When NetherRealm Studios was teasing the announcement of a new Mortal Kombat game, it was believed that we would be receiving Mortal Kombat 12. A title that would carry on the narrative from where Mortal Kombat 11 left off. But that’s not necessarily what we’re getting here. Instead, the game will be giving players a soft reboot, with Mortal Kombat 1 being a new timeline.
Speaking with VentureBeat, the co-creator of Mortal Kombat, Ed Boon, said the idea of creating a new big bang and restarting the game with a new timeline came after completing Mortal Kombat Aftermath. So, as a result, we will see some characters return, but they will have new relationships or different origins from what we might be used to seeing from previous games. But we’ll have to wait a bit longer before we get any details just where some characters end up in this game compared to the timeline we might be used to from the franchise.
But it looks like this game will have a few surprises on the subject of characters. During the same interview, Ed Boon was asked if players would just see the original Mortal Kombat cast or if we would see more characters from games outside of the original trilogy. Fortunately for fans of the franchise that have enjoyed the vast collection of games, you’ll see a few characters pop up across several different eras from the Mortal Kombat history, including the later 3D era.
Yes. We have characters who represent the arcade era, and then there’s the Deadly Alliance, Deception, Armageddon era. Then there’s the 9, X, 11 era. There are definitely some that you might take in as surprise appearances by some of the characters from the 3D eras.
Ed Boon – VentureBeat
However, you might also find that Mortal Kombat 1 will include some additional characters in the form of Kameo fighters. These are guest fighters that will be attached to your character during battles. It won’t be a tag system where you can swap characters completely. Instead, the Kameo characters can join into a fight with just a press of a button and deliver a quick combo attack.
Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat 1 is holding a closed beta test soon, which you can find out more about right here. Currently, Mortal Kombat 1 is set to launch into the marketplace on September 19, 2023. When the game does release, you’ll find it available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC platforms.
