Rivals of Aether 2 came out fairly recently and has taken the competitive scene by storm, and it has captured the interest by many pro Super Smash Bros players; from both the Melee and Ultimate fanbase. So it makes you ask the question "Is Rivals of Aether 2 the spiritual successor to Melee we have been waiting for?" Lets discuss it.
About the Game
RoA2 is a Platform fighter heavily inspired by both Super Smash Bros Melee and Ultimate. The matches are mainly played in a 1 versus 1 much like a traditional 2d fighter, but you can play with up to 4 people (mainly used for 2 versus 2 matches).
Compared to Smash there are no items or stage hazards for chaotic and party like options, as the developers have openly stated that they are mostly aiming for the more niche and competitive side with their game. What makes RoA2 stand out compared to its rival though, is a much deeper move pool and play style for each character.
I'll presume most of the readers are already well versed in Smash controls (as in regular attacks, air attacks, specials, shield grab etc.), but on top of that what RoA2 adds is a ledge special, stand up special and grab special. It also adds an easier to perform wave dash similar to the one in Melee, which makes it more approachable to learn for newer players. With all of these moves in mind, there wont be two players that fully play the same way with the same character, so it makes the matches more invigorating, action filled and interesting to follow.
The game isn't perfect though. It is now in its 1.0 release, for single player content you really only have an arcade mode, which is fun in of itself, however you're buying this game mainly for the competitive scene and roll back net code. And oh boy is the competitive scene brutal for any average joe such as myself!
Currently there is a ranked match and a casual mode. In ranked the majority of players end up in the rank silver and, let met tell you, those players are still much better than the average player, and will beat you to a pulp. To be fair this is true in most competitive fighters out there, it is meant to be hard to learn, and you will keep on loosing until you start to really become good at it. However, even in casual mode it's gonna be normal to see players of much higher skill ceiling than in general. It makes it feel almost impossible for a shmuck like me to even just sit down and enjoy a few rounds. RoA2 does still have a pick up and play feeling to it though, but overall (in most people experience) it's gonna be more like "pick up and get dunked on."
If you manage to stick with it though, and accept the huge. . . HUUUUUUGE amount of losses, you will start to gain a full appreciation for the deep mechanics, and how much fun it is to fully learn to control your character, and what follow ups and counter combos you can start. The most fun I have had with the game is to play with a training buddy (highly recommended), and even though he smashed me to pieces with his Loxodont for 40 rounds straight, it was still a fun time, and slowly I started to become better and better at it. I just wish there was a better tutorial in game, even in the games link to its steam community page that explains everything a bit clearer. Thankfully the community has done an amazing job at making it easy to understand tutorials for not only characters, but the general controls and movement. At the moment of writing this article there are in total 10 playable characters.
Lastly I want to to talk about that in game store.
RoA2 is a game made by a small team with a lot of passion and dedication for platform fighters that want to host tournaments and actively support the game for a long period of time (much like they did for Rivals of Aether 1). To make up for the fact that the game only costs 19.99 euros, and all future game updates + characters are gonna be free, the in game store has skins, emotes, and icons that you can spend real money on instead. However, you can earn all the currencies at a fairly good pace by just playing, and buy most of the skins without having to spend any extra money. The extra money is there if you want to support the devs, and the game more for the future.
So now we come back to the question; is the game a good spiritual successor to Melee?
In my humblest of own opinions I would say yes. It takes all the good ideas from both Melee and Ultimate, and combines them into one really satisfying but hard to learn platform fighter. The future also looks fairly bright with the promise of 4 new characters in 2025, with more stages, more skins, more events, and even a story mode that will most likely be timed with the console release of the game. I really hope that the dev team succeeds with their goals, as the characters and lore of the game is really cool, and hopefully they deliver on it once the story mode comes out! (The game also has a really cool soundtrack!)
I can say as a more casual fan of fighters in general, and fan of platform fighters in particular, I enjoy Rivals of Aether 2 a lot, and can recommend it fully for anyone wanting to sit down and learn a new fighter. Just keep in mind that you will get crushed, so probably bring a training buddy with you too!
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