GamesMaster, one of the United Kingdom’s most popular gaming magazines, had promised to reveal a brand new Mortal Kombat X character on or around the first of the year. But it’s very possible that Pelaaja, a Finnish gaming magazine, has scooped them by a single day.
According to Pelaaja (as translated by Test Your Might), the man with the razor-rimmed hat, Kung Lao, will take part in Mortal Kombat X’s far-future fight for the fate of the realm. Owing to the game’s time skip, this Kung Lao will be considerably older than the one that gamers are used to. Though how NetherRealm will explain away Kung Lao’s death during the events of 2011’s Mortal Kombat remains to be seen. But that didn’t stop Perlaaja from discussing Kung Lao’s three variations:
The differences between Kung Lao’s “Tempest,” “Buzz Saw” and “Hat Trick” variations happen to be the biggest ones yet. With “Tempest” Kung Lao uses more spinning attacks and has the ability to set his hat to spin around him as a shield of sorts. In his “Buzz Saw” variation his hat is sharpened with razor blade edges and allows the player to control his hat throws more. “Hat Trick” is the most experimental of the three, because you can throw and call back your hat at any point you want. This keeps the opponent on their toes, because the hat can extend combos.
The article also contains the first details about the game’s online faction system and the return of the Challenge Tower. Players will choose a faction when they first launch the game (Lin Kuei, White Lotus, Brotherhood of Shadows, Special Forces, or Black Dragon) and the system will control how the menus look based on the number Battle Points earned by players. How you earn Battle Points, and if they’ll have any impact on the game beyond the menus, is unknown. And as for the Challenge Tower, Pelaaja reports that “the towers and their challenges change constantly, even by the hour.”
Mortal Kombat X will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on April 14.
