Exanima

Absolute solid game. cant wait to see them bring it to full release. The COOP Alone will be worth it for me. If the only thing people are complaining about is lack of content and they forget they have played 100 hours it doesn't make sense to me. The Arena inst for everyone and can get a little same same after awhile, but nothing beats your first time killing that Golem King or Sir. Many hours of Unique and Solid Encounters to be had!!!

I don't think it will ever be finished, plus it's pretty boring with what they do have. PRETTY MUCH JUST A TECH DEMO 10 YEARS ON.
These small teams can sometimes suck at letting people know if anything is even still happening, leaving the user to search for info when it should be right there on the main steam page, seriously people.

Wacky physics, intriguing lore, simple yet intuitive magic system, creepy vibes and cool armour and weapons.
Good stuff.

It's a good game but it's been over a year since the last update. I know the dev's are working on stuff but it's taking so long that I can't recommend buying it yet, in a few more years maybe...maybe...

Painfully difficult, kind of clunky, but I love it so much. It scratches an itch I've always had for exploration that no other game has. It doesnt update often, which is seriously an issue and its blatantly unfinished but what is in the game is really solid.
The combat is weighty, the magic if fun, the dungeon is filled with surprises, and for the most part the challenge is fair?? Kind of..??? Hard to say, its not an easy game, sometimes it feels unfair, reminds me a lot of rainworld in that way.
Overall though, I think I got my moneys worth.
Its not expensive, but I'd recommend waiting on a sale if you're real strapped for cash.

last update was 2023, and that's the only reason i give it a negative review. course waiting so long for a update in an early access game is just sad. otherwise its super fun and hard. love the arena gamemode where i can beat people with a stick

I absolutely love what Bare Mettle is crafting here. Ive followed Exanima from the beginning and you can really feel the love theyve put into their game and its world. The physics theyve built into the engine allows for some incredibly satisfying and rewarding combat/gameplay (thaumaturgy is way too much fun already, I cant wait to see where the dev team goes with it).

The dev team may be small (hence the wait between updates) but theyre very communicative about what theyre working on every month and incredibly passionate about their project. Its been well worth the money.

An unfinished symphony? So much potential but the devs don't seem to be interested in finishing it.

I adore this game. The difficulty. The raw challenge of navigation. The innovative combat system.
Yes it's clunky. It's a physics based combat system. With practice though, you will learn to land the perfect shot and its SO SATISFYING when your halberd crashes into their face. It really has such a satisfying combat system that i've spent 100 hours probably in just the arena mode. If only it was multiplayer?

Outside of the combat, it's an unforgiving, unfinished dungeon crawler. It wouldn't take that much effort to finish it, but the devs just... don't. WHY? diving down some rabbit hole about cloth textures and 'ai roles'. Nobody cares. Just finish it and move on.

As of 05/02/2025 the game has been in early access for OVER 10 YEARS. Steam added a feature that showed how long it was since the games developers last updated the game which as of today was 15 MONTHS AGO. Either laziness, Ineptitude or poor leadership is to blame.

I WILL REPEAT, 10 YEARS IN EARLY ACCESS AND 15 MONTHS AGO SINCE LAST UPDATED.

Exanima was meant as a tech demo prerequisite to Sui Gineris, which was the original concept and was estimated for Exanima to be in EA for approximately 9 months. Promises made but not delivered. They do have a monthly "coffee talk" which is meant to overview progress but is filled with things they "feel" is necessary rather than getting on with updating what is currently available. Massive engine updates to add inconsequential things. More so even it seems they brag about improving cloth physics, terrain changes, or even texture changes that are slightly shinier, that which grass and light can penetrate through, than the ones before. In which took them several months to make but still needs improvement.

As of right now the monotonous game play cycle has worn thin. Only a few enemies feel like the AI is past the point of worth fighting against as the vast majority simply spam attacks onto the player, let alone the giants which just rush onto the player character model which breaks the combat as swinging weapons is dependant on the room of which it is allowed to be swung. The "intuitive" controls are not difficult as many have stated and are just clunky in the grand scheme of things. Bring the cursor onto one side of the enemy, click and drag over and passed them to hit them. Rinse and Repeat. Also being hit staggers the player which prevents retaliation so you can be essentially stun locked to death.

Also having only a few checkpoints which is an auto save does not mean it is adding a reason to play less aggressive and more "strategic". It only exist it seems to aggravate the player, and comes across as to pad game play time. Simply adding save rooms through various parts of the game would alleviate frustration to newer players which is regularly discussed. Then again there is only a few levels so it often feels fruitless to continue once you get passed them all.

TL:DR: Not recommended, developers waste time refining the engine with inconsequential things rather than improving core and essential needs of the game such as actual game play improvements and story. People judge on what can be played now, not what is promised in the future and not delivered. 10 YEARS IN EARLY ACCESS AND 15 MONTHS AGO SINCE LAST UPDATED. 05/02/2025

Although I ultimately enjoyed my time with this game, I cannot recommend it. It feigns complexity and difficulty by being relatively unintuitive. Once it "clicks" for you, the thin veil of uniqueness falls to reveal truly clunky gameplay that's nothing special at its core and annoying (and unfinished) mechanics. I've progressed through all of what is currently playable in this game (including getting that sweet armor in the arena), and sadly there is simply not enough here to justify recommending that anyone buy this game.

Scroll back up and read the text box detailing this game as early access. Take note of things such as the developers estimating it would take "around six to nine months, give or take three months" for the game to leave early access, and "the last update made by developers was over 15 months ago". This game was put up on Steam before I graduated high school and now I'm about to graduate medical school in a few months. If I can get a medical degree and become a doctor before you can even finish your game, let alone even the magic mechanics/skilltree, there is something deeply wrong. I used to appreciate the monthly dev coffee diaries, but now I look back at them with disdain as the developers obviously put their care and attention on things completely separate from what many players actually care about.

With this review, I am officially sending this game to my graveyard of games that had so much potential but will never live up to it. Maybe I'll come back in ten more years and enjoy a full release of this game, but my review will never change.

Quote from steam page of this game's description that was released into early access on 29th of April 2015:

"Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
Around six to nine months, give or take three months! Honestly, we can't provide an exact timeframe as there are many factors involved, some of which are beyond our control. These include feedback from a wider community and, ultimately, Exanima's success which will determine our budget going forward."

It's 4th of February 2025 today, 3 months untill full 10 years have passed.

Last time I've played it around 2020-2021, and let me tell you how much has changed in the game since then, just by looking at version numbers:
1 April 2020 Exanima 0.8 Released
19 December 2021 Exanima 0.8.3
17 July 2022 Exanima 0.8.4
13 October 2023 Exanima 0.9

Entire 2024 and until now, 4th of February 2025, there has not been a single update or patch to the game after a minor patch that was uploaded 31st October 2023, check this game's steamdb patchnotes/updates history.

Decent game, I highly recommend playing with Exanimap. I personally use a health mod to balance out my skill issues.

this was one of my favorite games now it keeps crashing and giving me error screens because the devs keep messing with stuff.

It's a tricky game to get to grips with, but one that is irresistibly addictive to those that refuse to lose. After a few hair-brained solutions, I'm running about in Power Armour I stole. The game is totally Unique, and a godsend; if only there was the option to lock the camera into always being oriented in the direction your character is facing!

If you like experimental game mechanics and trying a little harder than you should, you'll get your money's worth for whatever equates 18 canukistan credits. It's its own category of game that stands halfway between a demo and a full release. Development on it is dead, despite what may seem, and it doesn't look like bare mettle will ever succeed in elevating their unique combat mechanics past the drunk pudding puppet combat simulator that it currently is. Which also means that the following full game that was spoken of a generation ago is not but a fever dream. At least we got videos of SRG's mastery of the combat system out of it.

jesus christ the devs need to stop trying to mess with the game engine and the AI and just make the game already

Great unique game. Sure, it has it's bugs and still... Exanima is almost done very made game with lots to discover. I saw other reviews stating the long duration of development, but I don't see relevance in those statements, Im afraid. Game is already deep and fun the way it is.

Buy it if you wish: exploring, funny physics, complex combat, sort of immersive sim, dark atmosphere, fencing.
Have a good luck on the arena and check out false edge and throwing techniques of fencing. Remember to not fight the camera and stay tuned for new updates.

It is a fun game for those who enjoy hardcore exploration of a world in an isometric perspective. The floors are huge and when I last played this it was quite fun exploring it and taking my time to see more of the world.

For $15 I would say it's worth it, but this comes with the caveat that it has been in early access for a decade at this point with extremely slow progress. At this rate it won't be properly done for another decade, but I think the current gameplay is good.

You basically have to find keys, use torches, avoid traps, fight enemies - loot, and avoid injuries and such as you go through various floors. It can be a better idea much of the time to run away or lure enemies to an advantageous location, and that sort of thing is greatly appreciated to me.

Endless early access. Keep in mind this was supposed to be some kinda tech demo for a Kickstarter MMO and they can't even finish this lol

Its kinda fun, but it quickly becomes repetitive and the longer you play it the more you wish it just had normal controls. The novelty of "physics" based combat wears off very quickly and the amount of hours played you would need to master it just isn't worth it. You could spend 1000 hours and still not be good or have any content left to excite you by the time you do master it. Alternatively you could just play a souls like game for far more content, better controls, and a much fairer challenge. Feels bad to die because your guys "physics" based sword clips through his torso and you can't swing/defend.

The arena mode is extremely repetitive and feels pointless. You slowly rank up and get access to better weapons and armor, but who cares? You fight the same humans, but they also get better equipment so its not as if you start to feel stronger as you rank up. You can fight an ogre, but you just get gold as a reward. Gold that you only can spend on new weapons and armor that you don't need. Tournaments just don't feel fair. You cannot heal between fights, but your opponents are always full health. So really its you versus 4 back to back master gladiators. Game should simulate the damage the npcs take during their matches, so they don't get such an unfair advantage in the finals.

The dungeon mode is better, but all the floors feel pretty samey after a while, just with "different" enemies. Most of the enemies are functionally the same, until you get a bit further in. Then you start fighting big enemies that rag doll you and its at this point the combat goes from tolerable to miserable. Sorry its just not fun to get repeatedly knocked to the floor with no ability to fight back. Enemies at this point may as well just one shot you because they aren't going to let you stand back up anyways, so why give the illusion of a chance to stand back up? Its pure misery. Also plenty of noob traps to soft lock your game. Thanks I really appreciate that cliff side path that leads to a lower platform that you can't climb back up from or progress further into. Really enjoyed learning not to do that on my next play through! You can't jump or climb, so be wary of getting yourself soft locked from falling into a waist high pit. Malicious level design that exists only to punish new players for simply not knowing any better. If that sounds appealing go ahead and buy this game.

In the current state of the game there's plenty of things to do, systems to improve with and master. Yes its take quite a bit of time for updates to come out, the games been in this developmental limbo for many years as we all know. Personally I'd say its easy worth the $15 price point (especially for those of us with large playtime's). Yes it sucks that there hasn't been a major update in over a year but review bombing isn't going to make an update magically appear out of Madoc's ass.

Still having fun. Combat never gets old. Gem of a game

Every year I start this game and do the torch test. Still cant pick it up. Will thumbs up the review when the game passes the torch test.

Physics based melee combat just hits different...

I think if I spent as much time playing it as they spent developing it, I might actually "git gud".

I keep seeing comments saying "Duhhhh no story!!! there's no game here!! they just talk about their engine!!111!!1"

It's not like it was described as a prelude to what they really want to build(sarcasm), and having watched this game for so long, it's genuinely insane the jump from what they had at the start to now. Sure it could be seen as almost development hell, but I still remember the update for the physics engine where walking on beams and movement in general was upgraded and if you played before and after you could FEEL the difference, so I know all the tweaks and changes they're making is doing SOMETHING.

When the Force update came out, players found out quickly you could just bypass entire sections by levitating an item to pull down a lever, skipping sections of the map. like I can't get over the breath of options given to you through just 2 out of SIX(6) thaum/magic trees. Want a gaggle of zombies henchman to throw at your enemies? You can!!! Possess, gaslight, and astral project your way through the dungeon! Don't care for that and rather just go head first? Force can do that, Empower your attacks or add magic armor to yourself, enemies getting too handsy? Force blast them away!

If they really didn't care about the players then they'd have never added Arena or any lore shit to the game. Like I can't stress enough that this game is supremely overtuned, how many other games are like this right now? NONE or at least none this well made. Like yeah i'm itching as much as anyone else for the full open world, but as of right now I enjoy going back to this every once inawhile and just going through the game cause it's truly a unique experience, and if it starts to feel to easy, there's always Hellmode mod, and their amazing team that really change and ramp up the difficulty.

I've ranted incoherently enough just know that you're going to buy a game with a high skill ceiling. I remember getting it and getting my ass beat because the controls for this game is just that different. But I learned eventually and I'm happy I did.

This game was really good, the physics are pretty clunky and so is the combat but I think it adds to the goofiness of the game. The story/main part of the game is pretty good and the maps are fun to explore. Its not really a game I could see playing for a long time as it gets pretty repetitive and the arena is alright but a nice switch from story mode. Lots of features have been in progress for many years and I dont think they will ever be finished but the game isnt abandoned and they still release updates.

the combat and camera controls are bad, not "hard to get used to" or "you just need practice" they are just awful. there isnt a good tutorial on combat so i spent the majority of my time looking for tutorials on combat. the "campaign" isnt clear at all on how your able to progress and i needed to watch a tutorial on that too. and they included areas in the campaign map where you can fall and lose all your progress. i understand its more or less a rogue like but its annoying spending hours on tutorials and finally reaching a new area on the map only to either fall into a pit and die or be gang raped by enemies.

I can recommend this game.

Yes it's been in development for too long.
Nearly 10 years. No full game. Yes. Yes. Yes.

It's fun. It has good mechanics. A hand-crafted world.
The writing is strong, even as it is, almost non-existent.

Small text with foreboding, underlying environmental story-telling. Works great.
Oppressive atmosphere. Puzzles involving physics.
The game encourages you to pay attention to details and doesn't hold your hand.

The game is great, 9/10.

People are unhappy due to the lengthy development time and that's understandable.
Developer states he's making this with his "friends", denoting plural.
$160,000 from the kickstarter, minimal of 3 people; Dev + "friends."

They had funding for 1 year. 2 if they're frugal. And that's assuming they are only 3 people. They're not.
As of 8 years ago this game was no longer worth developing. But they have continued.
Yes. They have had sales from Storefronts such as Steam. Yes. Absolutely.

Overall this is a passion project. Great devs, very communicative and active with the community.

I've been playing this game for almost 10 years and I've yet to see another game like it in all that time or before. It's a little hardcore and there's certainly a learning curve, I played only the practice arena for nearly 2 years before i attempted the campaign (before the main arena existed), but it's an incredibly in-depth and constantly growing game that offers satisfying gameplay on top of teasingly alluding to additions that are to come. Every time i play this game either something new has been added, or i notice something i didn't on my last playthrough. I tell anyone about it who is even mildly interested, and it will forever remain one of my favorites. I love how the devs are true to their ideals and don't just bend to fit the crowd. I genuinely would never run out of positive things to say about this game, so I'll just stop there.

Terrible. So long in the pot, and yet so much wrong with it for some moronic focus on artificial difficulty. The combat is ridiculous, and 'oh it feels good once you get used to it' can be true of anything, including torture - which this game's combat undoubtedly is. Just watch a video of the combat and see how wonky and strange every animation is. Throw in the fact that some weapons objectively suck because of the wonky animations (and specific hurtboxes that are tied to these animations) and that YOU ONLY EVER HEAL ONCE PER STORY AREA, AND THERE'S NO SAVING ALLOWED, and it's just an abysmal experience.

Still just a bunch of mechanics.
For a lot of years.
No GAME here.

Ten years. That’s how long we’ve waited for this game to fulfil its ambitious promises. But after a decade of "development," it's painfully clear that Bare Mettle is more interested in endlessly tinkering with their precious game engine than actually delivering the experience we were promised.

What about the core gameplay? It’s still stuck in the same frustrating cycle of clunky controls and rudimentary content. Combat may be physics-driven, but that "innovation" comes at the cost of basic responsiveness. Every action feels like controlling a marionette through molasses. The NPC AI? They’re supposedly "smarter" and more "immersive," according to the wordy monthly dev posts, but mostly they just bumble around and spout stilted, repetitive dialogue.

And don't get me started on the role system. It's been talked about in blog post after blog post, filled with endless jargon about dynamic behaviors and emergent complexity, yet the actual implementation is nothing more than vague, placeholder features. NPCs "might" do something, depending on a thousand invisible variables you can’t influence or even track. At best, the system feels half-baked; at worst, it’s incoherent.

Meanwhile, Bare Mettle brags about how they spent months optimizing their cloth physics or refining a new terrain system (wow new tile textures!!!). Sure, it's impressive they can simulate cloth with "millions of polygons" or overhaul how grass or cracks in tiles interact with lighting, but none of that matters when your players are still waiting to experience the actual game.

The bottom line is this: No one buys a game to marvel at the backend of its engine. They buy games for compelling gameplay, engaging stories, and functional mechanics—none of which Bare Mettle has managed to deliver in ten years. At this point, the game is nothing more than a tech demo wrapped in empty promises.

Unless the developers can break their obsessive cycle of endless technical refinement and focus on finishing a product worth playing, this game will go down as one of the most tragic examples of wasted potential in modern indie development.

Enjoyable learning curve, good mechanics and very nice dungeon crawler as a whole. It might seem a little clunky/goofy at first, but once you get used to the mechanics and combat it is very rewarding and rewards skill and preperation.

Loving this game at the moment and I haven't even gotten that far yet. I'm a personal fan of ragdoll physics and this game hits that spot just perfectly. I also really like rouge-like tags for finding loot and becoming stronger is always a thrill.

Kind of a rating to just counteract the negatives who are simply mad it's been a long time. The game keeps getting better with every major patch and it definitely makes me excited to see what they can actually do with Sui Genesis whenever they feel confident enough to show what they've been doing over the past 10 years.

>get home from work
>want to work on my gladiator company
>sit down at 11 pm
>feel an hour go by, check time
>4 in the morning
>crap

I purchased to support the funding for Sui Generis, the game that was supposed to be developed. Over 10 years and nothing. Bare Mettle are liars and thieves at this point.

This game is a great investment. In that my grand-kids might be able to enjoy the finished game long after I'm gone.

One of the coolest and most interesting Souls-like games around. The gameplay is fun and engaging, and there's a great arena mode if you don't like the dungeon crawling aspect.

Great early access game for it's price. The devs release info fairly often so I'm confident that in 10 years it'll be finished. Still, with the way it is now, it's quite enjoyable. There aren't many games that let you absolutely wallop someone with a polehammer or stick someone's face with a spear, and this one is one of them.

This is a modern twist on the dungeon crawler genre that I've wanted since the 80's.

It's brutally punishing, yet mastering the mechanics is far more satisfying than any "Souls-Like" game.

I highly recommend this game. It hurts, and it hurts so good.

Shoutout to the developer for this masterpiece.

I think the game the was interesting but the controlling of the character was/is jarring. I understand its suppose to be like that, but it just feels more like your controlling a drunk guy. I like the whole rag-doll effect, but when you step on a staircase or a piece of debris and you begin to stumble. It does feel as good at that point. It is pretty funny when you first start tho, lol, but it gets old pretty fast. Then again when you do learn the controls it does get better but its still pretty jarring

The combat is pretty fun once you get good at it.

wander around with no direction, run away from enemies until you can't anymore, then flail around until you get killed... not fun at all

As a person who loves fantasy RPGs with more difficult combat fighting, this game is quite a pleasant experience. The dark ambiance makes the game exciting followed by the armor and weapons desings. The difficulty of the game makes the player think about every decision when approaching enemy or exploring the areas, specially since the game has little checkpoints and health recovery options. The arena content is a good way to focus on the combat and offers enough content to develop your team and acquire the best armor pieces to them. Some downsides of this game is that the combat makes this game difficult to understand at the beginning and difficult to master, such learning curve can make a person drop the game if is not patient enough to keep trying; having long checkpoints also can increase the frustration of a player. While the ambience of the game is well stablished, it's lore can improve giving the player more hints about the events happening in the game. Since this game is still an early access is natural to see some incomplete areas, objects that could be usefult but their used is not implemented yet and more. Right now at it's present state I felt like playing a complete game with enough content, considering it's time and the uniqueness of the combat makes this game a good option to try for every player that likes a different challenge and medieval games.

The greatest mammoth hunting simulator to not have mammoths in it.

To elaborate, Exanima is a game that has developed ludonarrative harmony. If you hang around the arena and ignore the blue bar on the bottom of the screen, you could easily mistake this dark/low fantasy setting with a alternate historical one, meaning that as soon as fantastical elements are introduced, you *feel* how fantastical they are. Your first ogre fight is the moment that this game truly comes together: you and two allies versus a beast which could crush any one of your heads like a grape. Parrying is futile, as the ogre's club will almost certainly knock you down and most likely send you flying into a wall. Your best response is to flank the beast, managing distance and aggression, while chipping it down with polearms (hence "mammoth hunting"). If you do win, you feel heroic, a step above the common man. If you lose, just hope the hit that took you out wasn't lucky enough to kill you.

VERY difficult to learn, but simply amazing in terms of realism and satisfaction once everything clicks.

The game is neat, but it's mostly just okay. I enjoyed it for a bit, and then I kept dying and just got bored. It's bland, colourless, and clumsy to control. There is no tutorial, just a help menu with missing information. The idea is really cool, the setting is intreguing, but I just don't care to play any more of it. Supposedly I've not even left the "tutorial area" but if this is your tutorial and I'm 8 hours in what exactly is going on.

A game with an incredible atmosphere, an amazing feeling as if you're physically present in that world, where you only have one life, and you need to be cautious. The only downside is the combat system – there's no way to block with your weapon manually or control the height of your attacks. Plus, updates are released very rarely, giving the impression that the developers are facing issues they're not sharing with the audience.

A very loved game by the developers that is absolutely the one of if not THE hardest game I've ever played. The sadness and anguish I feel when I watch my best buddy Derrin 5 hours into the game sprint into a chair and on contact fly headlong into the cavernous depths, crying because I know its either forever lose my boy or go back 2 hours to get him back because good god does this game need better saving.