Surprise! You may remember from our roadmap released last summer that Workshop for Rivals 2 was planned for 2026. Today we're pleased to announce that the very first step towards that goal is ready just two weeks into the year, with the Rivals 2 Workshop Beta v1 available NOW! This first beta only features Custom Characters. Other Custom Content like Stages and Skins are on our developer roadmap but are planned for after Custom Characters leave Beta.
This is a true beta, meaning much of the documentation and processes are not final and will benefit greatly from your feedback. Our goal is to give creators the tools to build amazing characters and content officially, just like in Rivals 1. There, development happened hand-in-hand with the Workshop community through ongoing support and updates - and that's exactly what we plan to do again.
Right now this Workshop Beta v1 includes a modkit with Clairen as an example, plus one completely new character on the Workshop (Armando) that you can dig into and see what makes him tick. We plan to add a few more example characters from the roster before moving out of Beta. Ready to hop in and start building your own characters?
Getting Started with Rivals 2 Workshop
How to Start Modding:
Visit rivals2.com/workshop for instructions on how to get the full modkit, including how to view our example characters in the editor and start creating your own.
Note: Since this Beta v1 is coming out close to La Reina’s release we expect to be fixing bugs and adding documentation over the course of the first month. We'll also be planning some seminars and live Q&A sessions to work directly with creators and help build up the knowledgebase. Our first one is planned for this Thursday at 1pm ET / 12pm CT / 10am PT / 7pm CET on both twitch.tv/RivalsOfAether and YouTube. Come hang out and send us your questions we can answer to help you get started.
We have also created a new nolt board available here, if you would like to leave your own suggestions for the Rivals 2 Workshop Beta or vote on others'.
How to Start Playing:
Our mind-blowing example character, Armando, is available to play right now! Once the community gets building, you'll be able to find and play any characters on the workshop using this same method:
Visit the Steam Workshop for Rivals 2 and subscribe to any character you like.
Switch to the workshop beta branch of the game. To do this right click Rivals II in your steam library, select 'properties', go to the 'betas' tab, and then choose Workshop Beta from the dropdown options. It'll look like this in your library if you've done it right:
You can play Workshop characters in local versus or the new online Workshop Lobbies. Workshop Lobbies are player-hosted servers, so make sure make sure to hit the "Join Server" button since the host can't bring you in themselves. Then on the Character Select Screen, simply go to the 'workshop' gear in the center of the screen to choose a workshop character.
If you're playing online and your friends don't have a character downloaded that you have, they'll receive a popup telling them you're requesting to play a character. Once everyone agrees, the game will automatically download the character for them (but just for that game session).
Now get out there and start making your own Rivals!