Mortal Kombat 1 is a new era, but still loves its legacy

Welcome to the new era

NetherRealm Studios is rebooting the Mortal Kombat universe again with Mortal Kombat 1. The slightly confusingly named MK takes everything back to its origins, and then twists it. The characters and combat that have become enshrined in pop culture history are still here, but with adjustments both big and small.

This feeling of old nostalgia blending into new ideas kept coming to my mind while playing Mortal Kombat 1. I got a chance to play some matches of MK1 as part of Summer Game Fest 2023, climbing the classic towers with each of the characters available. And while MK is looking ahead to a new future, there’s still a piece of it that loves to honor the past.

Here comes a Kameo

The biggest, most obvious addition to Mortal Kombat 1 is its Kameo Fighters. Rather than duking it out one-on-one, each player selects a main fighter—the one they’ll primarily play as—and a tag-in Kameo Fighter. These characters can be called in to perform special attack every so often, with a cooldown in-between uses.

To be clear, Mortal Kombat 1 is not becoming a tag fighter. These fighters don’t have health bars, and can’t be fully subbed in. In my playtime, I had Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kenshi, and Kitana available as main characters. For Kameos, I could choose Kano, Sonya, or Jax.

Calling in Kameos is easy enough. Hit R1, and they’ll hop in to do an assist move. Additionally, different directions and inputs can change things up, like holding R1 to have Sonya charge up her energy projectile. Some can even have effects on both players, like Jax slamming the ground.

These Kameo fighters offer an interesting twist to the usual cadence of Kombat. Picking a certain fighter can help shore up another’s weaknesses. Or, you can lean heavy into their strengths. A pairing like Sub-Zero and Sonya can get cooking fast, or a Kitana / Kano duo can be a real pain to approach.

Differences like these help, as Mortal Kombat 1 is still an MK game at its core. I don’t pretend to be particularly talented at Mortal Kombat; its story and characters are the draw for me, but I don’t really dive deep into the competitive side of things. From that perspective, Mortal Kombat 1 feels a bit odd at first. It’s a familiar-feeling game with sudden jolts of difference, thanks to its Kameos.

Fire god walk with me

This strange sense feels thematically appropriate for Mortal Kombat 1, which takes place in Liu Kang’s new era. If you didn’t check out Mortal Kombat 11 or its DLC Aftermath (you really should), the story of NetherRealm’s time-travel shenanigans sees Liu Kang become a new god and reboot the universe.

It is the same universe, so many familiar faces return. But because of the shift, some things have changed. The most notable is the shift in dynamics between characters; Liu Kang is a Raiden-like figure, who seems to be maintaining order in his new world.

The recent SGF trailer hints at other changes. Kitana seems to be attendant to Mileena, and Kung Lao is filling Liu Kang’s shoes as Earthrealm’s fighter. And Raiden is… just some dude with lightning powers, I guess? I’m curious to see where all of this goes.

Aside from shifting those roles, though, my gameplay at SGF showed that Mortal Kombat 1 still has some nostalgia for its roots. Sonya, Kano, and Jax all appear in throwback outfits, in what feels like an homage to the actual first Mortal Kombat. It’s also worth mention that MK1 is absolutely gorgeous. Everything, from the character models and backgrounds to the brutal Fatalities (and the one Brutality I got by accident) look fantastic.

I will say, the Fatalities I saw didn’t do too much for me. The almost-cartoonish, Itchy and Scratchy ones are more my style, and the ones I saw didn’t quite hit that mark, outside of maybe Liu Kang’s. There is, apparently, one where Jax grows to massive proportions and stomps on someone. So that’s pretty neat.

More-tal Kombat

My gameplay session largely consisted of seeing how the new Kameo fighters played. And for intense, competitive fans of MK, it does seem like the assist options could open up some interesting combo routes and options. It certainly felt great when everything clicked for me, and I got a smooth combo with both my main and Kameo fighter rolling.

For “kasual” fans, I think the appeal will be where it’s been for those who like to dip in and out of NetherRealm’s titles: the world of Mortal Kombat. The studio is starting from an interesting position, trying to play around with the established canon while building a new one. And that could be a pretty interesting universe to explore in gruesome, gory detail.

Mortal Kombat 1 will hit PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch on September 19.