Active Matter EA Review — Military Tactics vs. Anomalies

Active Matter Early Access Review — Quantum Horror Meets Extraction Grind

Active Matter doesn’t coddle you. You’re trapped in a looping nightmare—an operative thrown again and again into quantum-unstable zones to harvest the namesake “active matter.” In this Active Matter review, you’ll discover that it’s an extraction shooter with a rare mood: grounded military kit rubbing against mind-bending anomalies, where the map itself can be as lethal as any enemy squad.

Prefer survival-crafting too? Read our related coverage: ASKA review in Early Access.

Official Trailer

Active Matter

Release: September 9, 2025 (Early Access via Gaijin Store); 1.0 planned 2026

Genre: Action, Massively Multiplayer, Sci-Fi, Extraction Shooter

Developer / Publisher: Matter Team / Gaijin Network Ltd

Platforms: PC — Gaijin Store (buy), Steam (wishlist); Planned: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

Active Matter Gameplay — Core Loop: High Tension, Higher Weird

Runs mix PvPvE infiltration, scavenging, and frantic exfiltration. The twist is the space itself—gravity hiccups, fractured geometry, and corruption that turns creatures (and plans) inside out. That unpredictability keeps pressure high and opens up genuine tactics: clever squads weaponize anomalies; careless ones get mulched by them. A broad toolset—firearms and melee, drones, even vehicles—means you’re rarely short of options, only time.

Active Matter review: Early Access Reality Check

Ambition shows—and so do the seams. Matchmaking can be flaky (especially for reliable grouping), balance is still in flux, and you’ll bump into the usual visual/technical gremlins. None of it kills the fun outright, but it occasionally interrupts the momentum the game otherwise builds so well. In this Active Matter review build, those bumps show up a few times per session.

Active Matter Monetization Watch

With Gaijin publishing, players are understandably alert to how monetization lands. The early edition model is already in play; the long-term structure will need to earn trust. It’s the one factor most likely to shape the community’s staying power.

Active Matter Verdict

Score: 7.5/10. In our Active Matter review, the game is a compelling prototype of something special: extraction built on genuine environmental threat and a strong military-meets-cosmic-dread identity. If the team sands down the technical roughness and dials balance, it could become a standout of the genre. Right now, you’re buying into promise over polish—but the promise is big.

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