Summary
Multiversusis now out after spending a long time in an Open Beta period and then also spending a long time with no beta purely in development. Now that the full game is out, are there a lot of noticeable differences between the release version and the Open Beta version?
Yes, and sadly most of them are negative changes. We’re not trying to only throw shade onMultiversushere, there are a lot of things that have been improved from the Open Beta, but the biggest changes overall are primarily negative. That said, let’s dive into it and talk about exactly what these changes are.
8Camera Zoom
Things are a Bit Too Close Now
Probably one of the most noticeable ones right off the bat is the amount of zoom in the game. In the open beta, the camera was a pretty decent amount more zoomed out, giving players a clearer view of the entire stage during a fight. Now, in the full-release version, the camera is a lot tighter, which can make things pretty claustrophobic in chaotic 2v2s oragainst certain characters.
Tom & Jerry, in particular, are struggling because of this change purely because a lot of the time Tom ends up launching Jerry only for him to go out of the camera’s range when he lands. Sure, the zoom allows players to see more detail up close and can make the moment-to-moment parts of a fight clearer, but in general this change seems to be one that the fanbase isn’t huge fans of.
7Combat Speed
It’s a Lot Slower Overall
By far the biggest changes between the open beta and full release ofMultiversusare the changes to combat speed. The development team at Player First Games had a lot to do between the open beta closing and now, as they basically rebuilt the entire game from scratch in a new engine (UE5). However, that doesn’t explain why the game feels so much slower now than it did in the beta. In general, movement feels slower, animations feel slower and even hit stun feels slower (though a recent patch at the time of writing this has changed hit stun duration).
People who are coming into this game for the first time are adapting to this new style of combat a lot quicker, for obvious reasons, but those who are coming back to the game from its open beta period seem to be struggling pretty heavily overall to get used to things.
6Level of Grind
The Game Wants a Whole Lot of Either Your Time or Your Money
There’s a lot more stuff to grind for in the full-release version ofMultiversus, to be fair, but the game is a whole lot grinder overall. Players are going to have to put an absurd amount of time into the game or a decent amount of money to get all the stuff they want. For example, while it was nice that Player First Gamesupdated the gameso that players receive Battle Pass EXP with every match, the amount they get is minuscule (10 for a win, 5 for a loss, with an average of 1500-2000 needed per BP level).
The Rifts are a grind,character mastery is a grind, getting enough Perk Points to buy the right Perks is a grind, getting enough currencyto buy new charactersis a grind, truly everything is just a real grind now. And while some people are okay with that, a lot of the player base forMultiversusisn’t and they’ve made that very clear.
5Polish & Graphical Fidelity
It Does Look Nice
Finally, a positive change, but it’s probably the open one on here. The original beta ofMultiversuswas in Unreal Engine 4 and the full-release version is in Unreal Engine 5. So, if textures looked crisper and everything looked a bit ‘nicer’ when players first opened theMultiversusfull-release version, that’s why.
And while the engine switch came with its fair share of issues, it inarguably made the game look better overall in terms of graphical fidelity. On top of that, the game has more overall ‘polish’ to it now, with new modes, a cleaner layout, new systems, and so on. It still has its fair share of glitches, errors, and bugs, but that’s pretty typical of most AAA games these days.
4PvE Rifts
A Pretty Expansive New PvE Mode
Another huge change between the open beta and nowis the all-new PvE mode, the Rifts. These are maps full of stages that players progress through, fightingall sorts of charactersalong the way with different modifiers or missions to complete.
And, in general, Rifts are fun and the higher difficulties are actually pretty challenging. While there are some aspects of the Rifts that are a real grind, the mode overall is a welcome addition toMultiversus.
3UI Design
A Pretty Unanimous Downgrade
It’s sad to say, but it’s pretty clear that the UI in the full-release version ofMultiversusis leaps and bounds worse than it was in the beta version of the game. It’s not entirely clear why these changes were made, but navigating menus is so much more tedious and confusing now than it used to be.
On top of that, options for the UI were removed between the open beta and now, which is a very odd change. The UI can be fixed pretty easily with some small changes here and there, it’s just up to Player First Games to actually do so.
2The Perk System
Heavily Simplified In the Full Release
Perks inMultiversusused to be a lot more complex, or it might be easier to say that there used to be a lot more to choose from. there were entire pages of red, green, and blue perks for players toequip on their characters, with some having incredibly noticeable active effects and others being pretty universally beneficial passive buffs.
Now, in the full release of the game, the Perk system has been pretty much gutted, for better or for worse. Players now only have about 10-15 options for their 3 Perk slots, and only a couple of these Perks actually feel impactful to have equipped overall, with ones like Airwalker actually breaking the game in terms of combos.
1Post Match Statistics
Or the Lack Thereof
Another thing that was dumbed down or removed entirely in the full-release version ofMultiversusis the post-match statistics. Previously, players could see at the end of a match how much damage they did, how many Ring Outs they got, how much damage they took, and so on. It allowed players to get a structured look at what they needed to improve on with their character or what a team of 2 players needed to work on together.
Now, there’s not really anything that shows up on the results screen. Players simply have the option to either rematch or give their opponent Toast, and that’s it.
