Progression
Every game earns something. Medals unlock heroes and higher difficulties. Streaks earn xp and xp earns more medals.
Item and beast medals
A single item medal and a single beast medal can be awarded per game. The highest level item or beast you dealt with gets the medal.
| Item medal | Beast medal | |
|---|---|---|
 Bronze |
Pick up an item | Kill a beast |
 Silver |
Die with an item | Be killed by a beast |
 Gold |
Win with an item | Kill a beast and win the game |
Medals unlock many heroes. Each hero page says which medals or what challenge is needed.
Hero medals and challenges
Beat a hero's challenge to win their bronze medal and unlock them for play. Challenges are often about killing or taming beasts. Some measure other things like spells cast or games played. Progress is visible on the hero page in the game. You find out at the end of a game if you completed a challenge.
Hero medals above bronze come from xp.
| Hero medal | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| Bronze | The hero is playable |
| Silver | Their bio |
| Gold | Their records |
| Diamond | Elite difficulty |
Streaks and xp
Win streaks track consecutive wins. The hero must pass the gatekeeper into the Underworld to count. There are four kinds of streak: per hero. Per difficulty. Per hero and difficulty together. And the overall streak.
When a hero enters the Underworld all win streaks increase and xp is added to three unlocked heroes. The hero in play always gets some. Longer streaks mean more xp. Bonus xp lands when a streak hits 3 or 10 or 100.
Difficulty multiplies xp.
| Difficulty | Xp |
|---|---|
| Normal | ×1 |
| Hard | ×2 |
| Expert | ×3 |
| Elite | ×5 |
Maintain a streak at max difficulty to level up heroes quickly. Completed quests also earn xp.
Achievements
There is a long list of achievements for doing particular things. Many are tied to a hero.
The castle
The last page of the end screen shows your castle. It is a picture of every medal you have ever won. Collect more medals and the builders keep at it: a camp fire among the rocks becomes scaffolding, then towers, then walls and banners and fireworks.
The castle has 50 stages. Which one you see depends on the share of all the medals in the game that you hold: three for every beast and every item (bronze, silver, gold) and four for every hero (diamond too), nearly 900 in all in version 3.0. The percentage is shown under the picture together with the medals the game you just finished added.
The early stages come quickly. The first few games take the castle through its first stages with only a handful of medals, and the one above is stage 8, the view at about 20 medals. From there each stage asks for more than the last; the final stretch from 75% to 100% is five stages. Winning on higher difficulties and with new heroes is the fast way to grow it, since every hero and every new beast and item you deal with is three or four medals waiting.
Press and hold the castle in the game for the same explanation in fewer words.