NetherRealm Studios hosted another “Kombat Kast” yesterday to pull the curtain back a bit more on Mortal Kombat X. Derek Kirtzic, Steve Brownback, and Tyler Lansdown covered a lot of ground in this episode, so let’s not waste any time…
At nine minutes in, we’re treated to our first extensive look at Mileena, including her three variations. Players who pick Mileena will be able to use “Ethereal,” which is heavy on teleportation tricks, “Piercing,” which will add unique sai attacks to her repertoire, and “Ravenous,” which drops the mask and lets Mileena make literal lunch out of her opponent.
At 19 minutes in, Takashi Takeda makes his Mortal Kombat X debut. Takeda is the son of Kenshi and pupil of Scorpion, so his fighting style borrows from both of them. His “Shirai Ryu” variation mimics Scorpion with teleports and his own take on the “Get over here!” spear. His second variation, “Lasher,” gives Takeda electrically-charged whips. And “Ronin” adds Kenshi’s penchant for swordplay to the character.
At 32 minutes in, the developers talk about game modes, including the re-introduction of Test Your Luck, a mode that adds “hundreds” of different modifiers to a fight, three-to-seven of which are chosen randomly before the fight begins. Kustom Kombat takes the randomness out of Test Your Luck by allowing players to choose which modifiers they’d like to use. The full list of modifiers was briefly shown, which hinted at a few unannounced characters including Kabal, Cyrax, Rain, Smoke, and Stryker. This quintet might not make it into the final game, but at the very least, their special moves will. The three develoeprs also confirmed that PS3 fight sticks will be compatible with the PS4 version of Mortal Kombat X during this segment. Sorry, Xbox One owners.
At 47 minutes in, the Kombat Kast shifted focus back onto another new character, Kung Jin, a descendant of Kung Lao. His three variations include “Ancestral,” which features powered-up arrow attacks, “Bojutsu,” which features staff-based attacks, and “Shaolin,” which adds a chakram throwing weapon to his arsenal.
Finally, at 59 minutes in, NetherRealm revealed the Quitality, a new kind of Fatality that explodes your opponent’s head if they quit on you in an online match. The Quitality is not meant to punish the person who quits, but rather, to give the person who stayed in the game a sense of satisfaction.
Mortal Kombat X is a little less than four weeks away and will be released on April 14 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. A PS3 and Xbox 360 version will follow in the Summer.
