You stand on the bridge, the first wave falls and the mission bar refuses to move. Friendly units suddenly betray you by refusing to die, and the Iron Will quest grinds to a halt. I’ve been there—frustration, a saved game held hostage, and a thread of Steam posts accusing the same invisible saboteur.
I write this as someone who tests fixes and reads the Steam forums, and I’ll walk you through the practical options that players and community moderators are using right now.
Steam threads show the Iron Will bug consistently appears during the second encounter — what happens and why it stops progress
The reported failure kicks in after the first fight: several enemy units suddenly flip to a friendly state and the quest logic refuses to advance. That frozen state blocks mission completion and any story progression tied to this quest.
Think of the bug as a hairline fracture through the mission’s spine. It’s subtle, but it keeps the whole run from carrying weight. Tripwire’s community channels (Steam forums, Reddit, Discord) and outlets such as Moyens I/O have detailed player reports and screenshots that track the issue.
Why won’t the Iron Will quest progress?
Because some enemies become flagged as friendly during the second phase, the mission’s “kill X units” or target-check fails to register. The engine sees the condition as unmet even though the fight appears finished. The community consensus points to a scenario flag not flipping, rather than a missing asset or corrupted save.
How do I fix Iron Will quest in NORSE Oath of Blood?
I recommend trying the simplest moves first, in this order, and keep a copy of your save before experimenting.
- Save and reload: Close the mission, save the game, and load that same save. Many players report the quest state corrects itself after a reload.
- Full clear + new save: Kill every character at the location, then create a fresh save near the bugged NPCs. Reload that fresh save to bypass the stuck phase. It’s blunt, and some players dislike wiping NPCs, but it works for some runs.
- Bridge method (most reliable reported): Return to the bridge on the same side as the first fight. Gather your whole party, start a new turn, press Tab to switch through every character so the client refreshes actor states, then save. Reloading that save often drops you out of combat and lets the second fight begin normally.
One last metaphor: the workaround can act as a small key that opens a stubborn door—no guarantee, but it often does. If you prefer community-sourced walkthroughs, check Steam forum threads and pinned posts on the game’s Discord for step-by-step screenshots.
Has Tripwire released a patch for the Iron Will bug?
At the time players reported the issue, no universal in-game patch had fixed every report; Tripwire and the developer teams were monitoring threads and compiling logs from affected players. Keep an eye on the official Steam news feed and the developer’s Twitter for a verified patch note before trying more invasive fixes.
Practical tips from testers: always duplicate your save before testing fixes; tag your save name with a timestamp so you can return; and if you report the bug to Steam or the developer, include a save file plus a short list of steps that reproduce it.
If you want to report this to Tripwire or attach a save for diagnostics, compress the save folder, link it in a Steam forum post, and tag the developer in their official Discord or Twitter. Community volunteers and moderators often collect identical cases and forward representative saves to the devs for faster reproduction.
Which of the three fixes will you try first: the reload, the full clear, or the bridge Tab-save trick?