Following a series of leaks last month, Warner Bros Games has finally lifted the curtain on Multiversus—a free-to-play platform fighter that dares to ask "what if Tom & Jerry but Smash Bros."
Revealed with a fairly in-depth trailer earlier today, Multiversus is developer Player First Games' attempt to create a cross-platform Smash Bros. with the media giant's somewhat eclectic cast of characters. Warner Bros. isn't a company I think of as having a particularly all-encompassing style, as that proves true with a roster that includes superheroes like Batman and Superman, contemporary cartoon leads like Finn the Human and Steven Universe, venerable animated stars like Tom & Jerry and Shaggy from Scooby Doo, and, uh, Arya Stark from Game of Thrones.
Player First is also adding some of its own creations to that list, starting with Reindog (a reindeer dog), with more characters to be revealed "soon". Leaks had previously suggested Gandalf as a playable fighter, and I desperately want to see the White Wizard pick a fight with Jake the Dog off Adventure Time.
While Multiversus will offer 1v1 and 4-player FFA fights, the game seems built around 2v2 match-ups, with character abilities designed to work well both with and against each other. The trailer also stressed an emphasis on getting the look and sound of each character right through visuals, music and voice-acting—perhaps a pointed jab at Nickelodeon's somewhat shoddy Smash clone.
The developer also promises dedicated servers from day one and "best-in-class" netcode (including, yes, rollback). There will also be full cross-play and cross-progression between PC, PlayStation and Xbox, with player-run Guilds that will be able to challenge each other.
Multiversus is due to release in 2022.
