One of E3 2021/June Summer of Gaming livestream surprises is the announcement of a River City Girls sequel. We adored that 2D beat-em-up, though we wished there was online play and some alleviation from its repetitious nature.

The game’s sequel will be expanded, reassuring many beat-em-up and Kunio-kun/Double Dragon fans. According to a Siliconera interview with Wayforward director Bannon Rudis and head of bizdev and publishing Adam Tierney, the sequel will have refined gameplay. It’ll feature new characters, new locations, and more nonlinearity and freedom. The game’s story will take place right after the first River City Girls and deals with the repercussions after Kyoko and Misako’s rampage.

The game’s plot and narrative will be more dynamic to who you’re actually playing as, not just as Misako and Kyoko. Online play will definitely be in the sequel as stated multiple times in the interview.

The duo also confirmed that Marion and Provie will be in the game, albeit without mentioning their names.

“As you can see, the character on the left has really been working on her core strength, and she brings some boxing and wrestling moves to the fight. She won’t go down with just a cheap shot to the stomach from some street thugs.

The character on the right, on the other hand, you might call an underground fighter. She has some really flashy moves and can chain her attacks into long combos while looking super stylish. And while we do have two new characters to play as, we also wanted to make sure the original characters felt refined as well, so we went back and tweaked them with some new moves and attacks.”

Read the full interview here.