037PREVIEW
Geras creates an anvil of sand before crushing his
opponent’s head on it with a massive hammer. His
main weapon, a hulking, Hellboy-like fist, makes us
giggle nervously as his combo ends in a brutal X-ray
slow-mo of Sonya Blade’s rib cage cracking.KLOSE-QUARTERS KOMBAT
Behind this bloodlust is a game that has evolved past
exploiting our love of seeing the red stuff flow. While
it handles much like Mortal Kombat X, it feels a little
slower and weightier; combat is closer and relies less
on projectile zoning.
Despite the crowd-pleasing visual punishment
there’s a revamped intelligence to the deeper systems
hidden behind those broken bones. A new Flawless
Block feature – a timed counter which leaves your
opponent unguarded – marries technical know-how
and graphic violence perfectly. Time these well and
you’ll get to see more of what you bought a ticket
for, be it a returning Skarlet drawing and weaponising
a foe’s own blood or Scorpion pushing a spear
through an opponent’s chest.
Leaning into this pro-play feel are two new meters
sitting neatly in the bottom corners. The horizontal
bar is for advanced defensive moves (including
environment attacks) and the vertical for amplified
special attacks. Both fill as you fight, and once
mastered you’ll be able to break combos,
roll from danger, and attack from the
ground (this drains both meters).
Want more tactical tweakery? Well, the
new Karacter Kreator – yep, it’s Mortal
Kombat – mixes a little of Injustice 2’s
stat-fiddling into the game. Ability points
earned in fights can be used to enhance
areas of a character’s moveset, tailoring a
fighter more to your style of play, making
counters or grapple attacks slightly more
damaging but at the expense of other areas.
It’s something that shouldn’t work in a
fighting game, but NetherRealm already
proved its worth in Injustice 2.
If you don’t want to get too technical you
can use the Kreator mode to tweak the look
of favourite characters. Unlocking and adding new
weapons and parts, masks, outfits, and more will
affect the look of your character. But you can also
earn and swap out intro animations, combo strings,
Fatalities... basically craft a version of one of the
series’ classic characters to your liking.TIME TO FIGHT
Anchoring everything is a new story campaign
presented in NetherRealm’s cinematic style, which
makes forcing characters to fight each other a
tightrope walk of credibility. Behind events is
Kronika – the series’ first female boss – who
oversees the balance of the universe. Upset by Dark
Raiden’s actions at the end of MKX she rewinds
time and starts the whole soap opera again.
What follows, we’re promised, is some time-
travelling hokum that has enabled the dev to
playfully revisit its classic roster as old versions of
characters battle their younger selves – an ageing
Johnny Cage will fight a cocky, flexing version of
himself, for example.
You won’t be forced to play as certain characters.
We’ll be able to affect the story’s outcome in certain
chapters, branching the narrative, likely into bloody
new directions, which sums up MK11 perfectly.FACTRICK
Towers Of Time is a new
tower-based mode that
will offer timed events,
challenges, and rewards.- KLIMB HIGH
The roster has yet to be
confirmed, but at launch
it will likely be around 21
characters from every MK.- KLASSIC ROSTER
Each character has three
fighting stances that can be
juggled with combos to vary
attacks and counters.- KOMBO APPEAL
Above Close-up X-ray cinematics break into the game when you perform a
brutal combo, allowing you to wallow in your opponent’s pain.
Above Character customisation is incredibly deep, but will
separate aesthetic and gameplay changes.
Above The Sands Of Time were never this violent. Geras can
manipulate his time powers to create sandy traps.
“THERE’S A REVAMPED
INTELLIGENCE TO THE
DEEPER SYSTEMS
HIDDEN BEHIND THOSE
BROKEN BONES.”