and's Sketchbook

2025-11-09

Exurbia Bona

A pink rabbitoid creature stands atop a large purple mushroom cap. It over looks a rolling landscape of blue grass, purple mushrooms, and yellow fungal growths. A small bug crawls up the cap and another bug flies in the distance. — Exurbia Bona's Box Art (raw)

Exurbia Bona was an obscure Metriodvania game for PC. Released in the late 90s, Exurbia Bona saw modest success for a unknown three-person studio. It was adored for it's rabbit-like main character "Bona". It'd go on to have a cult following into the 2000s and 2010s.

A drawing of a screenshot of Exurbia Bona. The world of Exurbia Bona is tiled based with a cool palette. The tiles of dirt have threads of purple mycelium threading through them. The main character, Bona a pink rabbitoid creature, stands atop a short hill. A large red bug scuttles across the ground at the base of the hill. Pink mushrooms and blue grass grow from the ground. In the distance hills and large mushroom trees can be seen under a starry night. The UI of the game includes 3 hearts and a small pink 'power bar'. — A screenshot of Zone One in Exurbia Bona. (raw)

The game tasked you with locating your friend who's ship went dark on the world of Fengala. A unique setting where fungal growths have taken over the landscape. The only animals roaming these lands is large insectoid creatures. Most creatures of Fengala are actually dosile, the game tasking the player with befriending various insects each with a unique befriending requirement. Once befriended, the player is granted temporary power ups allows them to reach new areas.

A drawing of a schreenshot of Exurbia Bona. It shows Bona fighting a large crab-like beast inside a fungal cave. Bona ground pounds the top of it head causing the sprite to flash with a white box. — A screenshot of a boss battle. (raw)

It's only moments of combat are large hostile creature that serve as boss battles. Some folks felt the boss battles detracted from the exploration, while others lamented how easy they were. Most fans, however, agree that each boss provides a unique encounter with excellent sprite work.

Years after the games release, the developer studio was in a short lived controversy. Old unused sprites were found by people looking to mod the game. These files were explicit in nature. Given the game's "cozy" aesthetic, it shocked many people especially parents. The developers of Exurbia Bona put out a breif response to the controversy:

It's true, Exurbia Bona was original going to be a more adult oritned game. Originally it was going to be called Exurbia Rope Bunny. We had plans to make a tender exploration game about BDSM. However, we decided for the sake of running a studio, that the masses were not ready for such a project. It appears that some artifacts of our early development had accidently been left in. For that, we appologize.

The studio went one to make several other releases before disovling as the 3D and console era begain. Just under three decades later, the team would come back together and release their original idea: Exurbia Rope Bunny. It went on to become a renouned erotic game.