Kombat Kontinues

Kudos!

I often remark to myself about how evergreen fighting games appear to be in comparison to other genres of game that we take for granted as always sticking around. You can take a look at series' like Call of Duty and figure that every game franchise out there has plodded along, spitting out entry after entry, with no relief. But for every Call of Duty there's a DOOM, which went on a such a giant Hiatus after 3 that people honestly thought that franchise was good and buried, or Wolfenstein, which suffered from the same agonizing wait for fans. Or maybe even franchises like Resistance, which still haven't resurfaced from the depths of existence to delight it's fans once more. Action adventure series God of War went through a total reimagination before it could come back to our screens, horror franchise Resident Evil didn't take quite as long off but there was a time when it's future looked iffy. By comparison, most fighting games out there seem utterly steadfast in their dedication to keep coming out.

And I mean that in the best possible way, mind. This isn't a situation like for most sports games where each title becomes progressively less innovative until we reach the point where those games periodically remove a feature each entry so it can be reintroduced a few games down the line as a revolutionary upgrade to the package. (We all know the grift off by heart at this point, it ain't fooling nobody!) Fighting games, specifically Mortal Kombat, have been kicking around since the days where the fighters were rendered with cut-up FMV stills plastered over the world because that was the only way to get vaguely realistic-looking human models in the product. To think we've evolved from an age where a human actor dressed up like Jean Claude Van Damme and had his picture taken doing multiple kicks and punches, to an age where a 3D model of that same character is simply being slathered in a Jean Claude Van Damme realistic skin as pre-order content- well, that's just wild!

When last we touched upon the world of Mortal Kombat, and it's admirable insistence on maintaining some form of a coherent narrative, I'm pretty sure most everyone was wandering where the franchise could possible go next. Mortal Kombat 11 had gone to almost Smash Bros Ultimate levels of expending every last ounce of energy it had throwing everything at the wall. Every character that could feasibly exist was brought back into the fold, with younger and older versions available for fans of either; the story was a time bending assault on the senses that jumped more sharks than the Jaws franchise, and it seemed as though every single loose end met some sort of resolution and was wrapped up. Of course there's always room for the technology to improve, but spectacle games like this are almost always about the scope to go one step ahead, without that scope how does one continue?

But I guess there is an exception to that 'constantly get bigger rule'. Every console generation appears to get one freebie 'reset opportunity' wherein a fighting game can get away with scaling back on the scope of it's title in order to focus on the fundamentals and reimaging them, or reinforce them, making use of the powers of the engine available. Maybe we want a new fluid feeling to the way that hits are thrown and connect, a greater emphasise on visual aplomb or a new level of gore that expands the gruesome ways in which our favourite characters can be 'Finished.' I'll expect improvements in all of these areas as we move on from Mortal Kombat 11's flurry of cast members and bombast into a relatively more sedate 'prequel' game: Mortal Kombat 1.

Indeed, Mortal Kombat 1 is set to be a reboot for the franchise that will reset everything back to square one with all the characters driven back to their primordial states; or perhaps even before such a time given that Scorpion seems to potentially be a living person in this game, as opposed to the undead vengeance driven spirit he has been throughout the franchise. Now those who've been kicking about the Mortal Kombat franchise for a while might furrow their brow at that news striking a long lost memory in their heads, and let me help elucidate as to why that might be. Perhaps those people are confused because this has already happened. Mortal Kombat 9 was a reset for the franchise that framed it's entire narrative as a remake of every previous game's narrative into one conjoined epic campaign which to this day remains the benchmark for quality fighting game storylines. An example the same company would follow again to deliver the indomitable 'Injustice' Games.

So it would seem that this time Mortal Kombat are committing to something of a harder reboot which won't just retell what has been but go it's own way. If I'm reading the rather spare teaser trailer we got, then it might even be a prequel detailing the events of how the tournament came to be in the first place- or perhaps they'll go another direction entirely. There is also the possibility that this story is instead a total world reset following the time bending events of Mortal Kombat 11, and what follows will be treated as a complete fresh start totally free from the tournament altogether. This seems like high concept speculation for a Mortal Kombat game, but Neather Realms love to put as much effort into their action stories as their moment-to-moment gameplay; it's part of what makes their games so entertaining to a fighting game Neanderthal like myself.

Of course, we can't have there be a Mortal Kombat game out in the world without it also involving several cameo characters who touch on popular culture in a way that is endearing and dating for the era of internet around the release of each game. That's pretty much fighting game tradition at this point. And if the leaks that have already hit the internet are to be believed, then we've got a testosterone fuelled 'gun show' coming for this game. John Cena's Peacemaker, shiny metal helmet and giant revolver in hand, will be bringing his excellent wit and earnest 'zealout dumb guy desperate to be the good guy' routine to this world. (Maybe with an Eagley cameo if we eat all our greens!) Then there's a character so iconic his every word and scene is in the process of being turned into memes as we speak, Homelander from 'The Boys'. And finally, cartoon Markiplier himself: Metroma- uh, I mean Omniman. (Very different characters. Different vibes.) A line-up of muscly larger than life characters like that almost seems to clash with the more sedate and mature tone that the teaser implied, but perhaps we can take these leaks as confirmation that the silly bloodbathed undertone of this franchise will very much not be diluted in the pursuit of 'something new'.

As moths are attracted to bright lights, fighting game franchises are attracted to new hardware generations; which is why I doubt anyone is surprised that we're currently looking at a year full of a new Street Fighter, a new Tekken and now a new Mortal Kombat game. (There's actually no confirmation that Tekken 8 is going to make 2023, but given it's competition seems ready to go the team better get a move on if they don't want to get lost in the dust.) Selecting the series you are most interested in is like boasting about your religion in a multi-cultural forum; fights are going to start. Still, as someone who is terrible at all fighting games and just likes to be around for the spectacle, the violent viscera emblematic of the Mortal Kombat franchise will win me over any day of the week. Welcome back, Nether Realm, we've all been anticipating you!