MultiVersus might seem to some, on the face of it, a bit odd. It’s a free-to-play platform brawler featuring a number of different Warner Bros. franchises with characters from everything from Game of Thrones to Scooby-Doo to Adventure Time. The upcoming game has drawn comparisons to Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. franchise for obvious, superficial reasons. But having now had the opportunity to play a bit of the newly released Closed Alpha ahead of time, it honestly feels like the comparisons were apt – perhaps more than intended, even.
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Gameplay in MultiVersus is relatively straightforward: you navigate a fighter across a stage like Batman’s Batcave or Finn and Jake’s tree fort from Adventure Time and try to knock your opponent off the platform enough times before they can do the same to you. Playing the early access of the Closed Alpha on my PlayStation 5 made for a smooth experience, and thanks in part to the cartoonish art it likely shouldn’t be too taxing on any of its available platforms. And despite the initial reception to the video game, including my own apprehension, it quickly became apparent what MultiVersus was trying to accomplish. And it does it well enough, even this early on, that I still find myself thinking, “Well, OK, maybe just one more match as Wonder Woman…”
The roster in the Closed Alpha isn’t the exact same as it will be at launch or even during the Open Beta in July, but it’s still got 15 different characters from various Warner Bros. properties. Each character has a role like Bruiser or Assassin, which gives an idea of how they generally play, but some have to be unlocked with in-game currency earned through completing goals and challenges. Garnet from Steven Universe, for example, was 2,000 Gold Coins to unlock before I knew whether she was worth it. And, I mean, she was, but still.
Not that it’s particularly hard to earn that money. While there are a couple of different modes in the MultiVersus Closed Alpha, I’ve spent my time entirely in the 2-on-2 team-based mode. This looks to be the flagship mode of the video game, so with a limited amount of time it seemed to be the best option, especially after it became clear that it might be the easiest way to quickly complete challenges. Loading into a match is a relatively simple matter of queuing up, though you can invite another player to party up rather than relying on a random teammate joining.
If you’re not queuing up together, however, it’s hard to say what you might get. Because MultiVersus supports full crossplay, anyone on any of its platforms could be in a match. And with 15 unique fighters on the roster, it never came up that I was paired with the same character I was playing, and our levels were always within a margin of two or so at the most. Individual characters rank up with experience, which grants goodies like cosmetics and the aforementioned Gold Coins but also special perks that can be equipped.
This is what stuck out the most about MultiVersus. Perks are roughly separated into two categories, Signature and Minor. For example, my Wonder Woman at Rank 9 has a Signature perk equipped that causes a knockback effect when she uses her lasso as well as three Minor perks – the max it’s possible to equip in total – that do things like making characters on my team move 4% faster or offer other small buffs.
Locking these behind individual character progression seems like an odd decision as it sometimes meant that my enemies simply had an advantage over me based on the fact that I had yet to hit a specific level based on the amount of time I’d invested. Sure, it means that the learning curve isn’t immediately as isteep for new players, but it also means that there is a range of levels where the balance of the video game can be out of sync. Not wildly so, but out of sync nonetheless.
It’s hard to say from this early version of the game what exactly MultiVersus might look like as a finished release. With a platform fighter like this, it’s all about the balancing and the details, both of which are obviously in flux. That’s the whole point of having a Closed Alpha, after all. The feedback is something the developers will try to then take into account for further development. Even so, the core of what’s there is surprisingly fun even if it is still somewhat incongruous to see Shaggy knocking Batman around.
MultiVersus is a free-to-play platform brawler with a focus on 2-on-2 team fights that is set to release in Open Beta in July on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC. As of today, a Closed Alpha for the video game is ongoing through May 27th. Notably, the title will launch with full crossplay support as well as server-based rollback netcode. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming video game right here.
What do you think about what we have seen of MultiVersus thus far? Are you excited to check it out when it is more widely available? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop in order to talk about all things gaming!
