Publisher Arc System Works has announced the quickly approaching release date forRiver City Girls 2. The release ofRiver City Girlsin 2019 made a surprising impact, with the side-scrolling beat ‘em up scratching a nostalgic itch.River City Girls 2looks to build on the success of the previous game by offering a larger world to explore, more enemies, and more and playable characters. Fans won’t have to wait long either, withRiver City Girls 2arriving in just over a week.
The beat ‘em up genre is seeing a modern resurgence. Titles includingStreets of Rage 4and TeenageMutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revengehave performed well, as have re-releases of games includingScott Pilgrim vs. The World,Castle Crashers, andDragon’s Crown.River City Girlsarrived at the forefront of this wave of beat ‘em up releases, allowingRiver City Girls 2to be one of the first titles to iterate knowing what fans are excited about from modern beat ‘em ups.
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River City Girls 2will officially launch on Thursday, December 15. It’ll be available across all major consoles, including PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. There will even be a physical release, though the standard edition, Classic Edition, and UItimate Edition are all already sold out across all platforms. Digital editions will have to do, though more physical editions could be released at a later date.
The upcoming sequel will be expanding on the originalRiver City Girls, and theRiver Cityfranchise as a whole, in some exciting ways. The first game launched with four playable characters, Misako, Kyoko, Kunio, and Riki.River City Girls 2adds two familiar new characters, withDouble Dragon’s oft-kidnapped MarianandRiver City Ransom: Undergroundfighter Provide joining the roster. River City itself will also be back, naturally, but larger and a variety of new locations and secret areas.
In terms of new content,River City Girls 2expands on the multiplayer features of the first game. It now supports4-player couch co-opinstead of 2-player, and adds online co-op for 2 players.River City Girls 2will also feature a more robust combat system with guard crushes, lift-off combos, and more.River City Girls 2will feel familiar, but new.
It’s this mix of building on the legacy of past beat ‘em ups, in theRiver Cityfranchiseand beyond, and delivering new ideas that makes titles likeRiver City Girls 2so exciting. That’s the idea thatRiver City Girlsis built on, after all. It rejects the boy-only tropes of the past and allows past-trivialized characters to retake their agency, but also respects the series’ roots.
River City Girls 2releases December 15 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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