Where were you when Mortal Kombat 1 was kill? I was sitting at home, but the phone didn’t ring, and really, it wasn’t unexpected. Apparently, after the underwhelming performance of its Khaos Reigns expansion, NetherRealm Studios (or Warner Bros. Games, if we’re being serious) cancelled a rumored second story expansion. It also allegedly cancelled Kombat Pack 3, and by the time NetherRealm officially announced it was moving on, Mortal Kombat 1 didn’t even reach the promised “years” of support, barely making it to two.
It’s a shame in many ways, but especially when you look back to 2019 when a title called Mortal Kombat 11 hit. And what a glorious period it was.
Maybe it was at The Game Awards 2018 when the first trailer hit and we watched Dark Raiden battling Scorpion, the former absolutely demolishing the latter after a bone-crunching duel. Then a new challenger appeared and it was…Scorpion? What followed was an extravagant execution and the words, “You’re next” (alongside a teaser for the new big bad).
As it turns out, the story set-up dwarfed anything we had seen in previous Mortal Kombats – more so than stopping Onaga or Shao Kahn. This time, the forces of Earthrealm were up against a Titan, Kronika, who controlled time. Having gone a little too power mad, she decided the time was right to restart the timeline and herald a new era.
Heroes and villains were in a pretty complicated spot. Between Dark Raiden and his machinations, Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Kitana being Revenants, and so on. Kronika further muddled things by bringing their past versions to the present. Johnny Cage had to deal with his past self, which really showcased how far the character has progressed; the original Raiden effectively removed his dark variant from the timeline; the Cyber Lin Kuei was starting back up; and, perhaps best of all, Shao Kahn was back and as brutal as ever.
The highlights only escalated from there, whether it was Liu Kang and Raiden finally reconciling their differences and finding a way to coexist, Kitana overcoming past demons and achieving her destiny, Scorpion and Sub-Zero teaming to dispense the Cyber Lin Kuei, and, of course, the penultimate battle. And who could forget that launch trailer with a modernized version of Techno Syndrome from the first Mortal Kombat? Granted, the boss fight against Kronika wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and she wasn’t the best-written villain per se, but when it was all said and done, it felt like Mortal Kombat had truly culminated years and years of history in epic fashion.
On the gameplay side, there were other issues, specifically with the amount of grinding involved in the Towers of Time and The Krypt. Players quickly realized that they could use an AI version of Noob Saibot with the best moves and leave it to farm the Towers overnight for enough currency. NetherRealm eventually fixed this and reduced the grinding while also revamping some of the Towers’ challenges to feel less frustrating. And it’s a good thing because, as far as unlockables go, the Krypt was simply fantastic, offering an explorable space with secrets, Easter eggs and cool references. Towers also provided some fun single-player content, including the Klassic Towers that mimicked the Arcade Mode of older titles and offered different conclusions depending on who defeated Kronika.
As for the actual combat, opinions remain a bit mixed, leaning towards the positive. Mechanics Fatal Blows worked similarly to X-Ray Moves, though they were more like comeback mechanics, but Krushing Blows added a new degree of brutality to special moves. The overall speed had dropped massively compared to Mortal Kombat X and Breakaway, which allowed for escaping air combos and gaining armor as your character dropped. Depending on who you asked, it was either an annoyance or the worst mechanic in the series to date.
Nevertheless, the overall system is robust enough and offers a good amount of enjoyment once you’ve mastered the fundamentals. Kustom Variation was also a nice system, allowing one to customize move sets for characters to their liking. The fact that this was decoupled from gear also made it significantly better than Injustice 2’s Gear system.
That being said, Mortal Kombat 1 is considered better in terms of actual combat and mechanics, striking a strong balance between speed and combo potential. The Kameo Fighters added some interesting dynamics and extensions, but didn’t exactly light the world on fire. On top of having to master more than one character for fights (because they weren’t optional), they were considered an ill-fitting addition in a series geared towards 1v1 fights.
It is a new era, though – one with new beginnings…sort of. Leaving aside the absolute cluster of the finale, the story itself was received well, and it was nice seeing the world and its characters in a different light. But after the conclusion of Mortal Kombat 11, the stakes weren’t anywhere near as insane (and none of this matters much anyway once the multiverse shenanigans began). The Krypt was also gone, and Invasions felt completely superfluous with its challenges and super armor-touting enemies, despite offering a neat concept.
However, perhaps the biggest fundamental difference between the titles is their overall level of polish, at least at launch. Mortal Kombat 1 felt far buggier – the Player 1 advantage was a whole rigmarole unto itself – and the monetization felt excessive. Perhaps because of these reasons, it sold only five million plus copies about two years after its launch.
Mortal Kombat 11 sold over 15 million copies, and to be fair, it was available on more platforms over a longer period. But the sheer hype surrounding the franchise was palpable – fans had waited years for a follow-up, and the concept of progressing through a timeline reset by Liu Kang was intriguing. It had everything in terms of marketing and hype, and while selling over five million copies isn’t terrible, a third of its predecessor’s sales by this point is a significant drop.
Now that both titles have effectively concluded their post-launch support, it’s easy to look back and appreciate just how much better Mortal Kombat 11 really was. It also highlights the perils of making a sequel, especially in such a long-running franchise. You could pack in the greatest graphics, the sleekest gameplay, award-winning voice actors and dozens of hours of content, and still slip up. This can happen to several different franchises, especially as budgets grow and developers attempt to reach the largest possible audience. Very few have the burden of NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat series, though.
It’s not just a blockbuster triple-A title that millions of people want to play. It’s also an illustrious fighting game series with extensive lore. Even with all the reboots and resets, Mortal Kombat still commands attention in a way that many other fighting games simply can’t. The benefits of being so well known collide with the expectations of constantly one-upping itself in terms of story content. On the other hand, FGC fans can simultaneously have wildly different opinions about what constitutes good gameplay and mechanics while also uniting on truly awful things. Catering to all these different people will always be challenging, and while I don’t think Mortal Kombat 1 ended up a terrible game, it’s definitely a step down from Mortal Kombat 11.
The series has seen a resurgence of sorts, thanks to the latest trailer and details for the Mortal Kombat 2 film, which seems like a massive improvement compared to the 2021 film. In a way, it indicates the long-term appeal of Mortal Kombat – of seeing these characters, presented in different ways but still paying loving homage to the originals. Whether the next game manages to fill that void or not – and judging from the rumors, it’s going to be a while before we find out – here’s hoping that NetherRealm cracks the code and offers a follow-up that both new and long-time players can enjoy.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.