MultiVersus is a free-to-play fighting game by Warner Bros. Games that launched on July 19, 2022. Developed by Player First Games, it features many characters under the Warner Bros. license, including some popular D.C. superheroes and villains. It’s predominantly a multiplayer game, but there are options to play against bots instead of human players.
With cross-play functionality, I was able to play Multiversus on PC and PS4 to compare how it feels on both platforms. While it’s free to play, there are microtransactions and Battle Pass tiers teasing you to buy them. You can also purchase bundles for the game that will give you tons of rewards. Let’s take a look at all it has to offer.
Let the MultiVersus battles begin!
There’s almost nothing better than playing a new game with faces and characters you love in a new setting. MultiVersus paves the way for us to pit our favorite heroes and villains against each other while trying to swat each other off the screen. As a starter, let’s evaluate some background and story elements in the game.
Stolen from their universes
As the intro begins, you’ll have only a slight idea of how everyone ends up in the same place to battle each other. They’re snapped from their primary universes and then suddenly appear in–who knows where. If you want to enjoy MultiVersus to its fullest, don’t try to find any rhyme or reason for their presence in the game.
Also, there’s no actual motive for them to be fighting each other. As with most brawling games, it simply sets the scene for players to choose a character they love and bash online opponents. There’s no creativity in a storyline like Fortnite and Injustice 2 managed to pull off.
Battle Pass missions
The only semblance of a story is with the Battle Pass missions. As you complete them, you’ll earn experience to level up and move to the next tier. However, I wouldn’t really call them a campaign. MultiVersus merely treats you to quests like toasting your enemy five times or winning three matches. You won’t have anything interesting like Batman asking Harlequin out on a date just to upset the Joker.
Character collection
I love collections. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy Diablo III so much, especially for that bestiary. MultiVersus feeds my craving for collections with a character section where you can check everyone’s bio. I suspect the developer will add more to the roster when more characters become available in the future.
Of course, you need to unlock the characters to have them as part of the collection. As you play matches and win games, you’ll earn in-game coins that you can use to buy heroes or villains. There’s also an option to purchase them with Gleamium, which you need to spend real money on to obtain. You can start to see how MultiVersus favors those who don’t mind spending cash on game content.
Cross-platform mayhem
A few years ago, hearing that a game is cross-platform would have blown our minds. Today, it’s almost as commonplace as Batman in a Warner Bros game featuring D.C characters. Still, I love the idea that you can challenge players on any platform, as it had me on my PC facing my children on the PlayStation 4 in matches that had us laughing until our bellies hurt.
How long to play MultiVersus?
As I mentioned, there’s no story campaign. All we have at the moment is the pre-season Battle Pass. There’s no indication as yet as to how long a Battle Pass season will last, and you can keep playing MultiVersus until your fingers go numb. The more you play, the more you wrack up the levels and coins.
Defeating your enemies in MultiVersus
Alright, let’s move to the more exciting part of my MultiVersus review: the combat and gameplay. Here’s the real meat of the game that has everyone excited and battling each other out.
Creating your profile on MultiVersus
If it’s your first time on MultiVersus, you’ll be asked to either sign in to a Warner Bros. account or create a new one. The process is the same on PC and console, with one slight difference. On the Windows version, you need to indicate what your age is, while the console will detect it from your device settings when you created your Avatar and account.
Can you change your age on MultiVersus?
If you want to change your age on MultiVersus for some reason, you’ll need to reset your account on PC to make that possible or create a new one. On console, it means changing your age in the system settings.
Learning how to play MultiVersus
As soon as you’ve created your account and then a profile, you’ll head straight to the first tutorial. Here, you’ll face Wonder Woman while learning how to kick, hit, jump, and climb up the sides of the walls. Yes, even Shaggy is able to perform this move, even though he’s afraid of monsters most of the time in his universe.
When you’re done learning the ropes for MultiVersus, there are advanced tutorials for specialized moves that may just save your character’s life. I was so eager to jump into the action for this review that I skipped that entirely, and still won my first three matches. So I don’t deem them necessary.
Choosing your battle mode
Now that you’re in the thick of things, it’s time to get into the actual fights. MultiVersus has three modes at the time of this review:
- 1 versus 1
- 2 versus 2
- Free for all
There are also practice modes with bots and custom matches. The names of the modes are self-explanatory, but there’s one extra thing I should mention. If you don’t enter a Ranked match, the chances are that you’ll end up fighting players with much higher levels than you. This might be where the advanced tutorials will come in handy, but I beat a level 18 with my level 2 character, anyway. So, maybe not.
Battle perks
One of the benefits of fighting and leveling up is that you unlock new battle perks. Each character can attach up to three perks before a fight, which gives you unique abilities and buffs to enhance your attacks. The issue is, that everyone can attach perks, even your opponents, and you won’t know which ones they selected until the pre-selection screen ends.
Your heroes and villains also level up as you use them, gaining experience with each fight. That means you’ll receive perks that are relevant to the specific character. For the most part, you won’t be able to use those abilities with anyone else, so playing with every character has its pros.
Setting the stage
You know how long it took you to get to this stage of the MultiVersus review to finally read about the fighting aspect of the game? That’s how it feels when you start it for the first time. Going through all the aforementioned elements had me thinking, “Am I going to get to fight at some stage?”
Personal thoughts aside, you’re finally in a match. What I love about the maps and arenas is that they take scenes from each character’s universe, which I’ll touch on more a bit later. The battle stage consists of platforms that you can jump on and off while fighting. The main aim is to keep damage to your character low, highly damage your opponents, and eventually hit them off the stage.
Combat mechanics
You’ll notice that each character has a number under them. In a reverse-health sort of way, the numbers go up every time the hero or villain is struck. The higher that number becomes, the less you’ll be able to dodge and the further you go flying when someone hits you. That means you’re more likely to go soaring through the sky and off the screen.
There are different ways to attack your enemy. There’s the basic hit, special hit, dodge, and jump. While you may think that a good strategy and combos will help you, they won’t. The screen becomes such chaos at times with players all over the place, you’ll spend a lot of your time hitting and hoping for the best. Powering up your strike is more of an invitation for your enemy to hit you at that time than actually delivering a powerful blow.
Making friends on MultiVersus
There’s one aspect of MultiVersus that I can’t deny: it’s good for making friends. Even if someone kicks your cartoon butt during every rematch, it’s still fun sending and receiving friend requests so you can team up next time. The social panel shows you which of your Steam or PlayStation friends are online, and you can also invite them to download and play the game.
Similar games to MultiVersus
Brawling games like MultiVersus aren’t a new concept. We’ve had quite a few of these appear over the years. All Warner Bros are really doing is cashing in on a popular game genre with brand names they own. At this point, I don’t get what all the fuss is about. It’s another brawling game, with WB faces and a Battle Pass system to take your money.
Now that I have that out of my system, other brawling games you can give a try if this is your thing includes Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Brawlhalla, and Gang Beasts.
What you’ll need on your PC
You won’t have to worry about heavy performance requirements for MultiVersus just yet. While we’re still in the infant phase, there aren’t too many characters or maps. However, you can expect these numbers to grow as the game upgrades.
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5-2300 / AMD FX-8350
- Graphics: GeForce GTX 550 Ti / Radeon HD 7770
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Storage: About 5 GB at the time of review
Familiar faces, places, and sounds
In this final part of my MultiVersus review, I’ll take a look at some of the more fun aspects, namely, the graphics and sounds. It should come as no surprise that seeing these familiar faces and sceneries is the main appeal behind the game.
Heroes and villains galore
What was it that got so many players excited about MultiVersus? The heroes and villains! Yes, sure, many gamers out there just love brawling games anyway, but I bet many are first-timers who’ve never experienced this genre of fighting game before.
To be honest, I’m one of those who picked specific characters just to see what moves they can pull off and how they fight. I had a good chuckle at Shaggy picking up a sandwich and throwing it in Batman’s face. As for the character designs, the developers did a great job with the visuals and effects.
Stunning environments
I also loved the various maps and arenas, especially with how they’re tied to the character’s universe. You can even fight in the Bat Cave or the manor, while there’s also a map for Bugs Bunny. Each environment has beautiful visuals, but you may be too busy fighting to notice them.
Classic sounds with brilliant voice acting
With the familiar faces are also the classic sounds and voices that accompany them. Batman’s voice is more from the animated shows, so don’t expect a gruff Christian Bale tone. During the battle, the punches and powers take the show as far as sound effects go, but there’s also battle music playing in the background.
Final Verdict of MultiVersus
You may have seen there’s a mixed opinion from me on Multiversus in this review. While I may have played brawling games before, it’s just not my cup of tea. Sure, I enjoyed seeing D.C. and other WB characters on the screen, but that’s about the height of the excitement for me. There’s nothing pulling me back to play more, like Elder Scrolls Online or Car Mechanic Simulator 2021.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good game, though. It has plenty of potentials, and I’m sure gamers that love this genre will go mad playing it all day long and leveling up. There’s definitely entertainment value in it, and I recommend you give it a go. When Harry Potter characters join the mix, I’ll be back to give it another try. I want to see Hermione whip out her wand and Wingardium Leviosa some players.
If you’d like to read articles on games I have enjoyed more, be sure to check out my Mirror Forge preview and Dune: Spice Wars preview.
Pros
- Familiar heroes and villains
- A collections library
- Good at making friends
- Cross-play
- Several online modes
- A tier reward system
- Level up perks
Cons
- No story mode
- Microtransactions give an edge to buyers
- Battles can become confusing
Developer: Player First Games
Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
Game Modes: Various multiplayer modes, such as 1v1, 2v2, Free for all, custom, practice
Platform reviewed: Windows 11 – Steam; PlayStation 4
