Disclaimer: I helped playtest this game. And it is developed by my brother.

There is nothing out there that is like Rival's Beyond. Much like all of PSISteve's work, it is an ode to the magic of his childhood. The game is like one of those classic cartoons from the 90s, but it also has this sadness behind it all.  But it is done in a way where the player is meant to simply have fun, not get depressed from it all.

How to describe it? It's like a turn-based RPG version of Punchout, but based off this weird limbo after life where you fight these charming cartoon critters.

The art is all hand-drawn and it is all so well done. I don't think anything else looks like this. PSISteve is really talented at making his own style and having it catch the eye. Every single enemy/character have so much personality oozing from them.

The goal of the game is to explore and find your opponents. Then you fight them. Each fight is refereed and you must pay attention to what your opponent does. If your opponent becomes too fast on their feet, you can devastate this with an attack of your own. They can also make YOU too fast on your feet and they can devastate you. It's very satisfying punishing your opponent when they think they have the advantage. There are a handful of other states like this, such as when they fly/grow defensive/think too hard.

PSISteve also composes his own music. Every song is moody and quirky and adds to the atmosphere quite a bit. As usual, one of my favorite aspects of his games.

The world is very creative. Each area feels like a different alien planet. 

The story is purposely vague. It starts you off with a heavy mood but then instantly lets you just enjoy the fun/cartoony world of it all. So even though it's fun, there is something sad lurking behind it all.

The ending was particularly good in my opinion. Without spoiling, it was very simple and effective.

The game felt complete. Which is hard to do in the limits IGMC sets.

This game is very good, but I am also biased alas. I still would bet on this game being a treat for most who play.

"Rivals Beyond" is a graphically pleasing game, draped in greens, pinks, and also in an unusual grey combination that evokes a certain mood, and has smooth lines like a Flash game, reminding me of such titles as "Fancy Pants Adventures" and "Fancy Pants Adventures: World 2". It's smooth and well-presented, and has lovely pacing to start.

You get plopped into a world where a dog with a moustache might just help you out, in a contest that you've found yourself a part of, to win your life back. Yes, win your life back.

Our voiceless protagonist finds themselves in a world snowing with Mint, where you win battles against winged creatures to gain points and progress to the Next Round. But before you progress, you will need to win a boss battle.

Battles are reffed by a squeaky little dude who counts you into duels with monsters that are resolved by selecting the right elemented attack. Indeed, many battles can just be won if you know what the opponent is weak to.

While it made sense to find the elemental weaknesses of each enemy, I struggled to find layers of strategy beyond that. Most times, I found myself experimenting with moves to find which one had the highest damage number, and then spam that one until the enemy died. If I got low on health, I'd use the highest HP heal - that was about it. Sometimes they'd kill me, but I'd come back and try again and, depending on RNG, I'd either lose or win.

Indeed, perhaps my biggest point of struggle I found with the game was that I felt much of the battle relied on RNG, whether I'd win or lose. There are a few moves that the enemy can make that seem to do nothing, and depending on whether they roll these attacks, would dictate usually whether I win or lose. So it seemed like the battles were largely reliant on RNG.

I feel like if the enemies' attacks were more consistently strong, or if there were more layers of strategy the player could use to counter these attacks, then it would have made for an overall more consistently entertaining battle experience for me.

However, despite the RNG, the battles were easy enough and spaced at a pace that was quick enough that I didn't get too frustrated. The enemies were cutely designed, and the environments are imaginative and easy to walk through.

As for the story, there is one! Although it took me a while to get the "central piece" to the story that made me feel things, the ending in particular is the moment that made me actually care about the protagonists, because the way that the scenario was constructed made me pity them, and pity can often be an entryway to relatability. However, it was a little late in the piece, so I felt like I wanted to get a story hook earlier in the story, rather than nearly at the end.

However, I overall actually liked this game, mostly because of its charming presentation, its smooth and well-polished graphics, its lovely, well-placed music and cute assembly of characters, which were well-employed to the point that it made me have an overall pleasant experience despite what I perceived to be its flaws.

Overall, its world, its audio, and its imagination are its strong points, along with the end of its story really tugging on the heart strings.

Thank you for making this game, Steve. I really enjoyed playing it and I appreciate that you made it for us. <3

This has a really unique and aesthetically pleasing art style. It's really coherent and consistent throughout the entire game. I know this is such a random thing -- but I also really enjoyed your font choice for this. Overall, a really solid entry! :)

Cute character designs. I really enjoyed the overall look of the game. The story is okay. The battles are alright albeit a bit on the harder side of things.