MultiVersus Preview – Warner Bros’ Brawler Is Delightful, But Needs Impact

Player First Games is well on its way to releasing its fighting game MultiVersus, a new multiplayer platform brawler that pits the extensive list of characters from the Warner Bros. catalog against one another in chaotic button-mashing battles. It’s easy to compare MultiVersus to other fighting games in the genre, like Nintendo’s juggernaut Super Smash Bros., but after spending a handful of hours throwing fists, kicks, and lasers with the WB crew, there’s plenty that impressed me about MultiVersus that makes it stand out, and should be a game to keep your eye on this year.

MultiVersus is different from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl are similar in that they focus more on team battles. The primary game mode in 2v2 has characters taking on roles to form the best possible battle pairings. Each fighter is divided into a class that represents the style of fighting they excel in. Batman is an expert at brawling. Game of Thrones Arya Stark is an assassin, Bugs Bunny is a mage, Superman is a tank, and Steven Universe is support. I was able to get a good idea of the personalities and play styles that would make a great team. Wonder Woman is a tank-class that will try to defend her partner from danger. However, the mages can strike far away, using traps or projectiles. Supports work in a couple of different ways, offering their bodies as throwable weapons or moves that act as a safety like Reindog’s tether move. Steven, for example, will shield their teammates or boost their skills in different ways. Try different combinations to see which ones work best.

Matches play out very similarly to Smash Bros., with the goal of dealing damage to your opponent, increasing the distance they’ll fly when a strong attack lands and eventually sending them out of bounds into the abyss surrounding the stage. The team’s last stock or life is taken and a winner is chosen. Every character has the same control scheme that’s standard for this type of fighting game, consisting of normal and special attack buttons, each with different moves depending on which direction you flick the analog stick, a jump button, a dodge, with the ever-important tilt-inducing taunts mapped to the d-pad. MultiVersus is notable for its recovery mechanisms, which do not include hanging from ledges and allow wall jumping to reach safety.

To make a character your own, each roster member has a suite of perks that can be equipped to modify various aspects of gameplay. Superman’s perk gives him, and all his teammates, a triple leap when they meet certain conditions. Taz can also boost the damage to his team by performing moves that horizontally knock down enemies. Three standard perks can be used by each player, with a fourth signature perk that’s character-specific and modifies a special attack of that fighter. Taz’s tornado attack can be modified with a signature perk, which will reflect projectiles but slow it down. While I have enjoyed the perks that the system offers to help me play my favorite styles of gaming, I am concerned about how it could be misused and break the meta for casual players who are trying to scrape it online.

While the interface for battle may look odd at first, it became my favorite way to view vital information from MultiVersus. You can see a character’s damage information directly below it. The buffs or debuffs appear above them instead of in a fixed spot just outside the frame of battle. It’s distracting for the first match or two, but with how fast characters can whip around the screen, I like being able to keep my eye on how much damage an opponent or I have taken without having to scan for those numbers away from the action at hand.

MultiVersus is a great tool, but the combat doesn’t seem as powerful as it should be. There’s much less sense that I’m going to blast an enemy off into the ether when their damage indicator is critical. Attacks feel weak at best, and it’s hard to tell if one solid hit will be enough to make the difference. I’d also like to see more impact on attacks in general; even Superman’s haymakers feel like you’re punching a pillow.

MultiVersus is a free-to-play game and will have microtransactions and a battle pass, but I was assured by game director Tony Huynh that only cosmetic options would have a real-money cost and anything gameplay-related is achievable only by playing the game. You can unlock any character by earning fight gold and buying them with this currency. This is the current alpha build. The same goes for perks which are earned by playing with and leveling up a character along with paying earned gold to gain access to them. As for the cosmetics available, characters will have rather detailed alternate costumes such as Samurai Batman or Jake the Dog’s reskin to Cake the Cat. There are also different animations that can be played when you knock out an opponent – I’m a big fan of the Porky Pig “That’s all folks!” animation to rub that extra bit of salt in the wound – and swappable announcer voice pack and taunts. Between the battle pass unlocks, and the character’s individual leveling tracks, there’s plenty to discover by simply playing the game. 

With low expectations, I entered the MultiVersus alpha testing with MultiVersus. I was disappointed with Smash Bros.’ big-brand mashup fighters. They feel hollow and have underwhelming rosters. However, I am very impressed with the games I’ve tried so far. It’s a great cast, with each character bringing their own unique gameplay and mechanics. The star-studded voices cast (Kevin Conroy, Matthew Lillard, and Maizie Wilkins as Batman) show that great care has been taken to incorporate these icons into the game. It’s my intention to continue playing the game over the next days. I also look forward for future testing with additional characters, and possibly some changes that will make it feel better.

Closed beta testing is currently underway until May 27th. There may still be some spots available for those who want to take part in the open alpha. Register on MultiVersus and you’ll receive a code before the event ends. However, the platform fighter enters open beta in July. A full release is expected sometime in the future. Warner Bros. Games, Huynh, and others have yet to give any indication of that. 


MultiVersus has more to offer. We have several videos that show gameplay with no commentary and New Gameplay Today where Alex Stadnik and I discuss their time playing the alpha version of the game.

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