Rivals of Aether is the best
damn fighting game you can spend money on right now.
I say this as someone who is absolutely
terrible at fighting games. I know I'll never even remotely approach
great levels of play, I routinely get stomped online, and advanced
combos and techniques are a mere pipe dream for me. And despite all
that, it's so good, you guys. It's never going to be the game I'll
spend the most hours on. It's never going to be a scene I
passionately follow. And yet, I see the genius in it, the passion of
the creator and community, and my honest assessment is that if you're
looking for a new fighter, this is
the one you should be at the very least be paying attention to.
So,
uh, what is it?
Good question! Rivals is a fighting game unquestionably inspired by
Super Smash Brothers. If know anything about it, you'll know how this
game works. Damage percentage goes up, and you try to knock your
opponent off the stage. It's stuff that's been done before, but don't
think it's just a clone. It's merely using the framework of Smash,
nothing more.
The art style, as you can see, is pixel art, a hallmark of the indie
scene. It as of now contains 8 characters, a kickass soundtrack, and
a small but dedicated community. This is definitely an indie fighting
game.
It's
sooooo fun
I'm just gonna cut to the chase. Rivals is a ton of competitive,
fluid, satisfying fun. Again, it plays very much like Smash Bros.,
but with some key differences. Rivals of Aether makes it much easier
to pull combos off, so chaining attacks is much easier. There are no
shields, but rather a parry move. Dodging isn't as effective, but
recovery is made a bit easier since every character can wall cling.
What I'm getting at here is that it's a much faster, more fluid, and
very, very exciting. In an average match you'll be parrying, combing,
and edge guarding at a frantic rate that I find fantastic. If you
find Smash Bros. too slow, you'll be right at home here.
The stages are much appreciated as well. Most fighting games either
have flat stages or wildly unbalanced stages. Rivals has the
unbalanced stages for party fun, but you can also turn basic mode on
and remove the crazy stage hazards, and leave only basic platforms
for serious fighting. It's a great addition, and much better than
nothing but flat stages coughforglorycough.
And as of right now, it's super easy to understand. Only 8 characters
sounds limited, but honestly it's a great boon. You don't have to
learn crazy amounts of matchups and learn 50 characters, just the 8.
This makes the game click a lot faster, which lowers the barrier of
at least understanding.
Finally, at least on the gameplay front, the game's got a lot of
really unique ideas I haven't seen anywhere else. Zetterburn can get
extra launching power by setting you on fire. Forsburn can gain a
strong move by inhaling smokescreens. Orcane has puddles he can
detonate or teleport to. Wrastor can't perform smash attacks on the
ground. Every character has something unique about them, and that
gives this game a very nice style and identity. It's quite impressive
how balanced this game is as well. Even characters considered lower
tier by the community can still be very competetive. I'm not even
going to get into the advanced stuff, mainly because that's all
really over my head. I'm not very good at the game. But I see all
this, and absolutely love it.
Basically, it's really F-ing fun.
It's not all gameplay
Rivals of Aether isn't all great gameplay, however. I also
want to draw attention to the visuals and music, because those are
excellently done. The animations are very well done, fluid and
appealing. They're also not flashy, fast, and don't hold your
attention, the best kind for a fighting game. Sure, flashy visuals
are nice to watch, but they also distract from actually, y'know,
playing the game. Basic stuff, maybe, but I see so many fighting
games stumble here, so it's a nice thing to have.
The backgrounds also follow this mantra. While they are nice to look
at if you stand still, they don't really move and again, don't
distract from the gameplay. (I AM LOOKING SQUARELY AT YOU, SMASH. WHY
WOULD YOU HAVE CRAZY MOVING BACKROUNDS IN YOUR SERIOUS COMPETETIVE
MODE ONLINE)
In
all seriousness...
Ok, but for real, I don't want to compare this game to Smash Bros.
much. I'm only doing so because it's a near universal example
everyone will understand and it's a great jumping off point. But I
want the comparisons to stop there, because it doesn't do this game
justice. It is very much it's own thing, and if you play it for even
a few minutes, it feels nothing like Smash.
I don't want this game to forever be “That indie smash title”
because it's really not. It deserves to be so much more. And the
community! How could I forget about the community! It's full of nice,
passionate people who glady assist newcomers, pitch ideas, and turn
this game into a real treat to discuss. It's a fun, fast, beautiful,
competitive, community driven, amazing fighting game.
And it's not even officially out.
The game is still in early access,
with so much more to come. I could literally go on for ages about the
current game, how it came about, what it could become, and how you
should all be running (er, clicking/button mashing) over to Steam/Xbox One and downloading it
right now. But really, there's one
big fact that excites me more than anything else.
I love the style of Smash Bros. I
love the percentages and how you don't drain a life bar. But to me,
the community and competitive aspects always felt like they managed
in spite of how
Nintendo handles it. Rivals of Aether feels
like a game that will manage with the help of
the developer. And that single fact is truly what makes me run out
and shout about this game, more than anything else.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go work on my Orcane game.
#OrcaneForBestRival
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