roster at once. Heroes the player has not yet unlocked appear as black silhouettes rather than being hidden, so the shape of a locked hero and the weapon it carries are visible before it is earned, which doubles as a hint at what the remaining unlocks involve.