What are Kudos in Temtem: Swarm?
Kudos are Temtem: Swarm's per-Temtem challenge system. Each Tem you play has its own set of Kudos to complete, ranging from defeating enemies in Arenas to surviving specific conditions. Completing them unlocks rewards and, at a certain threshold, lets you access a Tem's Prestige levels. They sit at the intersection of progression and replayability, giving you something concrete to chase beyond just surviving each run.
The community-authored Kudos Guide on Steam by Andromu is the most referenced breakdown of how to unlock each Kudo, and it has 36 ratings as of early April 2026. That guide covers the full list of unlock conditions per Temtem, so if you want a raw checklist, that's your reference. Here, the goal is to help you understand how the system actually works and where players consistently run into trouble.
How does the Kudos system work?
Every Temtem tracks its own Kudos separately. Progress on one Tem does not carry over to another. This matters more than it sounds: if you grind Arenas as Smazee but then switch to Raiber, your Arena Kudo counter resets for Raiber's track.
Kudos fall into a few broad categories:
- Arena completion challenges (complete x Arenas, defeat x enemies in an Arena)
- Damage milestones (deal a set amount of damage with your ultimate)
- Run survival objectives
- Prestige-related unlocks that open up once base Kudos are finished
The Kudo tracking for Arena completions had a known bug at launch. According to Crema's Patch 1.0.1 notes (released April 3, 2026), the "Overcome x Arenas" Kudos were internally misconfigured and not granting their rewards. Players who completed this Kudo before the patch received their rewards retroactively after updating.
What bugs affect Kudos progress?
At launch, co-op created several Kudo tracking problems that Crema addressed in Patch 1.0.1. Here's what was broken and what the patch fixed, according to the official patch notes:
If you played co-op before updating to Patch 1.0.1, your Kudos data may have been misattributed. Update the game immediately. Crema explicitly warned that not updating could endanger your save file.
There's also a separate community-reported issue with the "Deal 27,000 damage with ultimate" Kudo. A player on the Steam forums noted that hitting multiple enemies with Vental's ultimate for 9,999 damage per hit still only showed 14,000 out of 27,000 progress, suggesting the game may not be tallying multi-target ultimate hits correctly. This appears to be an unresolved tracking issue as of April 2026.
How do you unlock a Temtem's Prestige?
Prestige becomes available once you complete the specific Kudo tied to it for that Tem. The Prestige system then requires you to re-unlock your abilities and upgrades from scratch, but at higher costs. Community feedback on Steam has been direct about this: multiple reviewers with 20+ hours describe it as a slow grind that doesn't add much beyond repetition.
One reviewer with 87.4 hours put it plainly: the prestige track forces you to re-unlock everything again, and the higher costs make it feel punishing rather than rewarding. That's a fair read. If you're going for Prestige, go in knowing it's a deliberate long-term grind, not a quick power spike.
Before starting a Prestige run, note that a Skill Tree node allows a Tem to gain Techniques of a different element type. Per Patch 1.0.1, Crema reworded this node to clarify it only affects that specific Temtem, not your whole roster. Don't build around cross-element techniques assuming they'll transfer.
Prestige skill tree node screen
What's the fastest way to complete Arena Kudos?
Arena Kudos track two things independently: how many times you completed an Arena and how many enemies you defeated inside one. These are separate counters, so finishing Arenas quickly without clearing enemies won't satisfy the defeat count.
A few practical notes based on how the system works:
- Play solo when grinding Arena Kudos. Co-op had tracking bugs at launch, and even post-patch, Arena Kudos in co-op were being credited to both the host's Tem and the guest's Tem simultaneously, which caused misattribution.
- Stick to a single Tem per session when targeting Kudos. Switching Tems mid-session splits your progress across multiple tracks.
- For money-related progression tied to runs, the approach of targeting Nest Circles (which spawn a Temtem Nest nearby) is documented as an efficient income source, as covered in detail in this farming breakdown on Game Rant.
What about the level-up reward bloat problem?
This is worth addressing because it directly affects how efficiently you can complete Kudos that require specific techniques or gear. During each run, you pick up Techniques (attacks) and Gears (passives) from a random pool. The pool has grown significantly, and the number of rerolls and blocks available hasn't kept pace.
At Prestige level, the pool expands further because Tems can now acquire techniques from other elements, not just their own. That's an upgrade you take specifically for prestige runs, and it makes an already bloated selection even harder to navigate toward useful combinations.
The practical takeaway: if a Kudo requires you to deal damage with a specific technique type, expect to spend multiple runs just trying to see that technique appear in your level-up options. The reroll economy is tight.
Should you focus on Kudos before Prestige?
Yes. Prestige locks behind Kudo completion anyway, but more importantly, the Kudos themselves give you a structured reason to experiment with each Tem's toolkit. Rushing toward Prestige without completing base Kudos means you'll miss the reward unlocks tied to those challenges.
The honest picture of Temtem: Swarm at launch is a game with a functional Kudos system that had real tracking bugs in co-op, a prestige grind that rewards patience over skill, and a level-up pool that needs more reroll tools to feel fair. For players who enjoy methodical progression, the Kudos system gives you enough to chase. For players expecting fast payoff, the grind will feel steep.
For more survival game breakdowns and progression guides, browse the latest guides on GAMES.GG to find coverage across the genre.