It begins again!! Netherrealm Studios has officially announced the next installment in their long running flagship series to celebrate 30 years of mayhem. Mortal Kombat 1 serves as another soft reboot to the series with Lui Kang ascending to godhood and hitting the reset button. Not surprising given how the previous title, Mortal Kombat 11, ended with Lui Kang creating a new ear where he trains Kung Lao’s ancestor, the Great Kung Lao, for a battle that has yet to come.
Judging from the trailer, Mortal Kombat 1 appears to be kicking it up yet another notch with the game’s signature “Fatalities.” The game has been confirmed to feature a story mode, online multiplayer with rollback netcode, and offline gameplay. The game will introduce a feature called Kameo Fighters, which will provide assistance to the player during fights. These characters will be separate from the main roster and chosen before each fight.
As a longtime fan, I am looking forward to this next installment and I may need to brush up on my skills a bit. Mortal Kombat 1 launches September 19, 2023 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch and Windows via Steam.
So, I admit I have yet to play through Mortal Kombat 11; however, I did catch myself up on the story. Lui Kang gains godly powers from Raiden and basically pulls a “Flashpoint” with the entire timeline, resetting it all the way back to the Great Kung Lao’s era. I say this because we are greeted with Kitana and Mileena seemingly in the golden years of Outworld before Shao Kang’s shenanigans, we got human Scorpion meeting Sub-Zero without immediately killing each other and, I missed him at first, but the person who approaches Kung Lao in the field looks like a humanized Raiden. He’s got the white outfit, the amulet at his hip and signature conical hat. Also, we are introduced to a young Shang Tsung. We know the demon sorcerer’s youth has been restored before by Shoa Khan but the latter does not exist in this newly created timeline so we could be dealing with Shang when he first invades Earth Realm. Again, this is just a theory and what I think about the game’s possible story. It could happen this way or not. I’m good either way. But, one thing I am sure of is I will be there for this new era.
Until then, this is Devildriver1313 and I’ll see you “On the NXT LVL!”
