Publisher Arc System Works has announced the quickly approaching release date for River City Girls 2. The release of River City Girls in 2019 made a surprising impact, with the side-scrolling beat 'em up scratching a nostalgic itch. River City Girls 2 looks 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, with River City Girls 2 arriving in just over a week.
The beat 'em up genre is seeing a modern resurgence. Titles including Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge have performed well, as have re-releases of games including Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Castle Crashers, and Dragon's Crown. River City Girls arrived at the forefront of this wave of beat 'em up releases, allowing River City Girls 2 to be one of the first titles to iterate knowing what fans are excited about from modern beat 'em ups.
River City Girls 2 will 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 original River City Girls, and the River City franchise as a whole, in some exciting ways. The first game launched with four playable characters, Misako, Kyoko, Kunio, and Riki. River City Girls 2 adds two familiar new characters, with Double Dragon's oft-kidnapped Marian and River City Ransom: Underground fighter 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 2 expands on the multiplayer features of the first game. It now supports 4-player couch co-op instead of 2-player, and adds online co-op for 2 players. River City Girls 2 will also feature a more robust combat system with guard crushes, lift-off combos, and more. River City Girls 2 will feel familiar, but new.
It's this mix of building on the legacy of past beat 'em ups, in the River City franchise and beyond, and delivering new ideas that makes titles like River City Girls 2 so exciting. That's the idea that River City Girls is 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 2 releases December 15 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.