Mortal Kombat 11 Gear is Cosmetic-Only, Augments Affect Gameplay

NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat 11 will be pursuing a gear system not unlike Injustice 2 when it launched in May 2017. While the latter had a good way of balancing its gear, making it irrelevant in online competitive PvP modes, Mortal Kombat 11 is taking a different approach. This time, gear will serve to customize your character’s appearance and won’t have any stats.

Xbox Wire recently asked core technology group producer Trevor Traub about the difference between both games with regards to their gear systems. He responded, “One of the major differences is that the gear itself has no stats. It’s cosmetic-only.”

However, players can still find items that will change the way certain moves work. These are called augments, and as per Traub, they can “modify either moves or gameplay or recovery windows.”

“Those are all different,” he said. “So, the gear itself is the cosmetic component, and then the augments are all different types of loot you can get throughout the game. You can deeply customize your character. Like Skarlet has a bunch of different arguments.

“You can make her get even more life from blood, totally different things like that. You can make different versions of your character. And those customizations will be seen online, but it’s not quite like Injustice 2 — your stat changes won’t all be in play online, but the cosmetic choices will be seen by other players.”

It’s an interesting choice, though one must remember that Injustice 2 used RNG loot boxes (called Mother Boxes) to dole out different gear. You won’t be seeing loot boxes in Mortal Kombat 11 though. Speaking to Angry Joe on YouTube, producer Ed Boon said that loot boxes won’t be included in the microtransactions. Perhaps, like other recent games, NetherRealm’s fighter will offer cosmetics for in-game and/or premium currency (and likely have the latter earned over-time).

Mortal Kombat 11 is out on April 23rd for Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC (though the Switch version in Europe seems to be slightly delayed). A beta for the game is scheduled to take place in March for Xbox One and PS4. Pre-ordering the game will net players beta access and iconic series villain Shao Kahn as a day 1 character.