Get back over here!
I thought my time on Mortal Kombat 11 came to a close following the release of Spawn in March. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't enjoy the game or think it's bad, if anything NetherRealm has absolutely outdone themselves with the latest entry in the Mortal Kombat series. But without any indication of what was happening after Kombat Pack 1, I wondered if that would be it. After playing with Spawn for a couple of weeks, I finally called it, said my farewells and uninstalled the game from my hard drive. Despite the sense of finality I felt regarding MK11, I still felt as though something was coming, that despite the games apparent end there was something waiting to reach out it's cold dead hand and drag me back into kombat.
Well now, with the announcement of Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath arriving in two weeks time, it seems my instincts were correct. From what seemed to be thin air, NetherRealm studios released the announcement trailer for the next set of content for Mortal Kombat 11 dubbed Aftermath. What's unique about this however is that it won't be another standard pack of new characters, but rather an expansion of the base game, adding new chapters to the story mode, characters, stages, and other new features.
The emphasis of the expansion is the additional story content that comes with it, which is something I don't think too many people expected (me, included) however it is a welcome surprise. The story mode for MK11 has to be one of the more enjoyable story modes I played last year, so the prospect of more has already grabbed my attention. The new story chapters will be taking place after the events of the main game, where it appears series favourite character Shang Tsung, will be leading a suicide squad-esque team back in time to stop time itself being destroyed. So, you know, nothing too bonkers. The trailer shows that the new story will start almost immediately after the end of the main story, where Shang Tsung explains to both Liu Kang and Raiden that they can't reset history without main antagonist Kronicas crown (which liu Kang destroyed). This is why we'll see Shang Tsung and his rag-tag team of kombatants back through certain points of the main story, maybe even changing parts of the story in the process. Knowing Shang Tsung, it may be safe to assume that his intentions in the story may not be as pure or straightforward as they seem, and perhaps a double cross could be in the works during the course of the expansions story. After all he is a villain.
With the new expansion we'll be getting three new playable characters. The first being Fujin, who despite not being a well known character in Mortal Kombat, is still a character that has made various appearances in several series installments. This would be Fujins first appearance as a playable character in a Mortal Kombat game since Mortal Kombat 4, so almost 14 years. Fujin was rumoured to be a dlc character for MK11 way back in October 2019 after dataminers found sound files indicating that the character was indeed in the game, and now it seems the rumours were true. The second new character coming with the new expansion is Sheeva, who we already saw in the games story mode, so its in a way not too surprising to finally see her as a playable character. Both her and Fujin are featured in the trailer alongside Shang Sueng and Nightwolf, all of whom seem to be working together which really has made for quite the unique team-up. Gameplay of both characters is also featured throughout the trailer, however it appears we need to wait a while to see their unique fatalities. Both characters have been absent from any Mortal Kombat roster for some time, so their addition to the game is more than welcome.
The third and apparently final character being added with this new expansion is not another Mortal Kombat character, but instead another cameo character, who was revealed to be none other than classic cyborg crimefighter, Robocop. If the story expansion hadn't sold me on this dlc, then this did. NetherRealm also revealed that Paul Weller, aka the OG Robocop himself, will be returning to the role for MK11, providing his voice and likeness to the character. NetherRealm have truly outdone themselves with this one. Robocop will be the third cameo character featured in Mortal Kombat 11, alongside Spawn and the Terminator. This means that if you ever wanted to see a death match between two of the most iconic metal men in cinema, now you can.
Additionally, the trailer also shows that the expansion will bring new stages to fight in, some of which seem to be recreations of classic Mortal Kombat stages, including the soul chamber from Mortal Kombat 3, and dead pool from Mortal Kombat 2. On top of this, classic features like stage fatalities and friendships will also be making their return, providing players with new ways to close out their bloody fights. Friendships in particular are a welcome addition, providing a humourous and light-hearted end to otherwise brutal matches. The end of the trailer shows off one of Scorpions friendship finishers, where he thrusts his trusty kunai towards the camera, his classic "get over here!" line playing in the background, and yanks it back revealing a very large teddy bear, which he proceeds to then cuddle followed by the word friendship spelled with balloons appearing above them in place of the traditional fatality. A very cute display all round. A few other friendship finishers were revealed following the release of the expansions first trailer, and included sights such as Sub-Zero riding in on an ice-cream cart, Noob Saibot playing jump-rope with two of his clones, and Kano having a nice barbeque.
While these are to only things featured in the announcement trailer, it appears as though this serves as a launch for a second year of Mortal Kombat 11 content, suggesting that there's plenty more to come down the road.
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath will be releasing May 26 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia and Nintendo switch, so the wait isn't too long. If the announcement trailer already sold you on the expansion you can already place your pre-order on whatever platform you play on. For those who don't own MK11 and want to try it out, the expansion is releasing in a couple of bundles that give you the base game, Aftermath expansion, and all year one dlc characters.
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