MultiVersus Open Beta Preview

Since MultiVersus was announced, I have been intrigued by the concept of a Free-to-Play game that mashes all the Warner Bros. properties together. Considering the sheer amount of IPs that are under the Warner Bros. umbrella, including DC, Harry Potter/Wizarding World, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, HBO, and so many others, I’m mildly curious about the possibilities. However, the question is whether Warner Bros. can pull it off, especially now that the game is open to the masses in Open Beta.

MultiVersus plays similarly to Super Smash Bros games, in that it is a character-focused action fighting game designed for multiplayer where you try to knock players out of the arena. However, while you can play in one-on-one matches or four-player free-for-alls, the game is at its best when you play in teams of two. Why? Well, each character has standard attacks (called neutrals), and special attacks. Hitting the special (or neutral) attack button while moving the stick in different directions changes what attack you use.

These characters are designed to play off one another though. For example, one character can tether themselves to their partner. If said partner goes over the edge of the arena, the other character can pull them back to safety in an instant. Other characters are designed in such a way that you can make a variety of combinations and approaches to combat. This is further enhanced by unlocking perks as you play matches with each character. Each character has its own perks tied to its “mastery level” and as you unlock them, you can mix and match.

In this regard, you can really create some crazy teams that have abilities that complement each other. As with Super Smash Bros, as you deal damage, your opponent becomes more susceptible to being thrown out of the arena. The same goes for yourself, though you can dodge, air-dodge, and jump in order to avoid various attacks. If you are playing a team match and you lose, you can opt for a “best two out of three” rematch, which gives you the opportunity to fight opponents again and try to turn your fortune around.

There’s something absolutely hilarious about fights that involve characters like Garnet, from Steven Universe, paired with Shaggy or even Batman of all people. The “free” characters that you’ll be able to play seem to rotate, and I started out playing Garnet, but I unlocked Wonder Woman through the tutorial. Speaking of which, let’s talk about the current state of the Open Beta.

Technically, the MultiVersus Open Beta is free on Steam. You don’t have to spend a dime, and there is plenty of content if you don’t want to spend any money right away. However, if you choose to buy a Founder’s pack, you start at an advantage. There are 3 tiers of Founders Packs, with the standard one (priced at 40 dollars) letting you unlock a rare banner, and giving you the lowest amount of character tickets for unlocking characters, as well as 300 premium currency.

The most expensive founder’s pack (priced at 100 dollars) gets you 3 free battle passes, the max amount of 30 character tickets to unlock characters, and all sorts of exclusive things, on top of 2500 premium currency. The middle tier pack gets you one free battle pass, 1000 gleamium, a few bonuses, and 20 character tickets for 60 dollars.)

Personally, the pricing is a little bizarre, but since the first official battle pass doesn’t go active until the 8^th of August, I can’t really tell you just yet how worth it any of these Founders Packs are. Currently, there is a mini-battle pass going on, which has a cool skin for Shaggy, but the rest of the benefits are fairly standard fare. The key here is that the mini-pass doesn’t offer any premium currency, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes with a full pass.

I should mention in general though that I’m not a huge fan of the way they have monetized MultiVersus. It seems like most of the skins and things that people will actually want will require real money or premium currency. Also, the lack of rewards (at least as far as I can tell) from the single-player mode is somewhat annoying for people who may not want to queue for random matches.

This is still in open beta though. As a result, there’s a lot that can change. I’ve seen several multiplayer-focused games in recent months and years that have changed their monetization model significantly. As far as I can tell from this point, it could be a lot worse though.

In terms of gameplay, I really like MultiVersus. I played some multiplayer matches and had a great time. Each class of character (Support, Bruiser, Assassin, Tank, etc) requires different interpretations of the core skills. Knowing when to dodge and use character abilities effectively with your partner can make or break a match. However, it isn’t so technical that you can’t figure out a good playstyle through good old-fashioned button mashing.

It also helps that the character voice lines are fun, especially if you unlock one of the possible announcer characters. There’s something hilarious about playing a few matches with Harley Quinn as your announcer. Different characters will also have unique voice lines on the same team, so you’ll find some interesting crossovers and combinations.

I wish Warner Bros. had come up with a single-player campaign in the same vein as the World of Light from Smash if only to give people something to practice on against AI for fun or provide a weird and fun story. You can use “The Lab” which is a practice room, but I think giving people levels of escalating challenges would have been a better option. Even better if it had its own string of specific unlocks if they were insistent on keeping some characters behind a paywall.

Then again, I know I’m one of the few (probably weird) people who enjoy story modes in fighting games. I am aware that this isn’t really the point of the game, but I like it anyway. Overall, I’m surprisingly pleased by MultiVersus’ open beta so far. I’m going to spend some more time with it, especially as its first Battle Pass comes around. So, there may be more content coming in the future.

An Open Beta Key for the Premium Founder’s Pack of MultiVersus was provided by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for this preview.