Mortal Kombat 1 has just recently been announced and is set to bring a multitude of changes to the tried and true Mortal Kombat formula in terms of both gameplay and story. The trailer hints heavily at a timeline reset and a complete re-imagination of some of the most popular characters in the franchise. The biggest change is Liu Kang taking over the mantle of protector of Earthrealm from Raiden.
Alongside these changes, there's a massive shift in the gameplay of MK1 confirmed by the website. The introduction of Kameo or assist characters is a big revolution for the general Mortal Kombat formula and probably the biggest step Netherrealm Studios has taken in shifting the combat system of the franchise in over a decade. While other games, such as Dragon Ball Fighter Z, have been popular for their assist character mechanics, this is a new direction for Mortal Kombat, and it is, most definitely a welcome change for the future of Mortal Kombat and even Injustice.
5 Change is Good
While there is very limited knowledge as to what the exact Kameo Fighter system is going to be for this game, what is clear is that this will be the first major change to the combat style after a long time, and this is a good thing.
MK9, MKX, MK11, and even the two Injustice games had a largely similar combat style in terms of how a match plays out, with some minor tweaks here and there. While there was nothing inherently wrong with this, it had the potential of getting stale quickly, so this new feature could be great for spicing things up.
4 Kombatant Variety
A Mortal Kombat fan is never happy with the selection of characters. Even with a gigantic roster as incredible as MK11, there were still some complaints of certain characters being underappreciated and deserving a spot in newer games. Along with this, came the obvious complaint that a certain character is unnecessary and could easily be replaced by someone else.
Mortal Kombat has been around for decades, which means there are hundreds of characters for developers to pick through. A modern game roster is limited by the time and resources that the developer team has to fully flesh each character out.
Mortal Kombat has always done a good job with its rosters, but Kameo fighters present an opportunity to give the spotlight, to some extent, to characters that would not have been featured otherwise. It's also a chance to phase out some characters that always have to be in the game but could do with some time off, such as Kano and Sonya Blade. Overall, more obscure characters are likely to finally enter the spotlight.
3 Departure From MK11
Mortal Kombat 11 was an incredible game. It featured a fantastic roster, amazing graphics, and a really solid campaign, but its combat system was polarizing. While a focus on neutral game and footsies was welcome, the way the game was balanced made it so matches slowly devolved into zoning fests. Admittedly, zoning is an important part of any fighting game, but it was way too powerful in MK11. This made the meta somewhat stale, with the same 5 or 6 Kombatants featured in every online and competitive game.
As a result, the game became slower than it was intended to be. With Kameo fighters, not only will the game be much faster in pace, but certain Kameo characters can help overcome the weaknesses of rush-down characters that are susceptible to zoning.
2 Shift In Play Style
A Kameo or assist system can pivot the gameplay of Mortal Kombat 1 from a slower, more methodical system, to one that is focused on pressure and offense, similar to MKX but more balanced and reliant on assists covering the gaps between strings and unsafe moves. Looking at games like Dragon Ball Fighter Z or SkullGirls could show how this would develop.
A big benefit of this could be an overall improvement in the viewing experience for the competitive and e-sports scene, which is super important considering the imminent release of the new Street Fighter and Tekken games as well.
1 Player Freedom
A big focus of both MKX and MK11 has been players' freedom in developing how their characters play, be it the variation system in MKX or the load-out system in its successor. This has clearly been an important development that Netherrealm Studios cares about. While it's not guaranteed that similar systems will feature in MK1 so far, Kameo fighters on their own already allude to tons of player choice.
Players would be able to pick their Kameo fighters and see how they interact with the normal Kombatants they already use. This could lead to tons of diversity in terms of the combinations players make of their fighters and assists. Different assists could be picked for the same character for completely different objectives, meaning that no one character would be piloted the same way. Of course, fans are still far from seeing how this actually will play out, but it's an exciting change nonetheless.
Mortal Kombat 1 is set to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.