Come on, fellow refugees from Super Smash Bros. and the Multiverse, a new platform fighter has arrived on Steam next October. Aether Enemy 2 After years of waiting, it’s finally ready to play. It’s hard to find a good platform fighter these days, and I’m happy to announce that this game is an absolute standout.
You can feel the love for the game being developed by Aether Studios, the team that made a name for itself with the original Rivals of Aether thanks to its solid balance and popular business model. I, like everyone else, wasted a lot of time in the first game. Going into this sequel with a free demo only heightened all my excitement. I’ve wasted an entire night doing this and it’s incredibly disgusting.
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But what are its benefits? It felt tight, very tight. Playing against any of the available brawlers provides a potent, responsive experience that requires experimentation. You don’t need to be some older Melee player to jump right in, which is one of the main qualities of the genre. After playing the game for 15 minutes, I felt the urge to jump right into some head-to-head matches. Given the quality of the first game, a standard was set, and seeing it match up first hand was the first of many lovely nods to the pre-launch hype I had.
It’s really colorful. It will glow from your screen. It’s hard to compete with games like Smash and Brawlhalla and their star-studded casts, but this set of original characters managed to appeal to my inner child. Just look at Krag, the rude rock beetle, and tell me you don’t like it. Of course, lycanthropes aren’t for everyone, but the characters in Rivels 2 are brimming with love and care. It’s easier to care about a game when you can see at a glance how much work its developers have put into it.
With the full game set to launch later this year, one benefit of this demo is that it gives a sense of competition. It was a fulfilling experience. This is essentially an early version. So the community is vibrant and they have a deep understanding of how everything works and access to the cast. I can’t stress enough how intoxicating the energy of a fighting game release is. It’s great to be able to quickly find a whole community of like-minded players of your skill level to find matches.
Some people will see this and assume it’s a Smash clone, which I get. But beyond just looks, there are a few new changes that make this game stand out from its biggest competition. Pummel Specials, Get Up Specials, and Ledge Specials may not sound like much, but they add new layers of complexity to a game that rewards mastery. It’s a real joy to pick up a fighter and figure things out, understand what your main attacks are, how each character rides on each other’s moves.
In an era where platform fighting games seem like a tough sell for big publishers (Riot canceled parts of the platform fighting game), Revenge of Aether 2 is a beautiful game made by a team dedicated to the genre. Have a clear idea of what the game is good at. I’m not going to sit here and ask you to commit your time all week, but download the demo and join right away. Give multiplayer a try and interest a friend or two. This is a game with serious charm that will capture your heart. It did it for me! Even as I write this, I’m eager to get back to it, which is almost a true sign of a video gem.
