Mortal Kombat 1 is a spectacular fresh start for the franchise

Four years after the release of Mortal Kombat 11, we finally have the sequel to Netherrealm Studios’ popular franchise, bringing with it many changes to its gameplay and a new story with new origins for its characters and a new beginning in a universe created by the god of fire Liu Kang.

So don’t expect to see the same characters you know from the other games, now everything is new!

Mortal Kombat 1 is a masterpiece in its graphics and art direction

Something that always surprises me about the latest Netherrealm Studios games is their graphic work in terms of realism and facial expressions. Injustice 2 and Mortal Kombat 11 were already incredible and with each new game we are surprised by more quality.

But here, in addition to the beauty of the realistic graphics, we have an art direction that I personally find superior to the studio’s other games, as each setting is better than the next. During the gameplay, the people watching the livestream were more impressed by the stages than by the combat itself.

Combined with the story mode, which works like a movie, the game is perfectly suited to a livestream, as there will be plenty of content for the streamer to cover for his audience, after all, between the gameplay, there will be scenes that are very well crafted like a movie and viewers will follow along wanting to know the outcome of the story, including a breathtaking final act.

The game is fun and has content for many livestreams

In Mortal Kombat 1 we have a lot of content for the player. In addition to the story and versus modes, here we have the invasions mode, where you will choose your character and travel around various boards, similar to the maps in games like Super Mario World or World of Light from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and there you will have fights, mini-games, sub-bosses and bosses at the end of each area.

The invasion mode has modifiers and even special effects in the fights, such as Kitana jumping to the back of the stage during the fight and throwing fans for me to dodge.

Here we will gain experience for the characters and distribute attribute points like in a role-playing game, which will make some fights easier if these points are well distributed. But don’t worry, all the characters evolve at the same time, so you can change characters at will.

The game has a system of elements similar to Pokémon: a fire-element Scorpion has an advantage against an ice-element Sub-Zero, so there’s a lot of strategy and content here. In a live stream, the streamer will have various challenges to share with their audience.

This mode works in seasons, each lasting around 6 weeks, so there will always be new content to cover in lives and with each new season, more people will want to watch and discover the secrets of the maps.

Improved progression and dubious choices by the developers

Mortal Kombat 11 was widely criticized for its method of unlocking content, especially for being too random and too dependent on the premium store where we used real money. Here we still have the premium store, but you can unlock a lot of content just by playing, for example, in the premium store there was an outfit for Sindel and I was able to unlock it without having to buy it.

In addition, each character now has a mastery system where the more you play with them, the more things you unlock. However, here come the dubious choices: by finishing the story mode, I expected my profile to have at least gained some levels, and no, you don’t get levels for finishing the story mode, leaving 5 kameo characters, who are supports, blocked.

Also, as of the date of this review, the second player doesn’t have access to player 1’s unlocks. For a fighting game, this is very strange and really limits the experience. The same goes for the game’s skins choice system: with many different outfits to unlock, you can only equip one at a time, and you can’t change at any time, which makes no sense to force the player to go back to the menu, change the outfit, then open versus and play.

The customization mode has also been simplified. It now only has one item for each character, which may put some people off compared to the previous title, where there were three pieces for each character as well as other things.

Online gameplay will appeal to a wide audience

Fighting games really shine in their online mode and here we’ll have plenty of characters for the streamer to bring and play ranked modes, such as the Kombat League, where you’ll unlock more clothes, accessories, titles and more things for the characters.

What’s more, being able to face members of your community who are following the live stream will also add more fun to the broadcast. There is currently no cross-play, but it has been announced that it will be added in the future, allowing more people to play against each other and even more content to be created.

The game has been tested in its STEAM version in early access since September 14th.

On my machine, it ran well, there were some bugs and crashes in invasion mode, but I finished the story mode without any problems and played a lot with very few problems, but be warned: it requires a powerful machine and preferably one that is installed on an SSD, otherwise it could affect performance.

Also be aware that the game has a high level of violence, which may bother some people who watch the livestreams, after all, with the realistic graphics and increasingly brutal fatalities, some people may be bothered. But for those who like it, Mortal Kombat 1 is a real treat, with lots of detail and grotesque sound effects.

In addition, the game is available in 13 languages, including dubbing in 7 languages. Making easier for streamers to bring to their viewers.

Fezudu