This is a great game, and it’s awesome to see it get a new lease on life with rollback, crossplay, and fresh gameplay mechanics. For me personally, these are development efforts worth paying for, but your mileage will vary based on your region’s pricing and personal taste.

It would’ve been a really nice gesture to give discounts to original GBVS players, particularly if they invested in DLC.

The main reason I wanted to write this review, however, is RPG Mode and co-op - or rather, the removal of these.

Co-op is straight up gone - online and local - which sucks, as any cooperative modes are extremely rare in fighting games. Why not occasionally put all these awesome combat mechanics to use with your friends instead of against them? Switch things up after a few rounds of sparring before calling it a night?

As for the rest of RPG Mode, it has been paired down to the story segments, cool boss fights, and a select few “beat ‘em up” common enemy segments. I actually don’t mind this, as IMO it puts a better emphasis on the highlights of the original RPG Mode. Level-based stats and weapon grids also bite the dust, which I don’t mind either - the bosses now feel much more balanced and enjoyable to fight with fixed stats, especially on Hard Mode. The more interesting abilities remain, allowing you to choose between various heals, buffs, and debuffs as before, which is great.

Honestly, I feel like most of the contentious changes to RPG Mode could’ve been mitigated if they improved - or even just kept - the 100-floor Tower of Babyl from GBVS. Imagine how difficult that would get without your level-up stats and weapon grids? What if it was improved to be a randomized climb - with denser enemy groups, frequent character bosses, and sharply increasing difficulty - just to see how far you could get for fun? For high scores shown on your in-game profile? What if you could do that co-op with a friend after beating the snot out of each other in lobby matches?? If someone from Cygames or Arksys is for some reason reading English reviews on Steam, please try this in a dev jam or something!

Another critique that comes to mind is that the menus and overall presentation feel less unique than the original. Gone are the beautiful main screens (and RPG Mode interface), replaced instead by a tabbed interface much closer to Strive. I’m all for function over fashion, it’s just a bummer some of the original’s flair is gone.

Overall, I still give Rising a thumbs up, because at the end of the day it’s a fun, richly featured fighter that deserves some time in the spotlight. I just wish it capitalized on the strengths of the original’s unique co-op mode. That could really set it apart!

Thanks for reading.

This is a great game, and it’s awesome to see it get a new lease on life with rollback, crossplay, and fresh gameplay mechanics. For me personally, these are development efforts worth paying for, but your mileage will vary based on your region’s pricing and personal taste. It would’ve been a really nice gesture to give discounts to original GBVS players, particularly if they invested in DLC. The main reason I wanted to write this review, however, is RPG Mode and co-op - or rather, the removal of these. Co-op is straight up gone - online and local - which sucks, as [i]any[/i] cooperative modes are extremely rare in fighting games. Why not occasionally put all these awesome combat mechanics to use [i]with[/i] your friends instead of against them? Switch things up after a few rounds of sparring before calling it a night? As for the rest of RPG Mode, it has been paired down to the story segments, cool boss fights, and a select few “beat ‘em up” common enemy segments. I actually don’t mind this, as IMO it puts a better emphasis on the highlights of the original RPG Mode. Level-based stats and weapon grids also bite the dust, which I don’t mind either - the bosses now feel much more balanced and enjoyable to fight with fixed stats, especially on Hard Mode. The more interesting abilities remain, allowing you to choose between various heals, buffs, and debuffs as before, which is great. Honestly, I feel like most of the contentious changes to RPG Mode could’ve been mitigated if they improved - or even just kept - the 100-floor Tower of Babyl from GBVS. Imagine how difficult that would get without your level-up stats and weapon grids? What if it was improved to be a randomized climb - with denser enemy groups, frequent character bosses, and sharply increasing difficulty - just to see how far you could get for fun? For high scores shown on your in-game profile? [i]What if you could do that co-op with a friend[/i] after beating the snot out of each other in lobby matches?? If someone from Cygames or Arksys is for some reason reading English reviews on Steam, please try this in a dev jam or something! Another critique that comes to mind is that the menus and overall presentation feel less unique than the original. Gone are the beautiful main screens (and RPG Mode interface), replaced instead by a tabbed interface much closer to Strive. I’m all for function over fashion, it’s just a bummer some of the original’s flair is gone. Overall, I still give Rising a thumbs up, because at the end of the day it’s a fun, richly featured fighter that deserves some time in the spotlight. I just wish it capitalized on the strengths of the original’s unique co-op mode. That could really set it apart! Thanks for reading.