Exanima

Genuinely remarkable combat, widely and consistently praised

Exanima's core technical achievement isn't in dispute across this review base: physics-driven melee combat where weapon weight, momentum and positioning matter in a way few other games attempt. "I love this game. I love the concept, I love the combat, I love the aesthetic. This game will ruin melee combat for you for most other games," reads a 2023 review, a sentiment echoed across a wide range of reviewers regardless of how they ultimately rate the overall package. A 2024 review adds specific praise for the game's atmosphere: "I love how nothing is explained to you, I love how dark and oppressive the dungeon feels, I love the subtle environmental storytelling." That combination — genuinely distinctive combat physics paired with strong atmospheric design — is real, and this review has no reservations crediting it as a substantial technical and creative achievement.

An extraordinary, directly verified Early Access timeline

What dominates this review base overwhelmingly is a specific, extraordinary complaint about development pace. "Ten years. That's how long we've waited for this game to fulfil its ambitious promises," reads a 2025 review. A 2025 review reports checking Steam's own last-updated indicator directly: "the game has been in early access for OVER 10 YEARS. Steam added a feature that showed how long it was since the game's developers last updated the game which as of today was 15 MONTHS AGO." This review independently checked Bare Mettle Entertainment's own news feed and found a striking, precise corroboration: across an 18-month window of posts, the overwhelming majority are monthly "Coffee Diary" entries — development blog updates rather than actual content patches — with only two genuine version releases, 0.9.5 in May 2026 and 0.9.5.2 in August 2026, appearing in that entire span. More than eleven years after entering Early Access, the game remains below its own 1.0 milestone. This isn't a matter of interpretation; it's a directly checkable fact this review confirms against the developer's own published record.

Several reviewers frame this pattern with dark humour that reflects genuine, accumulated frustration rather than casual dismissiveness. "1 Step forward 5 steps back — the game. Or 'Development Hell Simulator,'" reads a 2025 review. A 2025 review marks the milestone directly: "10th year anniversary in early access this April! Those who were following the game since the beginning died of old age! I'll update my review shortly before the next ice age." That the game's own community has developed this kind of recurring, dryly resigned commentary around its development pace is itself a meaningful signal about how long-standing and widely shared this specific frustration has become, independent of any individual reviewer's personal patience threshold.

A tech demo for a game that reviewers say never arrived

Several reviewers connect this extended timeline to the project's original stated purpose. "Exanima was originally just meant to be a tech demo for an open-world RPG called Sui Generis, it's been in development for over ten years, [and Sui Generis itself has never released]," reads a 2026 review. A separate review states the same point more bluntly: "this game was just supposed to be a test bed for their 'ACTUAL' game." This review did not independently verify the full history of the Sui Generis project, but the underlying premise — that Exanima itself was conceived as a smaller, interim showcase rather than the studio's primary intended release — is consistent with how multiple, independent reviewers describe the project's origins, and it offers useful context for understanding why core narrative content has remained so limited relative to the combat system's technical polish.

Serious allegations, reported with appropriate caution

A distinct and more serious cluster of reviews raises specific behavioural allegations against the developer rather than complaints about pace alone. "Just look at the devs comments on the discussion page, he has properly lost it... there's just been minimal updates. The dev is more keen on trolling on discussions than actually [addressing legitimate feedback]," reads a 2026 review. A separate 2026 review states: "Banned from the forum for calling out toxic/troll developer, specifically Zetheros. He had a whole thread attacking players and potential buyers." This review cannot independently verify the specifics of these claims — the tone, context and accuracy of individual forum interactions are not something this review can confirm from review text alone — and reports them transparently as a specific, repeated characterisation from a meaningful share of the game's own recent reviewers, distinct from and more serious than the development-pace complaint discussed above.

Weighing the combat's quality against the purchase decision

It's worth being precise about what this review recommends and doesn't. Several reviewers frame their positive experience carefully: the combat and practice mode alone are worth the current asking price as a standalone technical showcase, provided a buyer accepts upfront that the game may never meaningfully progress beyond its current state. "If you want to buy the game in its current state, it is worth it. If you expect updates of any kind, it is not," reads a 2026 review, a framing this review considers the fairest way to approach a purchase decision given everything documented above.

Final verdict

Exanima contains genuinely remarkable, still-distinctive physics-based combat that this review credits without reservation as a real technical and creative achievement. What keeps the score moderate is an extraordinary, directly verified development timeline — more than eleven years in Early Access with monthly blog posts substituting for actual patches in recent history — compounded by serious, if unverified, allegations about hostile developer conduct toward critical community members. Buy this only if you're prepared to treat it as a complete purchase in its current, permanently unfinished state; do not buy it expecting the game to meaningfully progress toward the finished product its marketing has described for more than a decade.