JULY 2020 PCWorld 75absolutely. But an
expansion to the
campaign? Who
would even buy
that? And if this
were most any
other fighting
game, the answer
would be
“Nobody.”
Still,
Aftermath
seemed
unwarranted. Unnecessary, at the very least.
Mortal Kombat 11 ended on a high note. Big
sky country, every possibility open.
Having Shang Tsung appear right after
and stop Liu Kang and Raiden in their moment
of triumph seemed contrived.
Then again, Mortal Kombat loves contrived.
It loves tropes. What I love most about Mortal
Kombat is it has the momentum of a dimestore
thriller, a beach read full of superheroes beating
the spines out of each other. If Shang Tsung
wants to interrupt, let him.
And it pays off. Aftermath is short. It’s five
chapters and around three hours, about half
the length of Mortal Kombat 11 proper. I don’t
usually spend a lot of time breaking down
costs for video games, because the value
proposition is different for everyone. That
said, $40 for Aftermath (go.pcworld.
com/40af) is...a lot. Half a campaign, and
three new characters—Fujin, Sheeva, and
guest star RoboCop. The math doesn’t really
add up, and that’s if we compare it to Mortal
Kombat 11 alone, with its full-length campaign
and 25 combatants. Or the fact you can get
the full Mortal Kombat 11 base game plus its
first run of add-on characters and Aftermath
for just $60. First-year buyers are getting
burned here.
If I’m disappointed at the price though, it’s
only because Aftermath is such a fantastic
expansion. It’s hard to justify the purchase for
those who are merely interested in Mortal
Kombat 11’s story, and yet it’s both one of the
most entertaining campaigns I’ve played this
year, and the most satisfying.
The MacGuffin this time is Kronika’s
crown. When Liu Kang bested Kronika at the
end of Mortal Kombat 11 he froze her in place,
then roundhouse kicked her icy head off,
shattering her skull into a million tiny pieces—
and her crown. Unfortunately Shang Tsung