Mortal Kombat X will let you play some DLC characters without buying them

You don't have to buy Mortal Kombat X's DLC characters to play as them when the game launches on Tuesday, series creator Ed Boon said yesterday on Twitter.

There are some catches — you don't just get the character whenever you want him and her — but the "Challenge Towers" feature will have a "Premeire Tower" challenge that features a DLC character. Some wondered if they'd be denied access to that challenge if they didn't buy that character, and Boon says no, that's not the case.

It's not the same thing as unlocking a DLC character through play, but it is a way to sample additional fighters. Obviously, the benefit to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is that some players may choose to buy afterward.

Mortal Kombat X launches April 14 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. It has a $29.99 "Kombat Pack" season pass that delivers a slew of characters, including Predator, the alien antagonist of the 1987 film Predator, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of a group of ex-Special Forces soldiers who are hunted by an alien lifeform known as the Predator. Predator co-star Carl Weathers also features in the DLC.