Rivals of Aether

Rivals of Aether for XONE and PC is a retro 2D fighting title with platformer elements. The game is created by Dan Fornace, an independent developer and former Microsoft employee who worked on such titles as Trials Evolution, Mark of the Ninja, Joe Danger 2: The Movie, Dust: An Elysian Tail, and Ori and the Blind Forest.

Plot

The action takes place in a fantasy world of Aether in which each civilisation can manipulate the elements of Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. The player takes control of one of the races and, by fighting, tries to unravel the mystery about the roots of the conflict that devours Aether.

Mechanics

The mechanics of Rivals of Aether draw inspiration from the Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series and combine elements of old-school 2D fighting games and classic platformers. Gameplay consists in fighting battles on diverse, two-dimensional arenas. However, these are not flat all the way – they feature loads of different platforms, like walls, roofs, tree branches. You can use them during combat by jumping from one ledge to another, just like in classic platformers. The characters available are immensely interesting – representing Aether’s races, they are crosses between different animal species. Apart from basic abilities and attacks, each possesses three powerful offensive skills that draw on one of the elements.

Game modes

The production by Dan Fornace offers a number of diversified game modes for single and multiplayer. In the Story Mode, you combat lots of AI-controlled enemies and in the meantime unfold Aether’s story and mysteries. In the Abyss mode, alone or with friends, you need to fend off waves of opponents and try to survive for as long as possible. In the Versus mode, available for local and Internet clashes, you combat other players in 1v1 or 2v2 modes.

Technical aspects

Released on XONE and PC, Rivals of Aether utilises old-school, 2D graphics inspired by 16-bit computers and consoles hits. The pixelled visuals are pleasant and provide extremely dynamic and smooth animation.

Last updated on 22 August 2016