MultiVersus Reviews
Characterful fighters, a good skill ceiling, and a co-op emphasis with real depth makes Warner Bros. MultiVersus a very pleasant surprise.
MultiVersus is a fun, competitive twist on the Super Smash Bros. formula with an extremely bright future ahead of it.
A fun Smash Bros. on PC that needs a little more fine-tuning to reach its full potential.
MultiVersus may not be a must-play at social gatherings, but its refreshing team-based battles make it a great platform fighter online.
Even with the balancing issues and a clear rough start to its first season, MultiVersus’ incredibly solid and unique core mechanics, along with its clear love and respect for every character and series that it represents, let it stand close to the top of the genre. It still needs some fine-tuning, but I’m confident that in a year’s time, MultiVersus will be standing strong next to Smash.
Living games have the potential to go in frustrating directions, but MultiVersus has a strong foundation. If it can meaningfully roll out content and smooth out its rough edges, this could become a new crossover obsession for years to come.
Warner Bros' all-star battle proves to be a worthy contender to the platform fighter throne.
It’s the cookie jar. I want to play and praise MultiVersus for everything it does right. But everything it does poorly, or even wrong in a sense, has me wanting to slap my own wrist. MultiVersus has even managed to bungle those aspects of the games-as-a-service model that players have largely come to accept. There has been some course-correcting since launch, but the fact that was even necessary only shows how some forces behind these kinds of games are always ready to push the boundaries on monetization. It feels wrong, ethically, to participate in, and especially to recommend this game to others. But at the same time, it’s so good! Not even in the skinner box kind of way; MultiVersus is a legitimately well-made and lovingly constructed platform fighter that celebrates cartoons and movies I enjoy in effective, gameplay-centric ways. Rick and Morty are there too, I guess.
MultiVersus shows there's enough promise to expand the platform fighter genre with a new focus on 2v2 gameplay and intriguing movesets for each character. We didn't call Mortal Kombat a Street Fighter clone, despite them sharing a 2D plane. Nintendo didn't even begin the platform fighter genre: it only popularized it. The term "Smash Clone" is a demeaning one, which is a huge turnoff for many. MultiVersus should get love for its concept, and as it continues to build, hopefully it will get its time in the sun.
MultiVersus lives up to its promise of delivering battles between iconic Warner Bros. characters. It has a solid foundation that could make it a competitor to Nintendo’s Smash Bros.
The future of MultiVersus remains to be seen, but if it is aspiring to become a go-to fighting game for both offline and online gatherings, nothing spoils the party more than the free-to-play shell it’s encased in. This model might make it more accessible to players in the short term, but when it’s weighing down the overall experience like this, it’s hard not to see history repeating itself sooner or later – even if you can butcher Shaggy with a machete.
As someone who was quite high on MultiVersus after playing its Closed Alpha in 2022, I was hoping that its 1.0 release would deliver a polished platform fighter that fully realized its sky-high potential. While it still leaves several features and fixes to be desired, I can’t deny that the game is still deeply fun at its core. Now, it becomes a matter of whether or not MultiVersus will be able to achieve its full potential in an increasingly harsh landscape for live-service games.
MultiVersus feels like a corporate product, but Player First Games gets the most out of its ridiculous premise.
And if you’re a fellow average joe fighting gamer like myself, “MultiVersus” is still a smooth, polished experience with beautiful art direction, zany characters and chaotic but deep gameplay. Grab three friends and give it a whirl. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday night.
MultiVersus has some shortcomings; stages feel uninspired and the controls don’t feel quite as tactile or satisfying compared to Nintendo’s fighting king, but this is an impressive foundation for what could become a genuine competitor.
While the comparisons to Super Smash Bros. are impossible to ignore, the team at Player First Games has quickly established MultiVersus as a platform fighter that's a force to be reckoned with in the competitive community. The title’s focus on gripping 2v2 matchmaking that rewards careful collaboration elevates MultiVersus above nearly every other sub-genre contender.
Each round lasts exactly the right amount of time, and each MultiVersus character has a distinctive enough set of skills that many players will find one they connect with. MultiVersus is definitely a game worth checking out, even if it wasn't free-to-play, and it's accessibility makes it an even bigger recommendation.
Given how MultiVersus has only just been released, and things will obviously get tweaked in the future, it is difficult to score the game in its current state. While the free-to-play trappings are unlikely to change, tweaks and additional content could deeply improve the experience in the long term, making it a worthy rival to Super Smash Bros. and other popular platform fighting games. As of now, however, I feel much of the potential of MultiVersus is still untapped, and it will be up to Player First Game to let the seed they have planted bloom.
Even when stripping away the glossy licenses and arenas, Multiversus remains an excellent fighter that feels like a great barometer of how to do free-to-play right. That low barrier to entry makes it a great way to spend an evening with friends, and with more characters to come, it could grow into a true “Smash killer” over time.
Even in open beta, MultiVersus is a worthy competitor to Super Smash Bros. While it may not be able to quite match the scope and production values of Nintendo's flagship platform fighter, its gameplay goes toe-to-toe with its incredibly established rival – and its excellent netcode completely outshines it. The most exciting thing is that this release is guaranteed to grow over time, and with the Warner Bros vaults practically bursting with iconic IP, this is one live service that looks to have a lot of life in it.