Last month, leaked images showing a platform fighting game featuring Warner Bros.-owned fictional properties including Batman and Steven Universe made the rounds. Today, WB Games confirmed the game, titled MultiVersus, in a trailer. And you know what? Unlike the name, it doesn’t look so bad! See for yourself:
MultiVersus, which will be a free-to-play game, is a cooperative, four-player platform fighter, a la Super Smash Bros. Based on the trailer, the initial roster appears to include, among others:
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Jake the Dog and Finn the Human (AdventureTime)
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Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman (DC Comics)
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Tom and Jerry (Tom and Jerry)
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Arya Stark (Game of Thrones)
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Shaggy (Scooby-Doo)
Those earlier leaked reports suggested that Gandalf, from Lord of the Rings, will appear as well. And who knows what other characters from the Warner Bros. IP vault could show up? In the trailer, which no doubt had every frame combed over by marketing executives looking to funnel the rumour mill into a brand-recognition-building social media tizzy, two of the character-selection blocks are covered by question marks.
A game like this could’ve easily been a phoned-in cash cow (and very well still could be), but at this point, the fighting looks surprisingly kinetic. And the cooperative abilities — like a neat one in which Bugs Bunny digs a tunnel across the stage that a teammate can then use — seem like they could introduce an interesting wrinkle to the tried-and-true platform fighter formula.
Since MultiVersus is a free-to-play game, there are (no surprise here) daily challenges. The trailer shows challenges that grant 100xp for accomplishing tasks like landing five ring-outs. Today’s announcement did not offer any clarification about what types of rewards you’d receive, whether the hypothetical offerings would offer tangible gameplay benefits or merely be cosmetic. However, game director Tony Huynh noted that the game will receive “new characters, modes, skins, and events” over time.
Earlier this year, publisher GameMill Entertainment released a similar platform fighting game, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, based on famous Nickelodeon characters, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Catdog, and Nigel Thornberry. Kotaku’s Ian Walker got a kick out of the game, describing it as “a Nickelodeon-themed Super Smash Bros. Melee mod.” Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is not free-to-play.
MultiVersus is planned for release next year on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It will feature crossplay at launch.
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