MultiVersus brings Warner Bros. characters to Smash Bros.-style platform fighter

By Otto Kratky November 18, 2021

Warner Bros. Games revealed its take on the platform fighter genre today with a trailer for MultiVersus. It pits iconic WB characters, from Batman to Tom and Jerry, against each other in Smash Bros.-style brawls. The game, which will include crossplay, is set to launch next year and will be free to play.

MultiVersus will emphasize social cooperative play, or duos as it’s typically called in other platform fighters. In duos, two teams of two take each other on, with the team that comes out on top typically chaining together complex combos. MulitVersus is trying to deepen that theme by giving characters moves that are geared toward teammates first and foremost. Batman, for instance, can throw a smoke bomb to obscure his allies, and Steven Universe can throw his shield to protect his partner. It’s a stark difference from Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, which was released earlier this year and is geared toward competitive solo play.

Characters fight in Thymiscara in MultiVersus. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As a free-to-play game, MultiVersus will also constantly be updating. The game’s current roster, which also includes Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Arya Stark, and Adventure Time‘s Finn and Jake, will grow as the game is supported post-launch. Surprisingly, the game also features some of the most recognizable names in voice acting reprising their roles. John DiMaggio returns to voice Jake the dog and Kevin Conroy reprises his role as Batman for the game.

It seems like players will be able to customize characters’ move sets to some extent. The trailer goes over the perks for one character, which appear to be swappable.

MultiVersus is set to release sometime in 2022 for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…

Gaming

Every character in MultiVersus

A large group of DC and Warner Bros characters stand together in MultiVersus.

Just like the excitement riled up with each new cast member announcement for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, MultiVersus has already built up plenty of hype with just how unpredictable its roster of characters is. Even the cast that launched with the game included some off-the-wall choices like Arya Stark and The Iron Giant, but WB and Player First Games have committed to not only supporting the game with new updates and balance patches but even more wild characters.

With a roster as diverse as this, and the pace at which new ones are added and announced, it may be difficult to keep up with all the familiar faces packed into this platform fighter. Because it's free to play, it is especially important to know what characters are in the game, as well as who is coming up, so you can save up your gold to pick them up as soon as you can. To help keep it all straight, here's a full list of all the current and confirmed characters in MultiVersus.

Gaming

Warner Bros Games chief isn’t worried about the Discovery merger

Harley hugging Taz.

Warner Bros. Games head David Haddad says that he is feeling optimistic about Warner Bros. Discovery's gaming division despite all of the chaos surrounding the merger between WB and Discovery.

"I do believe, especially moving forward, that we have a critically important role to play inside the company," Haddad says in an interview with Axios. In fact, he mentions that the gaming division is profitable and that there are no planned layoffs or cut projects from new higher-ups. "Warner Bros. Discovery leadership has expressed a strong belief in the growth of the games business and being part of that overall company strategy," he says.

Gaming

MultiVersus was July’s bestselling game despite being free-to-play

Batman and other characters fighting in MultiVersus.

Free-to-play fighting game MultiVersus was July 2022's bestselling game in the United States, as revealed by market research company The NPD Group.

Although the game is free, its optional, paid Founder's Packs "fit into the full game sale bucket," according to NPD's Mat Piscatella. This is noteworthy since NPD tracks dollar sales, not the number of copies sold.