Mortal Kombat 1 Confirmed As A Reboot, Kind Of
The legacy fighting game, Mortal Kombat, released the trailer for its new installment which seems to be a soft second “reboot” of the franchise. The trailer features many prominent characters making their return and the game promises to be just as bloody and stomach churning as the last one.
The trailer opens with a shot of a man that seems to be Raiden tending to a valley of wheat with Kung Lao. A voice over from Lui Kang speaks of a blank canvas and starting over, which leads further into reboot territory. As the trailer goes on we see a number of fan favorites such as Kitana, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Shang Tsung. One major reveal at this point was that of Princess Kitana’s “sister”, Mileena, who’s omission from MK11 caused uproar within the MK community. Several story beats are touched upon, such as Sub-Zero and Scorpion potentially being allies instead of enemies in this iteration. Everything about it points to this being yet another retcon of the MK timeline.
But eagle eyed fans might not be so quick to call this game a total reboot. If you’ve played through MK11’s story mode you’ll know that Lui Kang achieved god-like powers after defeating that game's big bad, Kronika. After receiving her time-manipulation powers, Liu Kang defeats Shang Tsung (yet again) and becomes the protector of time and Earthrealm. This process also turns Raiden into a human. In this new trailer, Liu Kang retains his otherworldly powers and Raiden seems to not have his command over thunder & lightning. So it looks like Mortal Kombat 1 is taking place AFTER MK11’s in-universe reset and still has some ramifications from its predecessor and not a totally clean slate.
As far as gameplay goes, MK1 is looking gore-ifically terrific. Heads explode when stomped on, eyes are gouged out, and entrails rain from the skies like hailstones. The level of detail in Kitana and Mileena’s masks are down to the fibers, so much so that you can even see the stitching that connects the cloth. It's honestly some of the most graphically impressive stuff we’ve seen from fighting games ever. Also, as stated on the official Mortal Kombat site, the battle system has been totally revamped to include “Kameo fighters”. These fighters will hop in and “assist” you as you take on your opponents. While we have no idea how this will play out at this moment, it sounds a lot like Marvel vs. Capcom 1’s assists or even the striker system from King of Fighters ‘99.
Mortal Kombat is set to release on September 19th of this year. So get your controllers and barf bags ready. Pre-orders get early access to the game and access to a beta coming later this summer. While the $109.99 premium edition gets you the season 1 DLC and a special Johnny Cage skin in the likeness of Jean-Claude Van Damme.
