“Mortal Kombat One” is the latest installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise. MK1 serves as a soft reboot for the beloved fighting series. In this new entry, Fire God Liu Kang resets the timeline and creates a new era.

 This new era in the Mortal Kombat universe includes changes to many fan-favorite characters. Scorpion and Sub-Zero are now brothers, Baraka and Mileena have a disease, and Raiden is the chosen one. These changes tell a fresh take on a story that has been around for over 30 years. 

The new “kampaign” tells a great and intriguing story that some believe gets over-complicated and bloated by the end. The ending might satisfy some fans, but nevertheless, it is still complex. It adds factors that don’t fit the grounded story they were trying to tell. Mortal Kombat structures its story by playing each part as a different character. This hurts the story because aside from each character’s part, they don’t have enough time for character development. This leaves the characters to feel stale. It doesn’t help that the roster includes 22 playable characters. Despite all these factors, the story still remains intriguing throughout and tells one of the better stories in the franchise.

“I liked the characters, the fighting, and the story,” said long-time Mortal Kombat fan TheEastLegend, an anonymous Xbox user who agreed to be interviewed over a call.

The gameplay remains mostly the same as previous entries.  The goal is to defeat the other player two out of three rounds using a variety of moves at their disposal. If you win two rounds you have the opportunity to do a “fatality.” A fatality is a long button combination that is difficult to memorize, but if successful, you do a gory finisher move to the opponent.

The main new addition to the gameplay is “Kameo fighters.” Kameo fighters act as an assist character. The player can press a button and the Kameo fighter will jump into the fight and do an extra attack. Kameo fighters are a welcome new addition to the franchise because they add an extra factor to think about, and they could help you if you’re stuck in a combo from the opposing player. 

“I love Kameos, they’re like characters but not,” said TheEastLegend.

The graphics are incredible and give the game a very cinematic feel. The landscapes even look like reality at times. The power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S helps the game reach its fullest potential in terms of graphics. However, none of this applies if you’re playing the game on the Nintendo Switch due to its outdated software. This old software causes the game to run and look poorly compared to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

“Mortal Kombat One” is a decent entry to a franchise that excels in graphics, gameplay, and most of the story. It is sure to satisfy both returning fans and newcomers to the franchise.