At a glance

  • Rebalances hero unlocks, weapon prices, rewards, relic behavior, and combat values.
  • Fixes battles, challenges, controls, framerate settings, Army Visualizer, and environmental collisions.
  • Adds opt-in anonymous gameplay data collection.
  • Temporarily disables crossplay on the current build and offers an older beta branch.

Player impact

Solo and same-build players receive a broad balance and stability pass, but mixed-platform or crossplay groups must choose between the new fixes and the older Crossplay branch until compatibility returns.

Quick facts

  • Game: Tears of Metal
  • Official publication time: July 25, 2026 at 4:50:42 AM CST
  • Last checked: July 28, 2026 at 11:02:47 AM CST
  • Platform scope: Crossplay compatibility is temporarily disabled; a Steam beta branch retains the old compatible build
  • Version: 0.8.57278
  • Source: Patch Notes 0.8.57278 on Steam

What changed

The patch revises progression and economy across heroes, weapons, statues, challenges, and rewards. Ruadh now unlocks after defeating the Banshee, Wallace’s Flamberge costs three Dragonstones instead of nine, and his Celtic Longsword can be bought for 500 triskelle. Challenge and campaign-shop conditions are corrected so rewards are earned through the intended actions and unique pieces are not offered after unlock.

Other reward-state fixes stop the Large Reliquary from granting another copy of itself and prevent a special Infestation challenge from completing after 20 seconds without the required action. A low-health Act Boss challenge is also corrected to require starting and finishing the fight at 10% health or less.

Interface and settings changes add opt-in anonymous gameplay data collection and fix the Army Visualizer overlapping merchant information, unrelated stats changing during companion hover, Ally Command damage projections, controller tooltips, and end-of-battle dialogue. Maximum frame rate now applies after restart, Drift Correction is repaired, and the default cap changes from 120 to 60 while remaining user-adjustable.

Control customization can no longer continue outside the Edit Controls menu after leaving it during an active binding change. Threat-bar information appears correctly with a controller, and the corrected Wallace Committed Charge description now states that it grants 35% damage resistance rather than showing a negative value.

Environment work corrects collision and placement across Boiling Mire, Birchtrees, Kurgan Castle, and other levels. Visual, character-model, Traditional Chinese terminology, upgrade-description, and typo fixes are included.

Environmental work includes floating structures, misplaced markers, object height, and layout or collision passes rather than a new playable region. Luthan’s model receives additional detail, and the Traditional Chinese term for Strike is changed to better represent a light attack.

Key changes

Balance and progression

  • Hero, weapon, reward, relic, challenge, and campaign-shop values or conditions change.
  • Several battle and achievement paths are corrected.

Interface and settings

  • Telemetry is optional and requires player consent.
  • Frame-rate persistence, Drift Correction, controls, tooltips, visualizers, and dialogue are repaired.
  • The default frame-rate cap changes to 60 but remains configurable by the player.

Compatibility

  • Current-build crossplay is temporarily unavailable.
  • The Crossplay beta branch keeps users on the prior patch.

What this means for players

The update changes several acquisition costs and progression checks while improving menus and environments. Multiplayer groups must coordinate build choice: the current version contains the fixes, while the older beta branch is the official temporary route for crossplay.

Opt-in telemetry does not begin until a player consents, according to the note. The source does not describe what fields are collected, so no additional privacy claim is made beyond that explicit choice requirement.

Who is affected

Crossplay groups, players pursuing Ruadh or Wallace equipment, controller users, players changing frame-rate settings, and anyone opting into telemetry are explicitly affected.

Rollout and known limitations

Crossplay compatibility is temporarily disabled. The developer says multiplayer desynchronization and mid-run saving are major priorities, but neither is presented as completed in this patch.

Editorial context

Steam Update Radar assessment: the crossplay tradeoff is the most important compatibility note and is kept alongside, not buried beneath, the large fix list.

Verification record