This month’s dev update features our 9th Rival revealed for the launch roster, more news from Evo 2024, plus an update on what we checked off from our roadmap this month. Read on for details:


In case you missed it, last weekend Aether Studios went to Evo 2024[www.evo.gg] (the largest and longest-running fighting game tournament in the world) where we showed off the latest build of Rivals 2.

We were incredibly excited to have the stage Friday to reveal our 9th Rival in the roster - Orcane! Orcane returns with his slippery and all around adorable gameplay, plus some new tricks like teleporting with his opponents through his puddle. Check out his reveal trailer if you haven’t yet:

We also created a moveset breakdown that goes through every one of his attacks for a thorough look at how he plays. Check out that Orcane Moveset Breakdown video here.


Our other big Evo announcement was that all future characters in Rivals 2 after launch will be FREE updates to the game. No paid character DLCs or grinding required.

We know the typical lifeblood of a fighting game comes from character releases as the game grows, so our plan is to make them unlocked and playable for everyone as soon as they’re available. As players this is the type of model we’d like to see, and we hope it catches on and works out for everyone. We have plans for tons of characters after launch and can’t wait to expand the roster. If you want to support us over the long haul we’ll have cosmetics to help sustain the game, but we'll make sure you won’t be able to buy a competitive edge.

Today is our next Backer Beta, taking place from July 26th at 8am PT - July 28th at 11:59pm PT. Here’s what’s included in this beta from our roadmap, plus a few bonus items that snuck in:

• Orcane Now Available
  
  • You can now play as Orcane!. We’d love your feedback on our latest Rival. Help us out by sharing any bugs you find[discord.gg] and as well as giving us your suggestions[rivals-2-july-beta-feedback.nolt.io]!
• Matchmaking Logic Added
  
  • This wasn’t on the roadmap, but we were able to add in an early version of matchmaking as a bonus feature to our 1v1 and Doubles queues with the goal of improving the fairness of the games you’ll find. We know upfront this will need some tweaking, so let us know your feedback[rivals-2-july-beta-feedback.nolt.io] about your matchmaking experience and queue times this weekend.
• More Player Inventory Testing
  
  • Character specific spawn platforms have been added! During this beta all of the base character platforms will be available for testing. Swap them out on any character and let us know if you run into any bugs[discord.gg]. In the future these nine base platforms will be unlockable via character progression.
• More Beta Coin Shop Items Added
  
  You can unlock these with the coins you earn through playing and keep them post-launch! All six items currently in the coin shop will return in August’s backer beta, so don’t fret if you can’t get them all this weekend.

• Region Preferences Added
  
  • You can now set a region preference for where the server will be located in your lobbies. This overrides how the game automatically tries to calculate and choose the best server between all players in your lobby.
• Camera Tools
  
  • Another bonus feature going in this beta is our new CAMERA TOOLZ. This is something we’ve been developing behind the scenes to help make our beautiful character reveal trailers, and this month it’s far enough along to let creators play with it. Set up cameras and keyframes in your replays to export amazing footage and bring your visuals to the next level.
  Let us know what else you’d like to see from this tool[rivals-2-july-beta-feedback.nolt.io]! Please keep in mind the version available during this beta is a very early version.

One last thing to add regarding our roadmap - we originally intended to test emotes this month for the first time, but unfortunately this feature is not quite ready. We’ll be delaying this to the August beta. Don’t forget to give us your feedback and suggestions[rivals-2-july-beta-feedback.nolt.io] on all the new changes this month.

We’ve got one more beta planned to close out the summer after this one ends. Don’t worry we know that our current roadmap ends in August, so expect more news and an expansion on what to look forward to as we get closer. We hope you all enjoy the latest beta this weekend.

If you’re looking for official Rivals events next month make sure to tune in for Rivals 2 at Supernova[www.start.gg], and stop by and say “hi” if you’ll be at PAX West[west.paxsite.com] in Seattle!