Two years after its open beta release in June 2022, Multiversus returns in its newest build and update. Player Games First CEO and Game Director Tony Hyunh has announced the wacky Warner Bros’ game to launch on May 28th, 2024. With its return, how has the cartoon fighters game experience changed? As a returning player, I reinstalled the game on Steam to see what Player First Games improved since closing its beta in 2023.
What Is Multiversus, Exactly?
Multiversus is a platform fighter about Warner Bros. Games and their partner companies bringing their characters together to fight through the Multiverse. Since its inspiration, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came to a close on Oct. 5th, 2021 on the day Kingdom Hearts’ Keyblade wielder Sora officially became a fighter, Warner Bros. was developing a Smash Fighter of their own.
Recruiting Player First Games, they wanted to create something different from other platform fighters. Instead of heavily focusing on an incredible roster, Tony Hyunh carefully approached Multiversus to focus on 2v2 battles rather than 1v1 or free-for-all. He also wanted players to have the best online fighting game experience by implementing online net coding to prevent game lag.
Warner Bros. released Multiversus open beta on July 2022 as a free-to-play platform fighter. The game received mixed reviews about the frame delay and fighter balancing yet it was praised for the multiplayer experience for character fighter types that encourages 2v2 matches.
Multiversus later won a Game Award in 2022 for “Best Fighting Game”. However, the feeling didn’t sit well with Hyunh as the game was only in open beta with purchasable items from the Warner Bros. Game store. He later announced this issue publicly on Mar 27, 2023.
Hyunh thanked the Multiversus community for the feedback and announced that Player First Games will pull the free-to-play platform fighter from game stores in June. The reason is to complete the game’s development and use the feedback to improve certain mechanics. Before we go into gameplay, let’s learn what the developers added.
MVS Added Events, Season Pass Rewards, And Fighters
First off, there are now four new fighters added to the roster. Throughout the end of April and May, Player First Games have been teasing announcements on their Multiversus and their developers’ YouTube channels. They announced Joker from Batman, Banana Knight from Adventure Time, Agent Smith from The Matrix, and Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th.
Next is the Premium Battle Pass which allows players to play for points to score for pass milestone rewards like emotes and banners. In addition, you receive Jason Voorhees. However, this pass will require payment if you are a new Multiversus player. Returning players will receive the Premium Battle Pass and Jason for free.
Something I didn’t expect Player First Games to add is Event Mode. Event Mode is a new way for players to take a break from online matches for a nice single-player mode. There are currently only three chapters open; Multiversal Mayhem introduces the Joker as Multiversus’ main villain, Rift Detectives with Velma and Batman investigating the Reindog Gems, and the upcoming Jason vs. The Multiverse.
The last addition is three stages from three properties. There’s Dexter’s Lab that acts as a scrolling stage for players to pay attention to their surroundings, Townsville’s Town Hall from Powerpuff Girls where you must battle Mojo Jojo while fighting your opponents, and finally, the Game of Thrones tower that constantly changes the stage requiring the player to use their creativity to knock out opponents.
The Platform Fighter with 2v2 Changes
What made Multiversus’s team battles unique is the character class to show who’s best with close, mid-range, and long-range combat. There are four classes; Bruiser for heavy damage, Mage for long and mid-range attacks, Assassin for quick blows, and Tank for heavy defense. This helped players create pairs that fit their team’s fighting style.
Take Rick and Finn for example. Both are lightweight giving them their speed. Finn is an Assassin class which makes him best at dealing quick blows to his opponents. Rick on the other hand is a Mage Class, using his tech and portal for long-range attacks. Rick can cover Finn while he’s in the middle of a combo.
The change I’ve noticed for the 2v2 matches is the removal of Support Classes. Support classes were described as a healer or a stat buffer depending on the fighter you are using. In 2v2 matches, they support the attacker with assist abilities. It was later removed to become the Mage Class as they have similar mechanics.
This also removes another aspect of the fighters as some characters in the roster were considered Hybrids. Hybrids are a combination of two classes. Lebron James’ class was originally a Mage/Bruiser class for basketball shots and slam dunks. In the 2024 Multiversus Launch version, he is now only a Bruiser.
The reason is part of the Multiversus community wanted to play 1v1s like they did with the Super Smash Bros. series. The change was understandable, but not necessary to remove Hybrids so they could hold their own in matches.
Is Multiversus’ Launch Update Worth Playing?
Multiversus’ 2024 Launch has a couple of issues it needs to fix. While its 2v2 match gameplay still feels nice to play on a controller, the experience has changed since its beta.
With the Premium Battle Pass providing rewards to players, it can feel deteriorating as you grind for points from playing the game. The roster feels limited starting with Shaggy and Jason as the permanent starters. Bugs, Lebron James, Finn, and Wonder Woman are on limited time unless you purchase them with 3,000 Player Currency or 1,000 Gleamium Points.
Player Currency can be earned during Solo and Online Play. Gleamium must be either purchased from the Multiversus’ Game Store or by grinding towards their set milestone on the Premium Battle Pass. The roster used to be open with the variety of characters it has for players to fully experience each character class.
Events don’t run smoothly on the Steam version of the game. I have encountered 10 crashes while playing the Multiversal Mayhem event. The Unreal Engine seems to struggle to run the game on low-end computers as they rarely support Intel Core i5. Watching the game being played on an Xbox Series X and a Playstation 5 made me see it had better potential on consoles.
Thankfully, Multiversus is still free-to-play. It’s still a bold move to keep this game without a price tag on it. I believe Hyunh’s stick with this decision so he doesn’t feel like his company was robbing money from Multiversus’ fanbase. It shows that Player First Games want to continue to improve the game but they still want their live player feedback.
Now with an improved netcode and matchmaking system, the online experience has been more enjoyable than before. Satisfying to see the hits you land is satisfying and gaining the support from players who are Mage and Tank classes makes the 2v2 worth playing. And with Multiversus’ added cross-play, PC players can play with Xbox and Playstation players.
If you want to help Player First Games on their mission to improve Multiversus, consider downloading the game on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Steam.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Sema! I’m an enthusiastic fiction writer who loves to talk about anything my curiosity leads me to. I specialize in writing and research about games, shows, and anime. If you enjoy my articles on Total Apex Entertainment & Gaming, check out my military-dystopian, Isle Lacion: Survivors of the Anima War, and follow my Instagram for art and updates!
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