Rivals of Aether

Genre: Fighting Game / Platformer

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local, Online)

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Review:

Rivals of Aether is a game that, much like Super Smash Bros., combines the Fighting Game and Platformer genres, with players taking the role of one of a group of anthropomorphic animals with elemental powers (as well as guest characters Ori and Shovel Knight). This game was originally released on Xbox One and PC in 2017 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020.

The visuals here are delightfully retro-styled pixel art with some good animation that has a lot of personality, and are combined with a fantastic chiptune soundtrack. Combined, they make for a presentation that has a real great feel of nostalgia to it, even though there’s nothing actually old about it.

As for the gameplay, I wasn’t just making a vague comparison when I said this game was a lot like Smash Bros. The game has the same basic control setup, even using Super Smash Bros. community terms like nair and teching to describe moves that work much the same in this game. There are a few key differences here though – this game trades Smash’s shield button for a parry move, and instead of Smash’s “smash” attacks, this game uses a second “power attack” button. Also, beyond how the moves work, this game’s characters tend to have elemental attacks that change up the environment in some way or another – one character builds block walls, another one creates horizontal breezes that make his movements faster, and others hinder opponents by setting the floor on fire or covering it with ice. These environmental factors make for an added factor that gives this game some much-needed nuance.

Having said that, I still feel like the combat in this game is both more shallow and more difficult than Smash, and I can’t quite put my finger on what’s giving me such difficulty with it. Perhaps it’s because I’m so used to Smash that my muscle memory is betraying me, but something in the movement or timing here feels alternately stiff and overly-loose, and edge-guarding seeming to only get in a few extra hits before they get back to the stage. Again, this may just be because I’m not used to this game yet, but something about it just feels off to me.

However, what is not just my own personal sensibilities is that this game is on the same platform that has Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and that’s stiff competition, especially when this game’s fourteen characters and fifteen stages compare to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s 70+ characters and 100+ stages, and it’s a lack of variety made more stark by these stages largely being comparable in terms of size and layout. Granted, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a full-priced $60 game, but at $30 I would hope that Rivals of Aether would have a little bit more to offer.

Still, for players who love Super Smash Bros. who are looking for something slightly different, Rivals of Aether may provide something worthwhile for them to try. It’s just a bit hard to recommend this game when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate offers a similar style of gameplay that I would argue is deeper, has a lot more variety, and is filled to the brim with content.

tl;dr – Rivals of Aether is a game that combines Fighting games with Platformers in a stlye very much like Super Smash Bros. So much so, in fact, that it’s hard not to compare the two, and that’s a comparison where Rivals comes up very, very short. Still, players looking for something like Smash but a little different may find Rivals of Aether to be worth a look

Grade: B-

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