On November 14, 2025, We Who Are About to Die celebrated a milestone that most indie games never reach. The physics-based gladiator roguelite hit its third anniversary in Early Access, which also marks 10 years of total development by solo creator Jordy Lakiere. To celebrate, Lakiere dropped the Anniversary Update, a massive overhaul featuring a completely rewritten AI system, new content, and proof that one determined developer can rival studio productions if they’re willing to grind for a decade.
The Solo Dev Who Refused to Quit
Jordy Lakiere started developing We Who Are About to Die in 2016. He was a freelance concept art illustrator from Belgium with no budget to hire a team and no connections in the games industry. He didn’t have a choice about going solo. He just started building the gladiator game he wished existed, teaching himself game development along the way while working part-time as an illustration lecturer to pay the bills.
Seven years later, on November 13, 2022, the game launched in Steam Early Access. It wasn’t finished. It was janky, brutally difficult, and had a learning curve steeper than Mount Everest. But it was also unique, ambitious, and completely unlike anything else on Steam. The physics-based combat system felt like Mount and Blade meets Exanima in ancient Rome, with active ragdolls and animation-driven fighting that required real skill to master.
What the Anniversary Update Actually Changes
The headline feature is a complete AI overhaul. Lakiere and his small team rewrote the enemy AI from scratch to make it more dynamic, challenging, and aware of its own stamina management. In the previous version, AI opponents would often exhaust themselves or behave unpredictably. The new AI switches between tired and aggressive states much more clearly, making fights feel like actual duels against thinking opponents instead of physics experiments.
The update also adds new elite enemies, character traits, items, and UI improvements. There’s better gamepad support, performance optimizations, and countless bug fixes that have accumulated over three years of player feedback. The changelog is massive, and Lakiere admits they’re probably forgetting half of what changed because the update touches nearly every system in the game.
The One Day One Patch Situation
Here’s where things get real. The Anniversary Update launched on November 14, 2025. By November 15, Lakiere had already pushed a balancing patch addressing player feedback. That’s right – one day, one patch. The update notes are honest about the challenge: “Balancing a physics based animation driven combat game with a complex damage model is a bit like defusing a bomb, and with a total AI rework, it’s like we threw a live grenade into the mix.”
The rapid patch increased player attack speed slightly, rebalanced equipment weight impact, adjusted how AI counters work, and fixed bugs causing crazy knockbacks. Lakiere acknowledges they’re essentially balancing from scratch after the AI overhaul and asks players to bear with them as they finetune. This level of responsiveness and transparency is exactly what Early Access should be.
The Learning Curve Is Still Brutal
We Who Are About to Die is not for everyone, and Lakiere has never pretended otherwise. The directional physics-based combat has a massive learning curve. You don’t just press attack buttons and watch animations play. You control your gladiator’s weapon swings, manage stamina, worry about equipment weight affecting movement speed, and can have your weapon or shield knocked out of your hands mid-fight.
Getting attacked from behind in group battles leads to what Lakiere diplomatically calls “very very sad times.” The game will kick your ass for hours before things start to click. But when it does click, you’re playing something genuinely special – a combat system where you can design your own fighting style by combining any attack and movement inputs in creative ways.
The Features That Make It Unique
Beyond the combat, We Who Are About to Die includes deep RPG and career management systems. You’re not just fighting in arenas – you’re managing your gladiator’s career, dealing with patrons, handling betting, and navigating a roguelite structure where each run features a randomly generated gladiator with a single life that ends in either death or victory.
The game includes three fundamentally different difficulty modes and a detailed Sandbox Mode that lets you tailor the experience to your preferences. The Blood and Sand update earlier in 2025 added Steam Workshop support for mods, meaning players can create custom content and share challenge runs. The combat overhaul in that update added animation-based hit reactions that make strikes feel weighty and satisfying instead of just physics impulses.
The Road to Version 1.0
In the Anniversary Update notes, Lakiere gets personal about what this milestone means. “The game was in solo development for 7 years until Early Access launch, and has been in Early Access for 3 (with wonderful teammates for most of that!). I cut together a little gameplay clip to celebrate the 10 years! It’s not much, but it’s honest work.”
He’s clear that version 1.0 is coming but will take time because the team has ambitious plans. The promise is simple: “You believed in me and my studio, Aegic Entertainment, and throughout this Early Access, I want to make sure you got your money’s worth 10x over! I started something 10 years ago and I intend to finish it – gloriously.”
The Marketing Nightmare Nobody Talks About
In a 2022 interview, Lakiere was brutally honest about the hardest part of solo development. It wasn’t the programming, art, or design. It was marketing. “For most of the years of development, no one cared and I think this is easy to forget in hindsight. At one point there were three years of work behind me, and possibly three years of work in front of me, and I had no idea if anyone would even care about the game in the end.”
He spent the first four to five years experiencing more “0 upvotes, 1 downvote and fuck off and die with your shitty game” posts than viral hits. It took two years of almost daily marketing work to achieve 6,000 to 7,000 wishlists on Steam. Then one day before launch, he added 5,000 wishlists in a single day. The persistence paid off, but most developers would have quit long before that moment.
Why This Game Matters
We Who Are About to Die represents everything indie games should be – risky, exploratory, and uncompromising in vision. Lakiere set out to create the most complex solo developed game ever, and while that’s a bold claim, he’s certainly delivered something no AAA studio would ever greenlight. A physics-based gladiator combat simulator with a brutal learning curve and roguelite permadeath? Publishers would laugh you out of the room.
But it exists. It has a dedicated community. It’s been in active development for a decade. And it’s still getting better with each update. The Anniversary Update is currently 30 percent off on Steam, making it the perfect time for new players to jump in and experience what 10 years of passion can create.
FAQs
What is We Who Are About to Die?
It’s a physics-based gladiator roguelite RPG developed almost entirely by solo creator Jordy Lakiere. The game features directional combat inspired by Mount and Blade and Exanima, active ragdolls, and deep career management systems.
When did the Anniversary Update release?
The Anniversary Update (version 0.85) launched on November 14, 2025, marking three years in Early Access and 10 years of total development. The game is currently 30 percent off on Steam to celebrate.
What’s new in the Anniversary Update?
The update features a complete AI overhaul written from scratch, new elite enemies, character traits, items, UI improvements, better gamepad support, performance optimizations, and countless bug fixes accumulated over three years of player feedback.
Is the game difficult?
Extremely. The physics-based combat has a massive learning curve and requires practice and patience. The developer openly admits it will kick most players’ asses for a while before things start to click. Multiple difficulty modes and Sandbox options help tailor the experience.
When will version 1.0 release?
No specific date has been announced. Developer Jordy Lakiere states the team has ambitious plans for 1.0 and it will take time, but promises it will be the best version they can deliver.
How much does We Who Are About to Die cost?
The base price is around $20 USD on Steam. With the Anniversary Update celebration, it’s currently 30 percent off. The game has been in Early Access since November 2022.
Does the game have mod support?
Yes. The Blood and Sand update earlier in 2025 added Steam Workshop support, allowing players to create and share mods, custom challenges, and unique content.
Conclusion
We Who Are About to Die’s Anniversary Update is more than just a patch – it’s proof that dedication, transparency, and refusing to compromise your vision can create something special in the indie space. Jordy Lakiere spent 10 years building a gladiator combat simulator that no publisher would fund and no studio would greenlight, and he’s still not done. The complete AI overhaul shows he’s not just maintaining the game – he’s actively improving fundamental systems three years into Early Access. For anyone tired of safe, focus-tested AAA releases, this is what happens when one determined developer says “I’m going to make the game I want to play” and actually follows through. The learning curve is brutal, the combat is unforgiving, and you’ll die a lot. But if you stick with it, you’re experiencing something genuinely unique. And that’s what indie games are supposed to be about.