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Rivals of Aether

Rivals of Aether

RIVALS OF AETHER is an indie fighting game where warring civilizations summon the power of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Play with up to four players either locally or online.

Released Mar 28, 2017 Developer Aether Studios Platforms Windows Fighting2D FighterMultiplayerPixel GraphicsIndie
View on Steam ↗ $29.99 (US · as of 2026-07-26)

What players say

Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.

95.9%positive35,826 reviews

What reviewers agree on

Praised
Criticised
Bar length = how many of the 101 reviews raise the point Select a point to see the exact counts and what reviewers wrote.

Counted across 101 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 95.9% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20

Recommended · 11 found this helpful

“the only game where ronald mcdonald can fight obama and sans with a gun”

— a player, Steam review · 92 hrs played
Recommended · 3 found this helpful

“I loved super smash brothers growing up. I spent a lot of time in Melee. I'm horrible at video games, I'm bad at this game too. I'm glad friends can have a good time fighting each other. My positivity for this review comes from the Workshop and the love put into it. Playing as…”

— a player, Steam review · 8 hrs played
Recommended · 1 found this helpful

“Rivals of Aether is clearly designed to compete with Smash Brothers in every way except the casual experience. There is a strong emphasis on competitive integrity and efficiency. The online ranked mode, while not flawless, is a seamless illustration of how to battle online. The…”

— a player, Steam review · 284 hrs played
Read more reviews ↗

Player activity

Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 12:24 UTC · history via SteamCharts.

150playing at last check
49924-hour peak
2,828all-time peak
0 500 1k 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 817 avg · Feb 2022

Achievement stats

Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.

36achievements
7.3%median completion
1.2%rarest: The Ardent Rival
48.3% of players 33.6% of players 25.5% of players 24.1% of players 22.9% of players 22.0% of players 21.8% of players 21.6% of players 20.9% of players 20.6% of players 17.2% of players 16.3% of players 11.3% of players 10.9% of players 8.8% of players 8.5% of players 8.3% of players 7.7% of players 7.3% of players 7.2% of players 6.7% of players 6.4% of players 6.2% of players 6.0% of players 6.0% of players 5.6% of players 5.0% of players 4.7% of players 4.0% of players 2.7% of players 2.5% of players 2.5% of players 2.4% of players 1.9% of players 1.6% of players 1.2% of players 48.3% 0% most earned rarest
Almost everyone has
48.3%Endless Creativity — Download and play as a Workshop Character in any mode.
33.6%The Apprentice Rival — Complete the Beginner Tutorial Lessons
25.5%A Rocky Start — Complete Kragg's Story Mode
Rarest badges of honor
1.2%The Ardent Rival — Reach Level 10 with all 14 Abyss Characters
1.6%The Opulent Rival — Earn 100,000 Aether Coins
1.9%The Swift Rival — Earn a Gold Medal on the 7 Story Modes

Price tracking

US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.

$29.99current · sampled 2026-07-26 08:39 UTC
$29.99lowest since tracking began2026-07-11
US29.99 USD
EU24.99 EUR
UK24.99 GBP
Australia37.99 AUD
Canada38.99 CAD
Japan3,400 JPY
Brazil79.99 BRL
China108.00 CNY

Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.

Brazil≈$16 China Japan Australia Canada EU US UK≈$33

Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.

$0 $25 $50 07-11 07-13 07-16 07-19 07-22 07-26

Latest official news

Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.

May 13, 2025
Hotfix Patch 2.1.9.1

We have a small hotfix with fix and updates to workshop for players and creators. We also have couple of projectile behavior fixes for Mollo and Hodan. Fixed workshop characters prioritizing incorrect

Apr 23, 2025
Patch 2.1.9.0 Notes: Hop Pop and Workshop

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 yea

Jul 15, 2024
Rivals Update 2.1.8.0 - A Lot to Unpack

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

Jul 11, 2024
Live Now: Chatting Workshop Contest + More Character Highlights

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 you

Jul 03, 2024
Rivals Workshop Character Contest: Winner Revealed!

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, a

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Screenshots

Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.

Facts & details

From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.

GenresIndie
Player tagsFighting · 2D Fighter · Multiplayer · Pixel Graphics · Indie · Local Multiplayer · Competitive · Platformer · Games Workshop · Moddable · 2D · Great Soundtrack (SteamSpy community voting)
FeaturesSingle-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · Shared/Split Screen PvP · Co-op · Shared/Split Screen Co-op · Shared/Split Screen
LanguagesEnglish, Japanese
ControllerFull support
Achievements36
Estimated owners1,000,000 – 2,000,000 (SteamSpy)
Official sitehttp://rivalsofaether.com
Minimum system requirements (PC)

Minimum: OS *: Microsoft® Windows® 7 / 8 / 10 Processor: 1.2GHz processor Memory: 512 MB RAM Graphics: DirectX Compatible graphics card with at least 32MB of video memory DirectX: Version 9.0c Storage: 300 MB available space