River City Girls 2

“River City Girls 2 is a superb sequel that builds on the already brilliant original in small but meaningful ways.”

“River City Girls 2 is a rare sequel that improves on almost every aspect of the original, a must play for fans of the first game, and highly recommended to anyone who likes beat 'em ups.”

“River City Girls 2 almost ticks all the boxes: fun gameplay mixed with anime-style aesthetics and a humorous story. The jarring loading screens between each playable area annoyingly slow the pacing. It's enjoyable, it's just not as smooth as it should be.”

“River City Girls 2 tops its predecessor in nearly every way with more characters, enhanced combat, cross-platform play, and some of the best music you'll hear in a video game.”

“Bigger and better perfectly fits for River City Girls 2, that manages to improve what the previous entry achieved.”

“Despite not being the expected genre revolution, River City Girls 2 is a fantastic sequel. WayForward improves every element possible, and pays homage to Kunio-kun's legacy.”

“River City Girls 2 is a fairly good beat-'em-up title. It's certainly an improvement over River City Girls, although it carries with it some of the original's flaws, including tedious backtracking and repetitive enemy encounters.”

“River City Girls 2 has some of the best beat em up combat out there, and alongside the compelling RPG elements and sensational soundtrack make it a must play.”

“It's mostly the same thing, just way more of it. The new characters are fun, the city is much larger, there are way more quests, and the story has higher stakes. The minigames are a great new addition, boss fights are tough but fun, and oh man, that soundtrack.”

“More of the same, River City Girls 2 offers an expansion for the price of a sequel. More time was needed in the oven, either to offer more novelty or to break the mold and bring something completely new.”

“River City Girls 2 does everything that I wanted it to and a little bit more. Needless to say, if you enjoyed the original then you'll love this as well so those looking for more silly beat 'em up fun will have a blast with Misako and Kyoko in their latest wacky adventure.”

“It’s a little disappointing, and really quite surprising, that River City Girls 2 shows very little impetus to improve on its promising predecessor. The girls have still definitely ‘got it,’ and still make this colourful and characterful journey worth it through some rough patches, but there’s a little too much reliance on the assets of the original to make it feel worth the rather steep asking price. The original game made a fan of me, while the sequel just about manages to sustain my loyalty, though that will definitely be affected by how WayForward deal with its woeful frame rate issue in the coming weeks.”

“As a whole, River City Girls 2 is a great choice for beat 'em up fans. Featuring a lengthy main story, incredibly fun gameplay, multiplayer for up to 4 players, and a cool presentation, the game ends the year with a bang. Many new features make it a far superior sequel to the 2019 title. Side quests will help extend your time even further, and New Game Plus offers incentives to take advantage of, such as extra helpers straight from one of Arc System Works' most famous fighting series.”

“River City Girls 2 beefs up its decades-old beat-'em-up formula with RPG elements, witty humor, and dense combat options.”

“It’s safe to say that if you were a fan of River City Girls, you’re going to love River City Girls 2. But with that, there’s nothing here that is likely to draw in new fans. It’s very much an incremental improvement and expansion of the first. There are more characters, more moves, more locations, more… everything. And with the series’ typically strong presentation, those who get absorbed in the adventure on offer here will have an absolute blast whether they play alone or in co-op.”

“If you're a fan of beat em up games and the first River City game you'll most likely enjoy River City Girls 2 and all if not, you will still enjoy the game if you can ignore its few annoyances.”

“River City Girls 2 is pretty much everything you'd expect from a sequel: more enemies, more allies, more moves, more areas to explore, and more everything. It doesn't veer too far away from any of the original's design choices, and the result is a comfortable, if safe, sequel. The boss fights feel a little less tightly designed than they did in the first game, but it's a small complaint at best, and there's still plenty to enjoy here. If you enjoy quirky comedy with a fighting game twist, River City Girls 2 has a lot to enjoy. It's also way too cool to body-slam folks as a muscular, super-cool version of one of gaming's most famous damsels in distress.”

“Small changes here and there keep the game looking fresh and engaging. Exploring so much may not appeal to everyone, but for others, it is pure pixel-art enjoyment.”

“River City Girls 2 is more River City Girls, feeling less like a full-fledged sequel and more like a RCG 1.5. Switch-related performance issues aside, it was still a great time to return to River City thanks to its phenomenal music and voice acting, sharp writing, gorgeous sprite work, fun new characters, and satisfying combo-based gameplay, but at launch it feels a patch or two away from greatness. If you loved the original as we did, you're bound to like this follow-up, and we hope the team at Wayforward gets more time and money to really expand the series for a third entry.”