System

Rivals of Aether, like any game, has a core system or gameplay that defines how its played. In this case, Rivals is a fighting game, so it's system mechanics would encompass movement, offensive actions like attacks and specials, defensive actions like parry and dodge, and intended techniques or quirks such as wavedashing or hitfalling.

Movement
Movement, how you move your character across the screen, is one of the main things that separates platform fighters from more traditional fighters and RoA does a lot to have a lot of movement options that are multi-faceted and serve purpose while being easy to pick up and understand and not having an extreme execution ceiling.

Offense
Offense, the act of trying to do damage to your opponent, is the "fight" in fighting games, where you'll be doing attacks, applying pressure, and trying to KO your opponent. In platform fighters, instead of trying to get your opponents health down to zero, you'll attempt to rack up damage on them to make it easier to knock them off the stage.

Defense
Defense, the act of trying to prevent your opponent from doing damage to you, is the other side of the coin in fighting games, where you'll be dodging attacks, escape combos, and try to prevent from being killed.