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Rivals of Aether: Definitive Edition fights on PC and Switch next week

The elemental platform fighter has been going strong for years and is now getting a Definitive Edition, which is set to release next week.

Ozzie Mejia

September 15, 2020 5:20 PM

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We certainly like our Super Smash Bros. here at Shacknews. And if the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate netcode has given us a new appreciation for, it's Smash Bros.-adjacent games. So on top of playing Brawlhalla, we've also kept an eye on another Smash-adjacent effort, Rivals of Aether. And if you haven't tried Rivals of Aether, there's going to be no better time to give it a shot, because the Definitive Edition is set to come out next week.

As the name might imply, the Definitive Edition for Rivals of Aether will come with all of the game's characters, stages, and game modes unlocked. This includes every character, which means you'll also get guest fighters Shovel Knight and Ori & Sein. All of the previously-featured game modes will be available to play along with a new one called Tetherball, which is exactly what it sounds like, pitting two players against one another in a game of beach tetherball.

Plus, the game will feature an improved netcode, which will allow for up to four players to jump into free-for-all or 2v2 sessions. Here's what developer Dan Fornace had to say about that in a Medium post:

We came across the programmer YellowAfterlife and it was a match made in heaven. YAL was already making great strides doing netcode related work in other Game Maker games such as an online multiplayer version of Nuclear Throne. The moment we began bringing Rivals over to Game Maker Studio 2, we also began converting our netcode away from Code Mystics' system and toward YAL's netcode framework.

The conversion was a long process. We had a lot of improvements that we wanted to make now that we had more control over the system. We increased our player limit from two to four players after hearing many requests throughout development. We also improved our matchmaking by adding region filtering and better ranked searching after similar complaints throughout development.

For the uninitiated, Rivals of Aether is a platform fighter set in a world where warring civilizations do battle with the power of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. You know, kinda like this. It's a game that's been praised for its low barrier of entry, but it's also a game with a high skill level that has led to the formation of several competitive esports circuits.

Rivals of Aether will come to Nintendo Switch on Thursday, September 24. It will also release on PC and feature Steam Workshop support. If you already own the base game on Steam, you'll upgrade to the Definitive Edition at no extra charge. So if you don't want to pay the $29.99 for the Definitive Edition, grab the base game from Steam while you can. You can learn more about the Definitive Edition on the Rivals of Aether website.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?