One of the best modern rhythm action games is getting a sequel on Xbox, and there’s a demo now available in Steam Next Fest

Maybe I’ve got a soft spot for on-rail shooters, or maybe there’s something about the bass-heavy, rave-reminiscent music of Aaero that just did something for me, but Mad Fellows’ debut rhythm shooter hypnotized me for weeks when it launched in 2017.

In 2024, there aren’t a lot of rhythm games out there, sadly, and that’s a crying shame, because it’s one of my all-time favourite genres. I imagine a lot of you reading this probably grew up on a steady diet of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and that’s why rhythm games have a significant place in your hearts, too. But let’s not also forget the likes of Vib Ribbon or, more recently, Hi-Fi Rush, too. The genre, when given space to breathe, is an excellent place to be.

You can imagine my glee, then, when I read that Aaero 2 is a Real Thing, and that it’s coming to PC and Xbox. The game will launch first on Xbox Series X/S - which makes sense, since that’s where the original game found its small, loyal audience - before coming to PC slightly later. It’ll hit Xbox Series X/S on October 15, 2024. But, PC players, fear not: you will be able to play a near-final build of the PC version as part of Steam Next Fest from October 14.

“As we shift our focus to the PC Steam version of Aaero2, we’re offering a demo of the near-finished game to PC players,” says Paul Norris, Mad Fellows’ creative director. “This will not only give them a taste of what’s to come but also provide us with valuable feedback."

The demo shows off some of the game’s main features; you get to trial a few of the tracks that will feature in the game and see what the on-rails rhythm shooting is all about. It may look a bit basic, but there’s something of a flow state the minimalism of the game provokes, and I honestly think it ends up feeling like Tetris Effect at times. High praise, that.

From what I’ve played of this demo, that assessment feels even more accurate here than in the first one, thanks to some quality upgrades and the general tightness of how Aaero 2 operates. There’s online co-op, too, meaning you and your mates around the world can jam out to Monstercat’s amazing music without pause and work on those competitive leaderboards together. In fact, multiplayer was a main focus for the game this time around, as Norris explains.

“From the start, I insisted that if Aaero2 featured multiplayer, it would need to support both local and online play,” he says in a press release. “Too often, I’ve been excited about a co-op game only to discover it’s local-only.

“Incorporating online play into Aaero2 introduced a host of additional challenges. The game mechanics had to be carefully designed to reduce the impact of latency between players. On top of that, the certification process for an online-enabled game is significantly more complex.”

For a micro-studio, Mad Fellows really has worked magic with this litlte gem of a lightshow. It’s audio/visual crack, to put it bluntly, and I cannot wait to pump weeks more of my time into it when things quieten down a little in the triple-A gaming space.

That’s two-for-two, as far as I’m concerned, Mad Fellows. Keep it up.