NetherRealm Studios confirmed off the primary gameplay from Mortal Kombat 1 on Thursday at Summer season Recreation Fest, revealing extra of its roster, teases of a narrative, and our first have a look at a brand new characteristic referred to as Kameo Fighters.
In an interview with host Geoff Keighley, Mortal Kombat co-creator and NetherRealm chief inventive officer Ed Boon additionally dropped a couple of new particulars about MK1, exhibiting that staple options like combo breakers and X-ray strikes will return, and providing an concept of what number of playable characters will seem within the Mortal Kombat 11 sequel.
Right here’s what else we discovered from Mortal Kombat 1’s gameplay reveal.
Mortal Kombat 1’s roster dimension
![Geoff Keighley and Ed Boon chat in front of a screen showing the Mortal Kombat 1 character select screen, with Sub-Zero and Liu Kang highlighted, at Summer Game Fest](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FDxSd49uXSusbVvWYjlh1pyJyRI=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24714137/Mortal_Kombat_1_Interview_with_Ed_Boon___Summer_Game_Fest_2023_1_56_screenshot.jpg)
Picture: Summer season Recreation Fest
The character choose display screen proven at Summer season Recreation Fest signifies that Mortal Kombat 1 will characteristic a base roster of 24 fighters. That’s on par with Mortal Kombat 11, which launched with 25 fighters (together with pre-order bonus Shang Tsung and unlockable character Frost). To date, we’ve seen Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kitana, Mileena, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Kenshi playable as a part of the roster.
Mortal Kombat 1 could have a separate roster of Kameo Fighters, characters that may help the primary roster in battle. The Kameo character choose display screen proven at Summer season Recreation Fest signifies that Mortal Kombat 1 will characteristic at the least 16 fighters. Outdated-school variations of Sonya, Kano, Jax, Sub-Zero, Stryker, Goro, and Kung Lao have been proven on the Kameo roster.
Kameo Fighters might be referred to as in with the press of a button, Boon says, and in gameplay we see them serving as each combo extenders and combo breakers. It seems they’ll even be a part of MK1’s model of Deadly Blows, these gory, bone-crushing assaults from MK11.
Lastly, it seems that Kameo Fighters could have quite a lot of costumes. Within the gameplay trailer, we see Sonya sporting each her traditional Mortal Kombat leotard and her sportier getup from Mortal Kombat 3.
Basic Mortal Kombat levels return
![Mileena and Liu Kang battle in the Living Forest stage in a screenshot from Mortal Kombat 1](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GOf1PICGL0StMLZZsMIpPcV3d8k=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24714103/Mortal_Kombat_1___Official_Gameplay_Debut_Trailer_3_0_screenshot.jpg)
Picture: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Video games
Gameplay footage exhibits variations of the Residing Forest, first seen in Mortal Kombat 2, and the Wu Shi Academy stage from Mortal Kombat: Lethal Alliance.
Phases will even apparently have day and evening variations. NetherRealm confirmed Johnny Cage’s Hollywood dwelling in each daytime and nighttime kind, and the choice to pick time of day at Fengjian Teahouse, the place Kenshi and Sub-Zero throw down, is proven within the menu beneath — proper underneath Kano’s snot rocket.
![The character and stage select screen from Mortal Kombat 1, featuring Sub-Zero, Sonya, Kano, and Kenshi](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bLjV7-DVh6NDW3YfYAHH-ACCYXk=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24714104/Mortal_Kombat_1_Interview_with_Ed_Boon___Summer_Game_Fest_2023_2_29_screenshot.jpg)
Picture: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Video games through Summer season Recreation Fest
New origin tales
![Mileena lays on a doctor’s chair in a screenshot from Mortal Kombat 1. Kenshi is nearby.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pK3z1h-1rTp2uMaaaUEe7c2gW5M=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24714206/Mortal_Kombat_1___Official_Gameplay_Debut_Trailer_2_31_screenshot.jpg)
Picture: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Video games
Given Mortal Kombat 1’s setting previously, it shouldn’t be too shocking that MK canon goes to vary. However two characters, Mileena and Kenshi, seem to undergo some large modifications in Mortal Kombat 1. A teaser for the sport’s story mode signifies that Mileena, heretofore established as a mutant clone of Kitana, might undergo a special destiny: The gameplay trailer hints that Mileena is affected by some illness that (presumably) Kitana worries that, if found, will see her banished from their kingdom.
Kenshi, famously a blind swordsman, additionally seems to have common imaginative and prescient throughout parts of the story, so we might even see him blinded throughout the course of occasions of MK1. Maybe it has one thing to do with Kurtis Stryker, and his flashlight/stun gun that seems able to blinding a god!
![Kurtis Stryker blinds Liu Kang with a powerful flashlight in a screenshot from Mortal Kombat 1](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mMQDKeQ5H6uo7oTlpW4uyx4JdfE=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24714222/Mortal_Kombat_1___Official_Gameplay_Debut_Trailer_3_4_screenshot.jpg)
Picture: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Video games
The MK forged has some new strikes
![Kano fires his eye beam at Liu Kang, protecting Sub-Zero while doing so, in a screenshot from Mortal Kombat 1](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/S-6h-EpQ0UtRJCTutodfX8yYzuk=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24714100/Mortal_Kombat_1_Liu_Kang__Sub_Zero__Kano__Kameo__6.8.jpg)
Picture: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Video games
Initially, let’s simply level out how thoughtful Kameo fighter Kano is being right here, holding his accomplice’s head down and out of hazard when he fires his eye beam.
Picture: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Video games
Second, Sub-Zero loves ripping spines out of individuals a lot that he’s perfected making a cranium and backbone out of ice to make use of as a mace in opposition to his opponents. This man completely adores human spines! And ice!
![Johnny Cage, doing a split, smashes Kenshi’s face into a Hollywood Walk of Fame-style tile in a screenshot of a Fatality from Mortal Kombat 1](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0FiTHHsZpVLHZQPlF8npXED2j6Y=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24714102/Mortal_Kombat_1___Official_Gameplay_Debut_Trailer_3_34_screenshot.jpg)
Picture: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Video games
Lastly, in one other good (ugly) contact, considered one of Johnny Cage’s Fatalities sees him doing his signature break up as he smashes his opponent’s face on an off-brand Hollywood Stroll of Fame star — with the Kenshi title plate! That’s consideration to element.
Mortal Kombat 1 is coming to Nintendo Swap, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Collection X on Aug. 18.