Rivals of Aether II

This review is not targeted towards the gameplay of RoA2 (ie. I will not delve into floorhugging discussions / character discussions). Instead, I'm targeting the rest of the game since it's a patched game and things will be always subject to change as times goes on. TLDR: - Game is in an okay spot, I would suggest to purchase the game when it's on sale. - Gameplay is sufficient IMO for those who are looking for a platform fighter similar to smash without the thought of L-Cancelling or for those waiting for Brawlback. (This has it's own long discussion that I don't really care for). - Cheese is the name of the game. - Casual game modes exists, but due to the focus on the competitive playerbase, those game modes are not easily as accessible for all players across all regions. Good: - Character kits are pretty unique from each other. Clairen has a tipper that stuns you for a couple of frames, Etalus has a freezing mechanic and slides when there's ice on the stage, etc. - Skins that are provided as an optional purchase for both characters and stages. - No DLC for new characters - R2 tech skill is not as strenuous on the hands (Wavedashing, no L-Cancelling, etc.) - With the release of the casual mode, the game is sufficient enough for casual players to get into. Bad: - Servers can be extremely bad at times which can result in frustrating gameplay for either player & sometimes both players due to rollback. This can be somewhat circumvented by adjusting network settings, but it's not guaranteed. For most players, anything below 55 ping is preferred. - Some decisions made by the devs such as not enforcing P2P and instead providing a different solution via "Toggle Host Server" seems to not be received well by the community. There have been mentions that despite two players being in the same state, there was still rollback being experienced. - Another networking decision that is still very questionable is the use of SnapNET. No active & popular games utilize that framework. - New player experience is extremely rough. This is coming from someone who doesn't have much plat fighter experience. You will get knowledge-checked, there will be frustrating playstyles / characters, but with enough time committed to the game and own personal mindset, the game does open up a lot. Recent community efforts has helped with this even more by making character data publicly available (Check dragdown wiki). - UI is still wonky even after a year later. Some bugs include replays sometimes exiting and a black screen when alt-tabbing when the match ends. - Now one of the biggest things that's a gripe for me personally is the optimization factor. There has been many efforts made by people in the community (namely zaqk), to help the devs with making the game playable on lower end systems. However, with each patch there have been mentions of people having poor performance. I personally have not dealt with any of this. What I will question is the developer's decision to just hire an UE5 optimization engineer on a contract to help out with frame issues. After playing a different game made in UE5 (Far Far West) being steam deck verified with much more going on, the optimization in RoA2 can be done better. Conclusion: Regardless, of all the bullets I've added under bad, the game is extremely enjoyable offline in a competitive environment. Due to the lack of the playerbase, the casual game modes (casual maps w/ items, FFA, doubles, etc.) are pretty dead. With the current state of how this game is, I would suggest to purchase the game on sale. If a number of those bullet points were addressed specifically server stability, UI fixes, and optimization, then the game would be worth $30.