Summary
Going into theMultiVersusrelaunch, I had a nearlyendless list of who I wanted to see when I opened up that character select screen. Daffy Duck, Samurai Jack, Rigby, Mad Max, Static Shock, Walter White (who isn’t as unlikely as you think), literallyanyoneelse from Steven Universe - I could go on, but I’m just reading from Warner Bros. Wikipedia page at this point so I’ll get on with it.
It was a given that at least one or two of the more obvious picks from above would make it into MultiVersus Season 1alongside the already-announced Joker, so you can imagine my surprise when I sawthat the long-awaited newcomers are Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, Banana Guard from Adventure Time, and a bit later in Season 1, Agent Smith from The Matrix.
Jason stood out as a pleasant surprise I would have never put on my wishlist considering how dark his movies are, but I wasn’t as jazzed about the other picks at first. I love Adventure Time, but there are so many characters from the series that fans have been begging for that putting a joke character like Banana Guard in, no matter how funny that joke may be, felt like bad optics that were bound to go down poorly.
Which it did, of course.
You’re Not The One
Then there’s Agent Smith, who is a cool pick and a nice change of pace from going with the obvious choice of Neo or Trinity, but was still disappointing since he’s not even in the game yet. Combine all that with the first character being the Joker,who was widely reported to be coming to MultiVersus before it went offline in 2023, and it was more of a fizzle than a bang.
I spent the first hour of my time with MultiVersus Season 1 feeling conflicted about the new fighters and knowing that, aside from Jason, it was going to result in a lot of backlash from a community thatalready felt like it was being teased too much. I’ve wanted MultiVersus’ return to do well for so long now that it was like watching a car crash in the making.
That all changed when I spent time with each character.I’ve gone into detail about how they play in my preview, but Joker and Jason quickly became some of my favourite fighters. Joker is fast-paced and tricky like a mixture of a Mage and an Assassin, while Jason is an absolute tank who is as powerful as Superman but feels more flexible than some of the roster’s other heavy hitters. Not getting to try Agent Smith out the gate was a bit disappointing, but I’m going to be busy enough grinding out those two to even notice for a good while.
I’ve still not quite turned around on Banana Guard just yet since I’m not a huge fan of his moveset, but I appreciate a good joke character and I can see the vision.
MultiVersus Desperately Needed Surprises
What really turned me around on MultiVersus’ Season 1 fighters is how out of left field they are. I know that’s a problem for a lot of fans who were expecting the obvious picks, but it’s a much better outcome than just getting everyone we knew was coming. Even before it was officially announced, MultiVersus was one of the most datamined games out there, and we knew more than ten characters who were planned for the game, from Joker andBeetlejuice to Wicked Witchandweirdly enough, Stranger Things’ Eleven.
Those are all interesting picks that I want to see in MultiVersus someday, but I’m much happier jumping into something brand new that hasn’t already been spoiled. I doubt that’ll continue into the game’s future since so much of the roadmap is out there (as well as how much was teased in the launch trailer), but it’s nice to be surprised by the big comeback.
I had a similar epiphany when it comes to the number of characters too, something that I was initially disappointed with. After a whole year away, only adding four new characters at launch, including one that is incredibly obvious and another that won’t show up until later in the season, was a bit deflating.
Four Characters Is More Than Enough For Season 1
The more I thought about it, though, the more sense that it made. I’ve realised that it’s the only way for MultiVersus to survive.As confirmed by my interview with game director Tony Huynh, one of the main reasons that the open beta went offline in the first place is because Player First Games was a small team that couldn’t figure out a satisfying content pipeline.
We saw this in Season 1 when they chucked out new characters like they were going out of fashion, something that was great at the time but thenclearly impacted the development of Season 2 which only had one new character. By slowing things down and releasing them with some time to breathe, which Huynh said is the new plan, it gives the developers time to work on characters and keep players coming back for more.
As much as I would have loved to come into a bigger, better MultiVersus with Daffy Duck by my side, the simple fact is that all the obvious picks that you want in the game are almost definitely in the pipeline and coming in the future. MultiVersus needed to come back by capturing everyone’s attention, and that’s exactly what these weird but wonderful new additions have done.
