Rivals of Aether II

I do think there are people that will absolutely love this game, but only under very specific circumstances. The good: I have put a tremendous amount of hours into this game, and did have some good time playing it, especially at first, but I would also be lying if I said that it was overall a happy experience for me. I'll probably keep playing on and off, but that is more because it's so addicting than because I'm genuinely happy with the time spent on it. The engine is incredible if you have any experience with plat fighters. Moving around feels buttery smooth, there is movement tech galore, and the game is generally more forgiving in some key ways than melee. The character designs are pretty creative, although not always in ways that ultimately succeed IMO. They are, however, generally balanced from a competitive standpoint, so if you're looking for a competitive game to pick up that has a mostly even playing field on paper, this fits the bill. There is a dedicated competitive community, although small. I think that the people who like this game (outside of hardcore genre enthusiasts) are mostly going to be people that have friends to grind with, because there isn't really any other approach to playing this game, even in the more "casual" game modes. I will say that the community is pretty cliquey in general, but I think that's more a byproduct of the dedicated required and the amount of people trying than anything else. It's a very hype game to watch, if you are invested enough to understand what's going on. The bad: The most important factor in me not recommending it is that I feel that almost every character matchup has egregiously obnoxious aspects of playing it. This is something I have seen other people mention frequently across the spectrum of skill levels. Pretty much all of these obnoxious elements do have counterplay, but that counterplay is frequently not fun or intuitive to implement, in my experience. I feel pretty comfortable saying that multiple characters could use reworks to address why they are generally annoying to play against, not just moving some numbers and hitboxes around. While I understand that is generally difficult to do, the current direction has been to steadily buff/nerf characters without complete reworks, which has helped but not really addressed the core issues for a lot of people, myself included. The other issues I can think of all flow from the problems stated above, and generally boil down to the new player experience being brutal unless you have someone to guide you along and a lot of hours to dedicate. You have to bring a competitive mindset, because people will camp you, taunt you, cheese you, etc. in literally any game mode, and do it more if they notice it annoys you. TLDR: Game is sweaty and niche. Only pick up if you're a genre enthusiast and want a game to dedicate your life to, or if you have a friend (preferably multiple) to play with. Even if you meet all those criteria, be prepared to deal with a lot of general saltiness over game mechanics and balance decisions, sometimes warranted. If you can get over those hurdles, there is actually a lot to like here.

way better than ultimate competitively more fun than melee for me

Please give this game love.

Best character design in the buisness. Each character has such interesting and unique kits. Any one of these characters would be a standout in any other fighter. It like an album of where every song is amazing.

Literally one of if not the best Smash-like game on the market. Characters have unique and fun gimmicks, and not even the very bottom of the tiers is anywhere close to being unplayable. This game does need some time to grow, and I hope it still gets that chance despite the kvetching...

worth full price and on-sale is a steal