After weeks of teasing, Mortal Kombat finally revealed its highly-anticipated update.
In February 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that Mortal Kombat 12 was in the works and planned for 2023 and the recent trailer drop confirmed fans' speculation. The next entry in the franchise is titled Mortal Kombat 1 and appears to be a soft reboot of the series. The cinematic footage is set in a "reborn Mortal Kombat Universe that has been created by the Fire God Liu Kang," as various forces conspire to both attack and defend the world. Several familiar yet reimagined faces make an appearance, including Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kung Lao and Raiden, and multiple brutal fatalities cap off the first look.
Per the game's official FAQ, fans can expect to see new versions of franchise staples such as Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Kitana, Mileena, Shang Tsung, Raiden and "many others." Mortal Kombat 1 will include a "brand-new cinematic narrative featuring unexpected twists on classic rivalries and original backstories for the wide-ranging cast of legendary fighters," as Netherealm promises more information will be unveiled in the near future.
Mortal Kombat Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary
Mortal Kombat celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022. Fans speculated that the series would launch another mainline title during the year because it it, but it only debuted the mobile RPG Mortal Kombat: Onslaught. Ed Boon, the co-creator for Mortal Kombat as well as the Chief Creative Officer for NetherRealm Studios, described it as a "strategic team-based collection RPG."
"We are pushing the boundaries of Mortal Kombat to allow players to experience the franchise in new ways, while still staying true to its core visceral nature," said Boon. "With Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, we reimagined Mortal Kombat into a strategic team-based collection RPG with fast-paced, group melee combat that both new and existing fans can enjoy."
In addition to Onslaught, Mortal Kombat released a celebratory video and fresh logo for its anniversary. The logo features Mortal Kombat's iconic dragon yin-yang design coupled with images of its various characters throughout the series. However, co-creator John Tobias revealed shortly after that he nearly scraped the now well-known logo because of his sister's reaction to it. In a series of Twitter posts in October 2022, Tobias shared drawings he'd done as concept sketches for the dragon and yin-yang design, noting that his sister thought the earliest draft resembled a sea horse.
"Here’s my earliest icon doodle recently found by @youngsaibot while poking around an old sketchbook in my office. The eventual icon design was an attempt at replicating the yin yang symbol, which represented balancing of the furies- a core part of MK’s early fiction," Tobias explained. "Side Note: I almost tossed the dragon icon sketch aside when I was at home working on it at my drafting table and my sister mistook the dragon for a seahorse ¯\_(ツ)_/¯."
Mortal Kombat 1 launches on Sept. 19, 2023, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Source: YouTube