Just last weekend Rivals II was featured at Evo 2026 as one of the main event games. We represented the platform fighter community on the largest stage in fighting games, which included a record-breaking Rivals tournament with 1,022 entrants! On top of the tournament, we also had a panel, a booth where you could play our next character early, chances to play the devs, multiple reveals, and more.
If you missed it live, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here's a full recap of everything that happened:
Character Reveals
Gouie
At the start of our Top 8 on Saturday, we revealed our next upcoming character: Gouie - The Lost Mireling! Gouie is our 7th free character coming to Rivals 2. Stay tuned for plenty of more news on him as we all look forward to the August 4th release date. See the first look here in his official reveal trailer.
Gouie is voiced by both the talented Gina Scarpa and Justice Washington. You can hear both The Mire and Gouie speaking at different points (and sometimes together) during their gameplay.
Mina the Hollower
Immediately after our Gouie trailer on the big stage, we had one more special announcement to reveal in unprecedented back-to-back character news. We announced that our first guest character, Mina the Hollower, will be arriving in Rivals 2 in 2027:
We're incredibly excited to work with our talented friends at Yacht Club Games to bring Mina into the world of Aether. Keep an eye out for more news on her release next year.
2027 Roadmap
In what's becoming a tradition for us, Dan and Trevor shared our latest roadmap on the Evo Showcase Stage on Friday. Check out the VOD here to get the full conversation with all the details:
[dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/live/TNuQR0RhEMU?si=UitoGg5CZ9gM-hZc&t=7577"]
New 2D Workshop Tools
We also announced during the showcase that a new 2D workshop tool is now available! The tool is still undergoing a lot of work on our side, but soon it will let you import characters from Rivals 1 to Rivals 2 workshop with the click of a button.
Workshop creators can try it out in the modkit, and anyone can try out our 2D Hodan import on the workshop beta branch.
The Tournament
Last but not least, the core of Evo is the competition, and we saw some of the best Rivals II played yet. If you missed the event live, you can check out the VODs below: Evo 2026 Day 1: Rivals of Aether II Pools: [dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2D8shbaC60"]
Evo 2026 Day 2: Rivals of Aether II Round 2, 3, and Top 24: [dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpsj3IWLIo8&t=14986s"]
Evo 2026: Rivals of Aether II Top 8 Playlist: [dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSsb7uMzQlMw"]
