Quick Answer: Tier 2 and Tier 3 do not unlock as a block — they unlock per Dude. The developers' own wording: "To use dudes on Tier 2, you'll need gold stars on them for Tier 1. For Tier 3, you'll need golds for those dudes in Tier 2." That is why you can clear Tier 1 comfortably and still find most of your roster greyed out one difficulty up. The rule appears nowhere in the game's interface or the official guide — only in a forum reply — which is why you will find several confidently wrong versions of it online. What is also current: the developers opened a beta branch experiment on August 3 and revised it on August 4, which changes this — Tier 2 opens from the start on beta, while Tier 3 still wants a Gold Star. They have said outright it may be rolled back.
Round 69 of a Tier 1 run. The Relic grid on the right is most of a run's progress made visible. (Screenshot: Butterscotch Shenanigans)
Version note: Written August 5, 2026, against v1.0.5-rc.9 on the main branch, plus the beta experiment as revised August 4. This is the most volatile topic in the game right now — the developers are actively testing changes to it. Sourced from their Steam announcements and launch-window player reports, linked inline.
What a Gold Star Is
The star system is per Dude, and it is the spine of the whole progression:
- Defeating bosses earns Silver and Gold Stars for each Dude, per the store page.
- The Tier 1 final boss is the G.O.A.T., and the developers' own guide places it precisely: your first goal is "to get gold stars by defeating the G.O.A.T. in Tier 1 on round 105." 71.1% of players have managed it.
- Tier 2's final boss is the Killipede, at 9.6%. Tier 3's final battle sits at 1.5%.
- Stars also feed metaprogression: starting cash, consumables, Pocket Dice, and Ensemble Mode slots. The developers confirm all five Ensemble slots unlock gradually "as you earn Silver and Gold Stars across the challenge Tiers."
One rule the developers do state clearly, and it is the most useful thing on this page: stars backfill downward. From their official guide:
"Gold and Silver Stars for Relics and Trinkets get retroactively applied to lower Tiers. So if you have just a few Relics or Trinkets left to get Stars for in Tier 1, you can jump up to Tier 2 and earn those Stars there, and it will cascade down and backfill in Tier 1, so you could potentially finish your Tier 1 collection while not even playing in Tier 1."
Note the precise scope: they name Relic and Trinket stars. The August beta announcement puts it more broadly, saying a Tier 3 Gold Star win "would also provide progress toward your T2 and T1 rewards." Either way the practical instruction is the same — if you can win at a higher Tier, earn your stars there.
The Actual Rule
The developers stated it plainly on the Steam forums on July 30, and it is the clearest answer available anywhere:
"To use dudes on Tier 2, you'll need gold stars on them for Tier 1. For Tier 3, you'll need golds for those dudes in Tier 2."
That is the whole mechanic. Gold Stars are earned per Dude, and a Dude only becomes usable one Tier up once it personally has one. It is not an account-wide unlock, which is why clearing Tier 1 with a favourite team does nothing for the other 37 Dudes.
The rule is not in the in-game UI, not in the developers' published new-player guide, and not on the store page — it exists only as a forum reply. That is why player accounts of it vary so much. Three separate launch reviewers describe it as "complete a full run with that Dude," "beat Tier 1 with at least 15 of them on your team," and "you needed 10 items in its category during the run." None of those match the developers' wording. Go with the developers' version.
There is one genuine open question the developers have not resolved: exactly which round threshold gates each Tier. One well-known community regular says clearing round 105 (the G.O.A.T.) opens Tier 2 and round 110 opens Tier 3, but elsewhere describes Tier 3 as unlocking from clearing the Killipede in Tier 2. Those are not the same claim, and no developer statement settles it. Treat the round numbers as unconfirmed; the Gold Star rule above is the part you can rely on.
Why This Is The Game's Sore Spot
The grind complaint is the one the developers have publicly engaged with, so it is worth understanding the shape.
A Tier 1 run runs to round 105 (the developers' figure), which players time at about 30 minutes at the fastest 1.5x speed, and often longer — several players put a full run at 40 to 60 minutes. Multiply that by a roster of 42 Dudes and the arithmetic gets ugly fast. One completionist puts the cost of unlocking everything for Tier 3 at 30 to 35 hours of lower-Tier play. Against a median total playtime of about 10 hours across 1,000 launch reviews, that is a grind most players never finish, and 20% of negative reviews name it directly.
The developers' own framing when they opened the experiment:
"It turns out that for some players, Tier 1 is just too dang easy, and so it feels like a tedious grind to get to the difficulty they'd like."
They also shipped two UI patches about this in the same week — v1.0.5-rc.7 made the Tier indicator visible in Tier 1, and rc.8 added a Tier indicator above the Victory screen "to make it more understandable that there are higher difficulties." Players were finishing the game without realising there was more of it.
The Beta Experiment (Live Now)
Opened August 3, revised August 4. The revised version is what is currently running:
"We will be opening up Tier 2 at the outset, but still requiring a Gold Star on a Dude in either Tier 1 or Tier 2 before unlocking that Dude in Tier 3."
The original August 3 build was more permissive — it let you pick any difficulty from the start with no gold-starring at all. Player feedback pulled it back to the middle ground above within a day.
What it does not change, in the developers' words:
"Note that this does not remove the metaprogression unlocks - you will still need to earn those Gold and Silver Stars to get all that bonus starting cash, ensemble slots, dice, and consumables."
To opt in: right-click the game in your Steam library, select Properties, then Game Versions & Betas, then the Beta checkbox.
Before you switch, know that this is explicitly provisional: "This IS an experiment, which means if we find that it negatively impacts most people's experience then we obviously won't be integrating it into the main game." Feedback is being collected on the official discussion thread and the studio's Discord.
How to Play Around It Today
Whichever branch you are on, the efficient route follows from the cascade rule and the run length:
- Win at the highest Tier you can actually clear. Stars cascade down, so a higher-Tier win pays for the lower Tiers too. Grinding Tier 1 for stars you could earn in Tier 2 is wasted time.
- Commit a run to the Dudes you want unlocked. Every unverified version of the requirement rewards concentration, and none reward spreading thin.
- Finish the run. Version A specifically claims a loss at the final boss voids the attempt. It is unconfirmed, but the downside of assuming it is true is zero.
- Use Ensemble Mode once you have slots. Pre-picking your team instead of taking random flyers is what turns unlocking specific Dudes from luck into a plan. Empty slots still roll random, so partial unlocks are still useful.
- If the grind is the part you dislike, take the beta. That is precisely what it is for — with the caveat that it may not survive.
Where the Difficulty Actually Lives
Worth setting expectations against the achievement data, because "Tier 3" sounds like a difficulty setting and behaves like an endgame. Beating a boss at all: 95.8% of players. Tier 1's G.O.A.T.: 71.1%. Tier 2's Killipede: 9.6%. The Tier 3 final battle: 1.5%.
The drop from Tier 1 to Tier 2 is the real wall, and it is much steeper than the Tier 1 experience suggests. If Tier 1 felt like it played itself — a common launch-review complaint, with 26% of negative reviews saying the game is too easy or impossible to lose — Tier 2 is where the game you were promised starts.