MultiVersus is in its makeover montage era right now. It's been "rebuilt from the ground up" in Unreal Engine 5, ready to emerge with its glasses off and hair down sometime in May. Are people excited about that? Maybe not so in the wake of new clips that have fans convinced the game looks and plays worryingly differently now.
One video intended to show off MultiVersus' shiny new netcode has been overshadowed by claims that movement is slower, while character models have allegedly grown in size. One Twitter user replied to the video to ask "did you guys record this at a lower fps or something why [[link]] is it so slow???" Another user added "Hope this isn't the real gameplay, it looks like it's in slow motion".
The quote retweets are even more brutal, tearing the video to utter shreds with GIFs and expletives. "They spent a year to make the exact fucking game but slower oh my god," one of the more popular quote retweets lamented. Another user wrote "one of my [[link]] biggest problems with Multiversus was how floaty and unsatisfying the overall gamefeel was, so it is nice to see them directly address those concerns by seemingly making the game even slower for some reason". I pointed out how gosh-darn floaty the whole thing felt back in my original MultiVersus review, so it's a concern that gravity seems to have somehow decreased even more during the game's absence.
It's not just the game speed that's been giving some fans cause for concern. The models appear to be noticeably bigger than in the beta, making things look a touch overcrowded on screen. "Definitely worried about the bigger models," a Reddit user wrote. "As soon as everyone's together, [[link]] with how the camera works, it looks like it'll be so cramped that it'll be tough to get a good idea as to where everyone is and what they're doing at the time. Maybe it's easier to work with when actually playing, but we'll have to see."
Some are a little more positive about the potential for larger models. "I don't mind. I found it a bit hard to appreciate the cool animations of characters like Tom and Jerry when they're taking up less than 2% of the screen. Especially bad on that massive Rick and Morty stage," one Reddit user wrote.
There's been no word from Player First Games or Warner Bros. on the reaction to the video yet, either on Twitter or over on the MultiVersus Discord server. I emailed Warner Bros. requesting comment, and will get back to you with an update if I hear anything.
It's definitely worth noting the big fat "IN DEVELOPMENT - FOOTAGE NOT FINAL" text emblazoned along the bottom of the video everyone's wigging out about. The game is still between three and seven weeks away from re-releasing. That's plenty of time for final tweaks to happen. There's also a chance things were slowed down a touch to better demonstrate how the netcode plays out rather than having characters zooming all over the screen. It's all just hypotheticals for now though, and things will certainly be a lot clearer when MultiVersus actually lands.