Mortal Kombat 1 preview and interview – fighting for a new universe

There may not be an E3 this year but while the Summer Game Fest was primarily a livestream event there was a small number of games available for hands-on in the days afterwards, at Play Days 2023 in Los Angeles. I had the chance to play 30 minutes of Mortal Kombat 1 and while it was already obvious that it’s not a massive deviation from Mortal Kombat 11 there are plenty of new features to justify its existence, including the all-new kameo support characters, that you can call in to help your main fighter.

Mortal Kombat 1 presents an alternate timeline that reimagines the events and characters of the previous games in an entirely new universe. The story centres around the tournament held by the enigmatic and powerful Elder Gods, who have chosen Earthrealm as the battleground for iconic warriors such as Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero, as an otherworldly menace lurks in the shadows.

Even though everything has changed in terms of story, Mortal Kombat 1 is also a loving homage to the franchise’s roots, with most of the kameo fighter designs inspired by the look of the characters in the first three games. Added to this, though, are elements from the modern games, such as bone-crunching X-ray attacks and easier to perform fatalities.

‘We’ve made it a lot freer for the player, you kind of come up with your own crazy combos, and especially with the kameo assists you can create different combinations of teams that can either benefit you one way or another dependent upon how you want to play the game,’ lead system designer Derek Kirtzic told me.

‘Some people like to play a zoning game or they stay far back and then throw projectiles and are very precise. You can select a kameo that can complement that and you can add additional projectiles, so you can try and keep your opponent as far away as possible. Or you can pick a kameo that can help you up close as well.

‘So if you’re more of a pressure player, you can have a kameo that can also add into that pressure to really complement the way you want to play. Also, with the aerial combat, you’re able to extend combos in different ways than we’ve been able to before.’

The timing for things like ariel assists is tricky but there’s an excellent tutorial system to help explain both the controls and the concepts and tactics behind a fight.

“It’s very, very friendly to pick up and play, you can pick up the controller and with the kameos, and just the simplicity of what combat generally has been before, it’s a fun and rewarding experience, even if you don’t know necessarily what you’re doing,’ says Kirtzic.

‘We also have a very inviting environment with the tutorial system to teach you, from the most casual experience to a very in-depth competitive experience down to, like, reading frame data and even understanding that system. But also, it’s brightness and beauty that can draw a player in as well, because the game just looks absolutely gorgeous and amazing. And of course, all the Mortal Kombat fatalities.’

During the hands-on I enjoyed playing as Kitana, with her steel fans, assisted by Jax who did his Ant-Man move by growing huge and stomping on our opponent. Long-time favourites like Raiden and Johnny Cage also return, each with updated move-sets and unique abilities. The game also introduces fresh faces, such as the enigmatic sorcerer Kassandra and the agile Takeda.

‘It’s always good to put a fresh take on characters, you want to keep them fresh, give them new tools, and have them play different from game to game to game, right? Yes, Scorpion is going to have his spear, of course,’ says Kirtzic.

‘Sub-Zero will always have his ice ball. But what other tools and fun things can we give these characters to really mix it up then make them play differently than they have before? Right? That’s something we’ve always really wanted to focus on every instalment.’

The characters themselves look great, with an impressive level of detail that goes all the way down to the hairs on their chins, but the arenas also have a great sense of scale, from a quaint looking teahouse to a hilltop mansion. NetherRealm’s commitment to realism extends to the game’s sound design, with bone-crushing impacts, a thundering soundtrack, and fun voice-acting that adds an extra layer of immersion.

‘This is Mortal Kombat at its finest. We have taken so many things from the previous titles. I mean, from almost Armageddon to Mortal Kombat 11. We’ve built on them, and we’ve improved on them. And we’ve made them better than they ever have been before. And it’s really fun to see this game is kind of like the evolution of 30 years – at least the last 20 years of Mortal Kombat, from like the council era – and it’s really refreshing, adds Kirtzic.

‘It’s a lot of fun. It’s fast paced, and you can just see some real nostalgic moments, especially with the Kameo system and some of those classic fatalities – it’s just a really good, fresh start to move things.’

It doesn’t take long to tell whether a fighting game has the right stuff or not, but Mortal Kombat 1 is a tun of fun. There are going to be the usual concerns about the level of gore in the fatalities, which does seem over-the-top at times, but the action is fast, accessible, and different enough from the last one to fully justify its existence.