The Tears of Metal village is the permanent-progression hub between campaigns. Prioritize upgrades that improve every attempt: strengthen your main hero, support the soldiers you regularly deploy, then expand shops and collection tools. Keep a currency reserve instead of buying every small boost. Barracks, Market, Cartographer, Triskeles, and Castle Records terminology is drawn from dated official patch notes and paired community references, so exact costs and options may change during Early Access.
How the Tears of Metal village progression works
The official Steam description says the settlement expands between campaigns with new shops, permanent upgrades, and harder challenges that offer greater rewards. That makes the village different from temporary Emblems and Charms found during a run: village spending should make later campaigns more reliable even when the map and rewards change. A useful way to evaluate an upgrade is to ask how often it helps: 1. Every campaign: core hero statistics, reliable army improvements, and systems that broaden future choices. 2. A chosen strategy: upgrades for a hero, troop type, or shop you use consistently. 3. Occasional value: narrow unlocks or purchases that matter only after a particular drop or objective. Buy broadly useful progression first. A specialized upgrade can be excellent once you know your preferred hero and army, but it is a weaker opening purchase if it leaves your whole campaign fragile.
1. Improve one main hero first
Invest in the hero you can use confidently rather than spreading scarce currency evenly across the roster. Better baseline survivability and damage make it easier to clear encounters, protect soldiers, and bring home more resources. Once that hero can reach later regions consistently, begin funding alternatives. Equipment and Emblem choices still determine much of a run. Village upgrades should support a coherent build rather than compensate for unrelated choices. Use the Emblems and build system guide to connect permanent spending with run-based bonuses.
2. Support the battalion you actually field
The Steam store confirms that soldiers gain permanent skills between campaigns. If troop losses or weak commands are ending attempts, direct the next round of progression toward your army. Community and review sources use Barracks for this part of the settlement, but individual benefits and costs should be checked in the current build before purchase. Avoid leveling every commander at once. Build a dependable core, rotate inexperienced units through safer encounters, and preserve veterans when a battle is going badly. The soldiers and companions guide explains promotion evidence and survival priorities.
3. Expand shopping and route choice
Community guides identify the Market and Cartographer as village facilities tied to purchasing and campaign-map options. Steam Deck HQ also describes traveling-market and map-generation improvements as permanent progression. These systems become more valuable after your basic combat foundation is stable because they improve the quality or range of choices available on future attempts. Treat any exact community-recommended order as advice for its publication date, not a fixed rule. Early Access balancing can change prices, inventories, and the relative value of route control.
4. Use Castle Records to check unlocks
Official V0.9.57408 notes improved Castle Records tracking, made locked items easier to identify, and marked items that could not currently be obtained. Hotfix V0.10.57598 then fixed unlocked Charms displaying incorrectly. Castle Records is therefore best treated as an information and collection tool, not as your first source of combat power. Check it before chasing a missing unlock. If the record marks something unobtainable, do not spend repeated campaigns trying to force it.
How to spend currencies without stalling progression
The Early Access economy uses several named resources. Triskeles appear in official V0.8.57278 notes, which changed the cost of Wallace's Celtic Longsword to 500 triskelle. Dragonstones also appear there in weapon costs, while later official notes discuss Scroll region rewards and Dragonstone treasure chests. Community village guides additionally discuss Gems and Dragonstone Shards, but those names and uses should be verified in the current in-game interface. Use three rules: • Keep enough general currency for a meaningful permanent upgrade instead of draining it on marginal purchases. • Spend rare resources only after checking the exact item, hero, or system they unlock. • Recheck costs after a patch; V0.8 alone changed weapon prices substantially. There is no single official “best” upgrade order. The safest order is the one that fixes your current bottleneck: hero durability, army survival, or poor campaign choices.
Sources
Tears of Metal on Steam: settlement shops, permanent upgrades, challenges, and permanent soldier progression. Steam Community news index: V0.8 currency and equipment changes, Castle Records changes, and V0.10 display fix. Patch Notes - Version 0.9.57408: Castle Records tracking improvements. Hotfix - Version 0.10.57598: Castle Records Charm-display fix. Steam Deck HQ Early Access review: permanent army, market, and map-generation progression context. Whisper of the House village upgrades: dated community facility terminology and priority advice, paired with official system evidence.
FAQ
What should I upgrade first in the village?
Start with broadly useful power for one main hero. If your hero survives but the army collapses, shift the next purchases toward soldier progression. Shops and route-control upgrades are stronger once you can complete early encounters reliably.
Are village upgrades permanent?
Yes. Steam describes settlement purchases as permanent upgrades between campaigns. Temporary Emblems, Charms, and run rewards are a separate progression layer.
What are Barracks, Market, and Cartographer?
Those facility names appear in community guides and media descriptions of army, shop, and map progression. The settlement system itself is official, but facility behavior and recommended priorities should be treated as dated Early Access guidance.
What does Castle Records do?
Official patch notes describe it as tracking unlocked, locked, and currently unobtainable items. V0.10.57598 fixed an issue where unlocked Charms were not displayed correctly.
Should I spend every currency as soon as I return?
No. Save rare or limited resources until you understand the purchase and its build value. Early Access patches can rebalance costs and rewards, so a reserve gives you flexibility.