Rivals of Aether 2 soars past its fighting game predecessor on launch day

You’d be forgiven if you’d never heard of the original Rivals of Aether – it was an excellent but niche Smash Bros-style fighting game with a modest yet dedicated audience. However, thanks to its slick new look and the clout of a well-known livestreamer, there’s a better chance of you hearing about Rivals of Aether 2. The long-awaited sequel has just dropped, and already it’s doing brilliantly on the Steam charts with over three times more players than its predecessor ever racked up on the platform.

Despite now having glorious 3D models of its Pokémon-esque brawlers, Rivals of Aether 2 sticks to its Smash roots with 2D action, damage calculated in percentages, platforms, aerials, and ledge grabs. The fighting game is launching with a roster of ten characters – some are returning from the original with fresh designs, while others are completely new.

Developer Aether Studios says it will constantly be adding more fighters over time and that all new additions will be totally free.

The game is launching with PvP modes to begin with, and you can take on opponents online or locally thanks to split-screen. You can practice your skills against AI-controlled opponents too, should you wish. However, there are plans for story content to arrive in the game according to its post-launch roadmap.

With arguably its biggest challenger on Steam, MultiVersus, suffering a major slump right now, it’s a very good time to be launching. It’s also getting a lot of support from Ludwig Ahgren, one of the biggest livestreamers and content creators on YouTube and a stalwart of the fighting game community. Rivals of Aether 2 is the first videogame being published by Offbrand Games, a spinoff of the Offbrand company Ahgren founded in 2022.

So, just how strong a start has Rivals of Aether 2 enjoyed? At the time of writing, it has peaked at over 10,700 concurrent players on Steam and there’s still potential for that number to climb higher. For perspective that’s more than three times higher than the all-time peak player count achieved by the first Rivals of Aether, and is around five times higher than the current daily player count of MultiVerses. Impressive stuff.

It’s doing decently on the user reviews front too, with 85% of 148 Steam players rating it positively.

Rivals of Aether 2 is out now on Steam and is 10% off until Wednesday, November 6. If you want to pick it up or simply learn more about the game, head over to its store page here.

For more great PvP experiences, head over to our rundown of the best multiplayer games. Alternatively, take a look at what else if coming your way for the remainder of 2024 and beyond in our list of upcoming PC games.

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