It works fine as a vim emulation layer, but as a full replacement for vim it does no better than other vim emulations, like IdeaVim. For example, in vim I can hit : to open command line mode followed by ctrl + f to open a mini buffer for ex commands that can be manipulated like any other vim buffer. I use this feature all the time in vim and it isn't available in any of the vim emulation software I've tried. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of ways to accomplish the same goal in emacs, not disputing that. But the idea that evil mode can simply replace vim and all of its built in functionality? Just not true, at least not currently.