Welcome back, my loyal readers! If you can’t tell, I’m in an incredibly happy mood today because the greatest fighting game of all time is making a triumphant return to the gaming screen! Yes, I am referring to the return of Mortal Kombat with its newest title: Mortal Kombat 1.
Now for those who are confused as to why Netherrealm Studios is going from Mortal Kombat 11 to Mortal Kombat 1, you’ll have to look back at the ending to MK11 and the “Aftermath” DLC for your answer. Answer that I will quickly provide:
The Story So Far
MK11 follows a timeline-bending story of Kronika, a titan/mother of Shinnok, who forms a deadly alliance with all the villains of Mortal Kombat with the goal of re-writing the timeline to make it so that her son never dies at the hands of Raiden. Simply put, this game contained a lot of fights between past and future versions of each character (or mirror matches), which paved the way for nostalgic returns of heroes before they were twisted into chaotic villains. Through fast-paced chapters, the main game ends with Raiden sacrificing his godhood to save Liu Kang, turning him into a fire god, and using his newfound power to kill Kronika and save the timeline. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case in the “Aftermath” DLC.
“Aftermath” reveals that in defeating Kronika, they destroyed her crown, which acted as a controller for a cosmic hourglass that could reshape timeline. This brought the return of the long dead Shang Tsung to offer his help in retrieving the crown to help save the timeline before all of existence collapses. Of course knowing Shang Tsung’s history, he had ulterior motives of using the crown to kill Liu Kang and rewrite the timeline in his image, which leads to a final showdown between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung, the two kombatants who started this whole saga.
The final fight is triggered by the player’s choice of who they want to play as between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung, but it seems Mortal Kombat 1 is going with the Liu Kang ending with him rebooting the timeline, hence the name Mortal Kombat 1. What his new “era” contains is still a mystery, but the reveal trailer still has some clues on who remains in this new era.
The Trailer Clues
So the first two characters revealed for the new game are a human Raiden (first image) and Kung Lao (second image), who seem to be the new Shaolin duo with Raiden replacing Liu Kang previous role of Kung Lao’s rival. I can assume that this new Raiden will have a completely different move set since mortals can’t exactly wield the power of lightning (but anything is possible MK), and one of my biggest hopes is to see Kung Lao transition to becoming the front man for the new game. There have been quite a few moments of Kung Lao disrespect in the past few games (and in a recent movie), and it would make sense for him to be the new champion for Earthrealm in Liu Kang’s new era. Liu needs to seriously help a bro out.
The next new pair of characters revealed are the twin sisters, Kitana (first image) and Mileena (second image), who appear to be honored as nobles in an unknown realm. One would say they’re in Outworld given their shared history, but I would gamble that this happy-looking realm could be Edenia, Kitana birth realm. These images could imply that Outworld never conquered Edenia in this new era, and both Kitana and Mileena have become sibling rivals instead of vengeful enemies.
Now this wouldn’t be Mortal Kombat without the appearance of the two flagship characters, Scorpion (left) and Sub-Zero (right)! Two fighters whose hatred for each other spanned over 30 years are heading into uncharted waters in this new era. Brief update, Scorpion and Sub-Zero were able to bury the hatchet in Mortal Kombat X after discovering that Quan Chi was behind the murder of Scorpion’s clan and family. During their intro scene, Liu Kang says “You can face each other as sworn enemies, or united as brothers,” which leaves the two ninjas’ current relations ambiguous. Did Liu Kang prevent the death of Scorpion’s family in this era, or do these two hate each other for new reasons?
The one certainty we do have is the return of Shang Tsung, which came as a small shock. I would think Liu Kang could do without Shang Tsung in his new era, but the fire god’s reason for keeping him could be to bring balance between good and evil. It’s also a theme that if you kill one villain, a worse one will take their place, so this may be an easier way for Liu Kang to keep evil in check if he just resurrects his old enemies that he knows the new champions can defeat. Unfortunately, it won’t be an easy fight:
The gore keeps getting bloodier and bloodier with each sequel. With the game rumored to be using the Unreal Engine 5, we can only imagine the new fatalities the kombatants will be performing on each other, and what new “x-ray moves” or “fatal blows” Netherrealm Studios has in store for us.
What kind of game modes, the full roster, or what the story will be about are still a mystery, but I do know that this game will definitely reach peak levels of awesome! First we have Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and now Mortal Kombat 1?! 2023 is starting to become the year for fighting games.
That’s all I have for you today, I hope you all enjoyed this blog. Are you excited about the new MK game? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, be sure to leave a like and subscribe. This is your friendly neighborhood cosplayers saying goodbye, and see you next time.
Hall of Mercs 