The latest trailer for Mortal Kombat 11 gives players a glimpse into its story focus on time travel, which will allow past and present iterations of the series’ most iconic fighters to brutalize one another with seemingly little regard for time paradoxes or disruptions of the space-time continuum. Showing off a number of well-recognized characters meeting (and beating) their temporal counterparts, Mortal Kombat 11 has greatly complicated the question of “who’s next” in the best way possible.
Unveiled late last year, Mortal Kombat 11 has been wearing its fixation with time-bending absurdity on its blood-soaked sleeve, with the reveal trailer depicting classic Scorpion avenging the death of his present-day döppelganger. Additionally, the feature was confirmed by another trailer released earlier this March. However, this latest promotional footage places this aspect of the upcoming game directly in the spotlight – just ahead of its much anticipated closed beta.
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Set to the fittingly juxtaposed hip-hop stylings of Ice Cube and Vince Staples, Mortal Kombat‘s newest trailer features a bevvy of characters engaging in the series’ trademark gory single combat, and the high points are by far those that pit modern versions of fighters against their classic complements. While the trailer includes a brutal Scorpion-on-Scorpion fight sequence that’s as obligatory as it’s satisfying, the tension between the past and present iterations of Johnny Cage takes center stage. Being the fighter that has perhaps changed the most from both the perspectives of visuals and lore out of all franchise mainstays, it’s humorously apt that even the modern Johnny Cage, who’s grown in humility and nuance with age, has grown to find the over-confidence and flashiness of his past self insufferable.
As the series quickly approaches its 27th anniversary, Mortal Kombat 11‘s time travel focus is a lighthearted exercise in self-reflection and self-deprecation to which the franchise’s most loyal players can no doubt easily relate. Finally, although the game’s new antagonist Kronika is notably absent, the latest story trailer more deeply explores her time-manipulating henchman Geras, who baffles a 1990s-era Liu Kang and Kung Lao by reanimating himself after suffering brutal decapitation.
From everything NetherRealm Studios has proudly put on display so far, Mortal Kombat 11 appears to have something for diehard fans and new players alike. Sporting an impressive cast of fighters greatly bolstered by both classic variants and entirely new additions, the storied fighting franchise admirably refuses to succumb to stagnation nearly thirty years on since its 1992 inception.
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