Because this involves time travel, Mortal Kombat 11’s story trailer today can be a little hard to follow. Big picture, this is giving us a reason for seeing multiple, historical forms of the roster’s familiar faces, all duking it out together when the game launches in April.
To get to the nitty gritty, Raiden has pissed off Kronika, the new big bad. His crackdown on evil in Earthrealm has upset the balance between good guys and bad guys. So Kronika decides the only solution to the imbalance between good guys and bad guys is to do a complete rewrite.
That means everyone — from across time — has to throw down on Shao Kahn and stop this ultimate retcon. It’s why shady-shades Johnny Cage is talking to his modern military bro self. We also get a second helping of cool fatal blows and fatalities, and confirmation of several characters returning to the roster: Erron Black, Jacqui Briggs, Cassie Cage, and Kotal Kahn all show up.
Mortal Kombat 11 gets over here April 23 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. It’s the first MK since 2015’s Mortal Kombat X. This morning, Polygon talked with NetherRealm Studios’ art director about how the game’s over-the-top fatalities are developed and illustrated.
