Hey there! It’s been a while since our last Rivals of Aether update, hasn’t it? We’re overall pretty happy with where the game is at, with 18 characters meticulously adjusted over the course of 10 years! We’re here today with a big update for the workshop community that has been creating non-stop since the feature was introduced. Today’s patch has a ton of requested features that should make the lives of Workshop creators AND players more fun and much easier to navigate - stage searching, thick platforms, disabling hitbox shaders and more! I expect to see a demake of Hyperborian Harbor on my desk this evening.

In addition to a long list of Workshop support additions, we have also fixed up a few characters with some unintended interactions from the base cast of the game. Check out everything as we dive in:


We’ve made some adjustments to our regional pricing to make the game more affordable. We currently use Steam’s default regional pricing already, but one of the things we did for Rivals II was make even further adjustments to certain regions to better reflect purchasing power in those countries. We’re porting those same calculations over to Rivals 1, and you’ll be able to see the new prices in your region reflected on the Steam store starting today.

Euros 28.99 > 24.99
Brazilian Reals 88.99 > 79.99
Australian Dollar 43.95 > 37.99
New Zealand Dollar 43.59 > 37.99
Polish zloty 138.99 > 105.06


In case you missed it in the return of our classic April 1st Direct, there’s a new game in the Aether universe! Led by our friend Giik and his team at Lepioid, with music by flashygoodness and RESOFORCE, this talented team took the helm and created a brand new adventure centered around microgames You can pick up the game for just $2.99 HERE, and if you do (or if you already own it), we have a special gift for you in Rivals of Aether! Añi is here as the latest crossover buddy to accompany players in their many adventures.

• Added a failsafe for projectiles that have a missing owner, causing a crash (ex. forsburn clones that fire the O-rune projectile and disappear).
  
• Added an Añi buddy for owners of Dreams of Aether!

• Bug Fix: Fixed bubbles popping vs. Clairen's plasma field at an unusually large range.

• Bomb bonk hitboxes no longer pass through fast-moving players in hitstun if the bomb is primed.
  
  • Passing through fast opponents is there to prevent a bonk from stopping a strong or lethal hit. If the bomb is primed, this could feel bad when you wanted it to interrupt that hit with an explosion.

• Neutral Special now has a hard cap of spins, 44 (the amount you get after absorbing 6 spirits).
  
  • This is to prevent an infinite in free-for-all and doubles where Hodan could be endlessly fed spirits from another Hodan while keeping opponents in place.

• The standard alt palettes now have much brighter jacket colors. Fashion, baybeeeee.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed Neutral Special notes falling off on attacks that don't cause hitstun, e.g. Ori Neutral Special taps.
  
  • This makes it more consistent with other lose-on-hurt effects like Ranno poison stacks.

• You can now search for stages in the same way you can search for characters. Hit Backspace (or Back/View on controllers) when on the stage select screen to type in a search term.
  
• You can now make platform articles "thick" by setting `solid` in them to `true`. Players will not be able to fall through or drop through these, similar to how Hyperborean Harbor's base platforms work in Rivals of Aether II.
  
• You can now set `uses_shader` in hitboxes and hit FX to false, disabling recoloring.
  
• Replays on workshop stages now properly apply rule overrides for disabling the timer.
  
• Players now have the variable `col_jumpthrough`, which stores the ID of the platform they're currently standing on (Note, this does not include solid blocks.).
  
• A sprite with duplicate files (like "idle_strip4.png" and "idle_strip5.png") will now unload the already-loaded file and inform you of the duplicate files.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed a crash that occurs when more than 12 player objects exist at the same time.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed a crash when running `user_event` in `init_shader` on the results screen while a base cast character won alongside a workshop character in doubles.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed crash when using `print` in a playtest NPC (or any character above certain player numbers for that matter).

• In workshop characters, `window_attack_pressed` is only set to `true` (triggering cancels and such) when `can_attack` is true, bringing them closer to base cast behavior.
  
  • Because of the above note, workshop characters can now buffer reversed Forward Tilts like base cast characters can.
• Workshop characters now properly react to being buried, flashbanged and crystalized (buried will use the file "buried" if found, otherwise using "hurtground".).
  
• The crystalized sprites now rely on the owner's small_sprites, not the victim's. This fixes unusually small crystals on some workshop characters.
  
• Hit FX now use image_alpha for drawing, meaning manually changing it in scripts now lets you make them transparent.
  
• Workshop characters now have the variables "dust_shade" and "hit_shade" that control which color slot dust FX and generic hit FX use.

• Draw scripts in players are now ordered like so: `other_pre_draw -> pre_draw -> regular drawing -> post_draw -> other_post_draw`
  
• `other_init.gml` now runs on playtest NPCs.
  
• `css_update.gml` now no longer runs if the player slot is inactive or loading.

• `will_die_from_kb(instance, power, angle, hitstun)`. This lets you simulate a single launch angle to see if it kills.
  
• `trigger_hit_shockwave(instance, disable_hitstop)`. This lets you manually trigger the event that runs on strong hits, spawning the VFX and checking if the hit is a guaranteed kill on the player (using their horizontal and vertical speeds), spawning the galaxy effect and increasing hitstop if it does.
  
• `set_kill_bg(x,y,type)`. This lets you manually trigger a galaxy effect just like a guaranteed kill does. the `type` lets you use different galaxies as well (normal, sylv-red, tetherball, etc).

• Added `event_user` as an alias for `user_event`.
  
• `set_hit_particle_sprite()` now has an optional argument that lets you toggle off recoloring for particle sprites. The formatting for that is `set_hit_particle_sprite(num, sprite, uses_shader)`.
  
• `get_color_profile_slot_r`/`g`/`b` now returns `-1` if the color slot is out of range, instead of crashing.
  
• `get_local_player()` now returns `noone` instead of `0` when offline.
  
• `spawn_hit_fx()` now skips sprite initialization if the hit fx type is set to `noone`.
  
• Fixed `get_state_name()` returning `INVALID_STATE` for buried, flashbanged and crystalized.

We're here in 2024, a full 10 years after Dan's first trailer for Rivals of Aether. I don't think anyone ever thought this game would carry on as long as it has. We're excited to present a new balance patch to kick off the second half of 2024!

We intend to catch up the Switch version of the game in the coming weeks. Updating the console can be tricky due to a number of reasons so a hard date is not guaranteed, but rest assured, we are working diligently to bring it up to date!

Without any further adieu, let's dive in:
Now that development on Rivals of Aether is slowing down, we have heard many new fans asking about skins. We have been releasing skins for events for years. Many are inaccessible now that there is not an active RCS running and others have been retired for a long time. We want these new players to be able to obtain these skins while celebrating the long-term players who got them when they were new.

Therefore we are introducing Skin Packs to Steam. There are nine new packs that contain a varying amount of skins at a deeply discounted price. If you own a skin through a Skin Pack instead of the original skin, then you will get a much less prestigious cardboard box icon on the Character Select Screen instead of the standard premium star icon. This way you can pick up packs for just the skins that you missed while still feeling like the veteran star that you are when using your original skins.

These skin packs are available as Steam DLC today and are even on sale for 30% off for launch! But if you are a completionist and still want your stars for any remaining Steam skins, we are leaving the individual Steam skins up until the end of July so you have one last chance to grab them.

Here are the 9 new Skin Packs that you can grab today:
ARCADE SKIN PACK

• Includes all Arcade skins originally created for summer events.
  
• Includes Arcade Clairen, Mollo, Maypul, Elliana, plus the Kraggling Buddy.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
  
• Some Arcade taunts are playable minigames!

CHAMPION SKIN PACK

• Pack includes all Champion Skins created since 2016 (16 total) excluding guest characters.
  
• Includes Champion Mollo, Clairen, Zetterburn, Forsburn, Pomme, Wrastor, Absa, Elliana, Olympia, Sylvanos, Maypul, Kragg, Hodan, Orcane, Etalus, and Ranno.
  
• The Champion skins for our two guest characters have been added to the game for all players, free of charge.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.

COMMUNITY SKIN PACK

• Includes various Community event character skins, buddies, plus a stage skin.
  
• Includes Excalibur Zetterburn, Grassroots League Orcane, the Tony Tailslide buddy, the Frostbear cub buddy, and the CEO Ring Stage Skin.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.

GENESIS SKIN PACK

• Includes all Genesis skins originally created over 7 years of Genesis events (Genesis 4 - X).
  
• Includes Genesis Clairen, Etalus, Forsburn, Hodan, Kragg, Sylvanos, and Zetterburn.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.

HEAT WAVE SKIN PACK

• Includes Heat Wave Clairen, Forsburn, Olympia, Wrastor, plus the Sunbert Buddy.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.

LEGACY SKIN PACK

• Includes hard-to-find skins from a wide range of events.
  
• Includes Shine Zetterburn, Tuxedo Ranno, High Roller Absa, Dreamscape Forsburn, and Collegiate Wrastor.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.
  
• Tuxedo Ranno features a full resprite so he's suited up in every sprite, not just his taunt!

POOL PARTY SKIN PACK

• Includes all Pool Party skins originally created for summer events.
  
• Includes Pool Party Etalus, Kragg, Orcane, Pomme, and Ranno.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.

STEAMPUNK SKIN PACK

• Includes all Steampunk skins originally created for Rivals esports events.
  
• Includes Steampunk skins for Absa, Orcane, Sylvanos, and Zetterburn, plus the Loxobot Buddy.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.

SUMMIT SKIN PACK

• Includes all Summit skins originally created for early Rivals esports events.
  
• Includes Spangled Wrastor, Summit Orcane, Summit Kragg, Panda Maypul, and Panda Etalus.
  
• Each skin has a unique taunt and look.

• NEW Tower of Heaven music from flashygoodness to celebrate a decade of Rivals of Aether development. This song can be found in menus by normal means, but it can be found in-match by clicking the Aether High variant of Tower of Heaven rapidly five times, then selecting Endless Abyss to play a new platformless variant of Tower of Heaven that features the new song.
  
• The game now attempts to force GPU usage instead of the OS defaulting to integrated graphics, which should help lower end PCs run the game better.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed a visual bug with Golden Etalus’s sprite on the Custom Colors menu.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed Arcade Mollo not using the unique explosions when using a custom color.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed a visual bug with Orcane’s portrait in Story Mode leaderboards.
  
• Workshop: Added the variable “ignore_camera” to players, which makes the camera not follow them.
  
• Workshop Bug Fix: Fixed a bug making certain palettes of certain characters unselectable.
  
• Workshop Bug Fix: Fixed a bug when searching workshop characters while selecting one for a CPU.
  
• Workshop Bug Fix: Fixed the workshop mod list appearing to cap at 999 per category.
  
• HOTFIX Added the script "pre_update.gml" to players. This runs before most other per-frame update code.
  
• HOTFIX Added the script "set_state.gml" to players. This runs every time the player's state is changed.
  
• HOTFIX Fixed Dreamscape Forsburn being available to everyone with the bundle stamp.
  
• HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Fixed some skins not being included in bundles.

Wrastor is one of the strongest characters in the game, with a unique and expressive combo game that we love to watch. We took the opportunity to really dive into some of his most problematic behaviors and take a crack at making his disadvantage state just a bit more punishing.

• Walljump: Horizontal and vertical speeds changed, 6 hsp 7 vsp > 7 hsp 6 vsp. to make Wrastor's Walljump less viable as a recovery option when other resources are depleted
  There's something disheartening about seeing a Wrastor use every jump and airdodge just to walljump backair onto stage without committing to a resource. We are putting the heart back into Rivals of Aether.
  
• Forward Special: If Wrastor is hit by a physical attack or by a projectile that does 8% or more damage while in his own air current, the current is destroyed and Forward Special’s remaining cooldown is set to 2.5 seconds.
  This change aims to make Wrastor a little more careful with his slipstream usage due to the risk of losing his resource. This will also help attacking enemies keep Wrastor offstage since he will lose his airspeed boost the get back quickly.

• Bug Fix: Fixed a bug in which nairbouncing restored double jumps.

• Bug Fix: Fixed a bug in which landing on the pillar for one frame before it breaks would restore airdodge but not double jumps.
  
• HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Increased the cooldown on Wrastor's Forward Special if destroyed early, 2.5 > 5.0 seconds
  
• HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Fixed a bug where multihits would repeatedly destroy Wrastor's windcurrent.

• Down Air: Landing lag changed to previous values, 8 > 6
  
• Down Air: Lowered Hit 1 and 2's hitstun modifier, 0.8 > 0.7
  These changes will bring back the speed associated with comboing the early hits of Ranno Down Air, while reducing hitstun on opponents to allow for better escape options than they had before the initial endlag nerf a few patches ago.

Shovel Knight is getting a couple fun additions to his kit this patch with a way to secure previously unattainable treasure and a cool new way to combo off of dust knuckle.

• Neutral Special: Getting a purple screen on a guaranteed K.O. while you have the Coin Capture Neutral Special now auto-triggers it at triple range to help collect offstage gems.
  This buff will help Shovel Knight line his wallet and purchase items quicker since a lot of his K.O.s come from ledge and offstage combos, where gems would be previously unattainable despite a well timed strike.
  
• Forward Tilt: Shovel Knight can now cancel Forward Tilt into other tilts and jab on hit while maintaining a small amount of momentum.
  
• Forward Air: Shovel Knight can now cancel Forward Air into other aerials on hit while maintaining a small amount of momentum. This does not cancel into Dynamo Mail strong attacks.
  Because Shovel Knight has a single hit jab that often knocks away, we wanted to add more variety to his punish game through dust knuckle. He also gets a fun movement tool and new combo trees for Shovel Knight mains to master.
  
• HOTFIX Fixed being unable to cancel Forward Air into Back Air via the right stick if it's set to Strong.

Mollo is getting some help with his up strong connectivity and a small QoL for dealing with Kragg's rock.

• Up Strong: Added a body hitbox to the final hit to help it connect better in some cases.
  
• Jab 1: Angle changed, 40 > 361
  This change allows for rock shards to be sent directly forward, while keeping the utility of the move against opponents.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed a crash involving using the paint bomb abyss rune while online.

Hodan is in a pretty good spot overall right now, with players like Plushy Panic! really pushing him to his boundaries. This patch is primarily focused on making his sweatwhirls more useful, while squashing a few bugs along the way.

• Forward Special: The Level 2 and 3 sweatwhirls are now projectile-immune.
  While the upgraded versions of Forward Special add utility as multihits, we wanted to make them feel more powerful for Hodan. These projectiles will no loger break to weak projectiles such as Maypul's seed and Elliana's default missiles.
  
• Forward Special: Reduced cooldown, 10 > 5
  Since removing Hodan recovery infinites once and for all, we realized the previous cooldown to Forward Special could be partially removed. The new cooldown allows Hodan players to buffer the next throw during endlag, while making sure the move itself is not too spammy in neutral or edgeguarding.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where walljumping out of Up Special would not destroy a grabbed spirit in some cases. This also causes Down Special to properly remove spirits when moving through a sweatwhirl.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed the ability to instantly cancel Neutral Air on hit in certain frame windows.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed a crash when a sweatwhirl gets bashed as it is created.

• Jab 1: Angle changed, 35 > 361
  This change allows for rock shards to be sent directly forward, while keeping the utility of the move against opponents.
  
• Down Strong: Hitbox extended slightly lower so it now break cancels.

Pomme has been a difficult one to balance when it comes to her projectiles. In this patch we are attempting to rework Neutral Special to be more fun for her AND her opponents.

• Neutral Special: You now only lose notes on hit if charging or firing them, similar to Ranno needles.
  
• Neutral Special: After throwing a note or losing notes, there is a 30-frame cooldown before you can summon more notes.
  This note rework is an attempt at making notes more committal to use, while reducing the spammyness often associated with them. Pommes will no longer have to fear losing charges to stray hits, but they will lose the ability to dominate an edgeguard with a constant stream of music.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed notes not being knocked off when hit by Orcane bubbles.
  
• HOTFIX 2.1.8.1 Fixed a bug that would not apply Neutral Special cooldown properly on single note throws.

There were so many incredible entries in the Workshop contest that we can't resist gushing about it some more. Join developers Giik, SBS, and Etalus for a casual dev stream right here on Steam (or your choice of the Rivals Twitch[twitch.tv] or YouTube pages) where we highlight more great characters and chat about the contest.

Last year we announced a one-of-a-kind contest where Rivals Workshop creators had the chance for their own character to be officially added to Rivals 2. Creators had six and a half months to design, animate, and code their creations before submitting them to our dev team for a rigorous judging process. Today, on the one year anniversary of the contest, we're finally revealing the winner and 4 runner-ups!

We were incredibly impressed with the over 80 submissions we received featuring creators' completely original characters. We could clearly see the love and hard work that went into them, and want to thank everyone who entered. If you haven’t gotten to play these amazing characters yet, make sure to try them yourself by filtering in Steam Workshop with the “Rivals 2 Contest” tag.


Our official contest winner is La Reina, The Crowd Magnet by Sa-v[x.com] and Onyx[x.com]! This acrobatic grappler grabbed our attention from the get-go, and topped our developer panel in all categories including Gameplay, Visuals, and Character Background. Sa-v and Onyx have taken home the first place prize of $5,000 and as shown in the trailer, we’ve already begun some early work on La Reina in 3D. She won’t be playable any time soon, but we’re looking forward to sharing updates on her as we make progress.

Originalmente postado por Dan Fornace, Studio Lead:

"La Reina was one of the highest rated characters among our development team after we did our initial judging. What really pushed her over the edge for our team was her undeniable style and her strong roster fit. The original Rivals of Aether doesn’t have a true grappler, which makes sense in a game without a lingering shield or block. But La Reina feels like a grappler cranked to 11. Her playstyle is fun and unique and we are excited to adapt her gameplay and expand her moveset with the new options that Rivals 2 features.” -Dan Fornace, Studio Lead

We can’t stress enough how many amazing entries there were in this competition. Choosing just one winner was a tough job. Here are the next four runner-ups from our judging process. These characters will receive special recognition with an exclusive character icon for each creator/team to give out in Rivals 2.


Yono, by FuZZ_lol and garebear, was one of our favorites because he oozes style and personality. He was one of our top ranked lore characters and we love the webcomic that the team created. We were impressed by the backstory behind the Postmen’s Guild and the stage that the team created for Yono. His roster fit was also very strong as he is an awesome and creative take on the air element.


Bhadra, by PJ and Hemuth, was immediately identified by our team as one of the highest quality entrants. Right when the contest closed, we found ourselves gravitating toward this well-crafted Shiba. While he wears his inspiration on his sleeve, the execution and creativity in converting him to a platform fighter was top notch. We also really liked his elemental fit of Gold as well the wandering samurai lore in his backstory.


Helios, by Goomboo, was our other top ranked lore character. We were blown away by the trailer that Goomboo created. It fit right into the world and we wanted to learn more about Helios and his relationships with the inhabitants of Julesvale. The moveset and elemental fit into fire also earned high points from our team. Like Bhadra, there was clear inspiration, but the moveset felt right at home in a platform fighter. After playing him for even a short period, Helios felt like a character that was always in Rivals.


We can say it. Awatsu, by Selrate, was Dan’s favorite character in the contest while also ranking highly with many of our developers. When it comes to adorable creatures that creatively manipulate their element, Selrate may have outdone Dan himself. The character is so unique in its visual style and the way it moves. The animations and effects are also beautifully executed. When you combine its visuals with the intricate but intuitive bubble system, the character really stands out from the rest.

Thank you to everyone who created characters, supported workshop devs throughout the contest, and even those who simply played some of the entries and interacted with the community’s creations. It’s always amazing to see what passionate people can create, and as game devs ourselves, it’s an honor to see other talented devs make their mark on the world of Aether.

We're back with a bugfix full of bug squashing and a few QoL changes for Hodan. This is a smaller patch leading up to our potential final patch with more balance changes and a Switch update in the next few months!

• Bug Fix: Fixed custom color skins applying to Story Mode due to some skins causing issues in gameplay.
  
• Bug Fix: The Rollback Settings button is now unclickable while readied up.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed various skins displaying a Santa hat for 1 frame when hit.

• Bug Fix: Landing during Neutral Air now gives resources back. This should only affect cases where he lands on a Kragg pillar that breaks while Wrastor still in landing lag.

• Bug Fix: Fixed a replay bug that would show Forsburn losing a stock on the bottom tracker if clone died in a blastzone.

• Bug Fix: Fixed multiple instances of teammate projectiles being deleted in the Down Special plasma field. (Mollo bombs, Pomme field, Orcane bubbles).
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed being able to counter a Mollo bomb that wouldn't hit Clairen normally.

• Bug Fix: Parrying a petal wave over a flower now properly removes the grass around the flower.

Mollo had a lot of bugs related to his bombs still rattling around prior to this patch that we were able to pinpoint thanks to a wide net of community feedback.

• Bug Fix: Bombs hitting an opponent the same moment they are parried will now apply knockback.
  
• Bug Fix: Parrying a bashed bomb now sends it at the Ori that bashed it.
  
• Bug Fix: Landing out of Tumble no longer sets off primed bombs.
  
• Bug Fix: Getting hit by a 0 hitstun move such as Ori Neutral Special no longer detonates primed bombs.
  
• Bug Fix: Kragg hitting a bomb with Forward Special now only gives him the article jump cancel window.
  
• Bug Fix: Hitting a bomb downwards through a platform now always sends it through the platform.
  
• Bug Fix: Bombs clipping into the stage the frame they're thrown no longer teleport to the other side of the stage.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed bashed firecrackers only hitting Mollo once.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed reverse-DI from flashbang only applying to grounded opponents.

• Bug Fix: Fixed the splash hitbox of Charged Down Strong not triggering if the parry landed on the last frame.
  
• Up Strong: The spike hitbox now buries opponents when they hit the ground. (Grounded hitbox still bounces them upwards.).
  A general consensus was that using Hodan up Strong on platforms (on stage) could be a bit detrimental since players could simply tech out. Given the massive size of the move, having the throw bury opponents gives Hodan a chance to follow up on his attack, while not making the move too powerful.
  
• Bug Fix: Players grabbed by Up Strong can no longer walltech before the move throws them.
  
• Down Special: Dodge cancelling now works at any point in hitpause.
  
• Down Special: Slam hitboxes now have hit lockout for the rest of his recovery frames (24 frames).
  
• Down Special: Slam hitboxes no longer make opponents immune to mud waves.
  These changes to Down Special should keep the odd double bury situations from previous patches out of the game, while fixing the side effect of getting hit, then freely moving through mudwaves across the stage.

• Bug Fix: Fixed crystalizing appearing wrong in playtest.
  
• Bug Fix: Crystalizing now must be moving downwards to break off the ground. This fixes a rare case where Kragg could avoid crystalizing by being inside a rock on that frame.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed aerial stall decay not being applied if cancelled in-field.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed being able to use Neutral Special during a parried gem's break animation.
  
• Bug Fix: Neutral Special projectile no longer has hitpause scaling.
  
• Bug Fix: Gem now gets bashed properly.
  
• Bug Fix: Fixed being unable to turn around when cancelling the windup of Down Special.

• Bug Fix: Bombs now bounce off of Vince.

A new buddy is available today in Rivals of Aether: introducing Mawson from Cross Blitz!

Mawson is the beloved chief of the Mawpaws – a cat-like race of creatures that live deep within their island’s mana mines. He’s one of the few Mawpaws who are brave enough to communicate with outsiders, and looks to be adventurous enough to have made it all the way to Aether to be your next battle buddy.

You can unlock Mawson by owning both Rivals and Cross Blitz on Steam.

Cross Blitz is an RPG deckbuilder by our good friends at Tako Boy Studios featuring fast-paced tactical combat with loads of cards to collect and synergies to wield. Make sure to check it out if you're a fan of Creatures of Aether or other deckbuilders, especially while it's on sale for the Deckbuilders Fest.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1619520/Cross_Blitz/

Join Dan and Trevor over on our twitch[twitch.tv] this Thursday at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT as they play contest entries and chat about the process behind the scenes for adding a character to the Rivals universe. As always, questions are welcome in the chat.

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At the start of this year, we closed submissions for our Workshop Character Creation Contest, a contest where we asked the community to make their own characters with the winner eventually being officially added to Rivals 2!

Since then, we've been hard at work behind the scenes and posted an update earlier today about when people can expect for a winner to be chosen and more.

Hello to our beautiful Rivals Workshop enjoyers today! We’ve got a small update to announce when we plan to reveal a winner as well as a few other events related to our Workshop Character Contest.

Contest judging is well underway and we’ve combed through almost one hundred characters to make sure the winner and four runner-ups are chosen with care. We plan to choose the winner and get them signed and ready for an announcement on the one year anniversary of the contest – which is July 3rd, 2024. Don’t forget that this character isn’t planned to join the Rivals 2 roster for some time.

On the way to that announcement we’ll keep everyone up to date with a few streams – starting with one this Thursday on March 28th at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT. Join Dan and Trevor as they play contest entries and chat about how the process is going behind the scenes so far. As always, questions are welcome in the chat. The stream will take place on the official Rivals twitch[twitch.tv].

We’ll also be highlighting a few characters per month again like we did when submissions were running to showcase entries. There’s so many good submissions that deserve a spotlight, and anyone can play them right now. Make sure to check them out by using the “Rivals 2 Contest” filter on Steam.

Rivals of Aether and all of our cosmetic DLC is on sale for just one more day at 50% off! Don't miss out on the end of the Steam Spring Sale. It's the perfect time to get your friends in for Rivals Workshop, or just pick up the game at a discount if it's something you've had your eye on.