Highlights
- Mortal Kombat 1 is set to release with a solid base game roster of 15 characters, with the option to pre-order and receive a bonus character.
- The game's DLC, called the Kombat Pack, will add six new fully playable fighters, including both legacy characters and guest characters.
- In terms of star power and appeal, Mortal Kombat 1's DLC roster seems to have a broader appeal compared to Mortal Kombat 11's DLC roster, with popular legacy characters and characters from critically acclaimed shows and movies.
Downloadable content has been around for quite some time now, and though it had a controversial start in the 2000s, gamers have come to accept it, sometimes seeing it as a necessary evil, and sometimes viewing it as a great way to get more value out of a great game. But while gamers generally accept DLC for all different types of games, the fighting game genre is a bit more susceptible to backlash. For a while in the 2010s, some fighting games would release with a barebones roster, only to continue squeezing money out of players via DLC to get the rest of the fighters. Thankfully, things have changed a bit since then, and Mortal Kombat 1 looks to be a complete game on launch.
Mortal Kombat 1 currently has 15 characters confirmed for its base game roster, and technically 16 if the pre-order bonus Shang Tsung is counted. This number is already solid for a Mortal Kombat game, and NetherRealm hasn't finished announcing fighters just yet. But while Mortal Kombat 1's base game roster is sure to give fans plenty of characters to experiment with, those looking to get the most out of Mortal Kombat 1 can look to the game's recently announced DLC, which is set to bring six new fully playable fighters to the game, And when compared to Mortal Kombat 11's own DLC, Mortal Kombat 1 is already looking rather impressive.
How Mortal Kombat 1's First Kombat Pack Compares to Mortal Kombat 11's
Mortal Kombat 1's first Kombat Pack DLC adds six fully playable characters to the game. These include three Mortal Kombat franchise staples, Takeda, Quan Chi, and Ermac, as well as three guest characters, Peacemaker, Homelander, and Omni-Man. Without even comparing these choices to Mortal Kombat 11's own DLC roster, these are all great picks for Mortal Kombat 1. A game that's being marketed as a celebration of the entire Mortal Kombat franchise, it makes complete sense that Mortal Kombat 1's first DLC would split itself evenly between legacy characters that please long-time fans and guest characters intended to bring in newcomers.
Mortal Kombat 11's first DLC, which began rolling out gradually two months after the base game's launch, also added a total of six playable characters to the game and also followed a similar pattern of giving screen time to both legacy characters and guest fighters. Mortal Kombat 11's first Kombat Pack included Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, and Sindel, along with guest characters Joker, Spawn, and the Terminator. While the legacy DLC characters were all natural picks for Mortal Kombat 11, the guest characters were an interesting assortment, with two comic book characters - one being incredibly popular and the other incredibly niche - and an action movie icon.
Generally speaking, Mortal Kombat 1's current DLC roster might have a broader appeal than Mortal Kombat 11's first set of DLC characters. Takeda, Quan Chi, and Ermac are all fan-favorite legacy characters, Peacemaker starred in his own critically-acclaimed show, Omni-Man stole the show in Invincible, and Homelander has quickly become one of the most iconic love-to-hate villains in pop-culture history. When it comes to immediate star power, Mortal Kombat 1 seems to have the more impressive roster of the two, even when subsequent Mortal Kombat 11 DLC characters are included like RoboCop and Rambo.
Another interesting point of comparison between Mortal Kombat 1 and Mortal Kombat 11's DLC rosters is how NetherRealm has approached the actual designs of each character. Both Mortal Kombat 1 and Mortal Kombat 11 have done phenomenal jobs translating comic book and movie characters to the franchise's unique art style. While realistic characters like Peacemaker, Terminator, and Homelander are all probably fairly easy to model, characters rarely seen in live-action, like Omni-Man and Spawn, have both been translated extremely well, retaining all of their iconic details while being given a more realistic look.
Mortal Kombat 1 launches September 19 for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
