Mortal Kombat 11 launches next month and, to get everyone ready for the violent fisticuffs, NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Games have launched an “Official Story Trailer” to give us a peek at the sort of over-the-top antics players can expect from the blood-splattered narrative.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about NetherRealm in recent years, it’s that they actually know how to craft an entertaining story for a fighting game. The Injustice games are prime examples of that, and this latest offering from the world of Mortal Kombat appears to be borrowing heavily from those comic book tropes. While Injustice used the well-established alternate realities of the DC comic universe to explain why multiple versions of Batman and The Flash were roughing each other up in brutal brawls, it looks like the upcoming Mortal Kombat yarn will rely heavily on time travel.
The new trailer opens with a look at Chronica, Keeper of Time. She explains that she guides the destiny of the realms before letting everyone know that Raiden is apparently having a major negative impact on that balance.
In all honesty, it’s kind of hard to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are in this trailer, which is A-OK in my book. Maybe the actual game will draw more distinct lines but, from the trailer, it’s difficult to piece together Chronica’s true intentions, whether or not Raiden has gone rogue and if Shao Kahn and his crew, while clearly power-hungry, might actually be working to keep space and time from crumbling in on itself. You can, of course, feel free to include your own interpretation in the comments below.
The best part about these kinds of story modes is seeing characters who used to be barely more than avatars interact, work together, orchestrate double-crosses and, of course, punch each other’s heads off. And what’s cool about time travel is that it gives NetherRealm the opportunity to straight-up chop and screw their own lore, kill off characters aplenty and generally have fun with the insane universes they’ve created.
Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 but, given the media blitz NetherRealm has been on since announcing the game during the 2018 iteration of The Game Awards, it’s unlikely this is the last we’ll see of the game before it finally hits store shelves.
