Mortal Kombat X is a 2015 fighting game created by NetherRealm Studios and released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the tenth main game in the Mortal Kombat series and follows Mortal Kombat (2011), taking place 25 years after the events of that game. High Voltage Software made the Windows version of the game, and later, a Polish studio called QLOC took over development after the release of Kombat Pack 1.
The game’s gameplay involves two players or one player fighting against a computer-controlled opponent using characters with unique attacks. It includes several game modes, such as a story mode set 25 years after the previous game, "Tower" modes with changing challenges, online multiplayer options, and the "Krypt" mode, which lets players explore areas and collect items in a first-person view.
An updated version of Mortal Kombat X, called Mortal Kombat XL, was released on March 1, 2016, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It included all downloadable characters from the two Kombat Packs, most bonus costumes, improved gameplay, and better online features. This version was also released for Windows on October 4, 2016. A later game, Mortal Kombat 11, was released on April 23, 2019, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.
The console versions of Mortal Kombat X were highly praised for their controls, gameplay, graphics, story, and characters. Some reviewers called it the best game in the series. However, the PC version received mixed reviews because of technical problems, such as frequent crashes and slow online performance. The game sold over 10 million copies, making it the fastest-selling game in the Mortal Kombat franchise and the ninth best-selling retail game of 2015 in the United States.
Gameplay
Mortal Kombat X is a fighting game where two characters battle each other using attacks, special moves, and the series' famous finishing moves called Fatalities. Players can compete against each other locally or online, or face the computer. The Energy Meter, first introduced in Mortal Kombat (2011), lets players perform special techniques like "X-Ray" moves. Similar to the game Injustice: Gods Among Us, fighters can use parts of the environment, such as objects or scenery, to move or attack. Each character has three different styles, such as Scorpion's Ninjutsu (using dual swords), Hellfire (using fire moves), and Inferno (summoning hellspawn helpers).
The Energy Meter is divided into three sections. One section allows players to use stronger special moves, two sections let them break enemy combos, and all three sections are needed for X-Ray moves. A Stamina Meter, shown under the health bar, has two sections. It is used when players run, dash backward, break combos, interact with the environment, or use certain special moves, like Scorpion's teleports.
In addition to Fatalities, the game includes two new finishing moves: Quitality, which kills a player's character if they quit during a multiplayer match, and Faction Kills, which are based on one of five factions (Black Dragon, Brotherhood of Shadow, Lin Kuei, Special Forces, and White Lotus). Brutality moves return but are different from earlier versions. They occur when a specific move is used as the final blow to win a match, provided certain conditions are met. Stage Brutalities happen when environment interactions are used to finish an opponent. Stage Fatalities, which were reintroduced in Mortal Kombat XL, are available on three game stages.
For local play, the game includes Story mode, which has cutscenes between fights, and Living Towers, a version of the Challenge Tower with changing conditions. Players can also fight each other locally. Online play includes 1 vs. 1 matches (ranked or random), King of the Hill, Survivor, and Test Your Luck. A new mode called Faction Wars lets players choose a faction, compete online with others, earn points for their group, and unlock special rewards like faction-specific finishing moves.
Plot
Two years after Shao Kahn, the ruler of Outworld, was defeated, Shinnok attacks Earthrealm with an army of Netherrealm demons and Earthrealm warriors who died during Kahn’s invasion. These warriors are now brought back as revenants under Quan Chi’s control. After fighting their former allies, a team led by Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Kenshi opens a portal to Raiden’s Sky Temple and travels to the Jinsei Chamber, where Earthrealm’s life force is stored. There, Raiden and Fujin battle Shinnok and his forces. When Shinnok tries to harm Sonya, Johnny steps in to protect her, accidentally awakening ancient superhuman powers within himself. Using these powers, Johnny holds Shinnok back long enough for Raiden to take Shinnok’s amulet and trap him inside it. However, Quan Chi escapes. Johnny, Raiden, and Sonya track Quan Chi to his Netherrealm lair, defeat him, and restore Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Jax to human form. Quan Chi’s failed attempt to turn Johnny into a revenant fails, but he escapes again. In the years that follow, Johnny and Sonya marry and have a daughter named Cassie, though they later divorce. Scorpion, now known as Hanzo Hasashi, rebuilds his Shirai Ryu clan and mentors Kenshi’s son, Takeda. Sub-Zero becomes the new Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei after defeating Sektor. Sub-Zero uses information from Sektor’s memory banks about Quan Chi’s manipulations, including the truth about the deaths of Hasashi’s wife and son, to help end his feud with Hasashi.
Twenty years after Shinnok’s defeat, Johnny gathers a new team of young fighters: Cassie, Takeda, Jacqui, and Kung Jin, who is later retconned as Kung Lao’s nephew. After training with Sub-Zero, the team is sent to Outworld to resolve a civil war between Mileena, the former empress who has obtained Shinnok’s amulet from Kano, and Kotal Kahn, the current emperor of Outworld, with whom Earthrealm has a fragile peace treaty. Meanwhile, in an Earthrealm refugee camp, Sonya captures Kano and forces him to reveal Mileena’s location. Using this information, Cassie’s team helps Kotal recover the amulet and capture Mileena, who is executed by Kotal. Kotal no longer trusts Earthrealm to protect the amulet and takes Cassie and her friends hostage as leverage against Raiden. D’Vorah, Kotal’s insectoid second-in-command, is revealed as a double agent for Quan Chi and steals the amulet. Cassie and her team escape and warn Earthrealm about D’Vorah’s plans.
To stop Quan Chi from obtaining the amulet, Jax and Kenshi, with help from a Netherrealm local named Sareena, attack the Netherrealm. After fighting revenants of his former allies, Jax captures Quan Chi, who is taken to an Earthrealm refugee camp. Hanzo Hasashi, along with his clan, infiltrates the camp to assassinate Quan Chi as revenge for ruining his life. Hasashi defeats Kenshi, Johnny, and Sonya before preparing to kill Quan Chi. D’Vorah arrives with the amulet, and Quan Chi completes his spell just before Hasashi beheads him, freeing Shinnok from captivity. Weakened by a previous attack, Johnny is taken hostage by Shinnok and D’Vorah. With the help of Quan Chi’s revenants, Shinnok and D’Vorah attack the Sky Temple and subdue Raiden and Bo’ Rai Cho. Shinnok then enters the Jinsei Chamber, corrupts it, and transforms into a powerful demon.
Cassie’s team pursues Shinnok but is stopped by Kotal Kahn and his army. They inform Kotal of Shinnok’s return, and Kotal decides to kill them to appease Shinnok and strengthen Outworld’s defenses. Sub-Zero and his Lin Kuei warriors arrive just in time to repel the Outworld forces. At the Sky Temple, Jacqui and Takeda fight the revenants, while Cassie and Jin enter the Jinsei Chamber. When D’Vorah tortures Johnny, Cassie displays powers similar to her father’s, which she uses to defeat Shinnok. A severely injured Raiden purifies the Jinsei, stripping Shinnok of his powers and forcing the revenants to retreat. Sonya and her soldiers capture Shinnok and D’Vorah, and the Cage family is reunited.
Later, Raiden, now in possession of Shinnok’s amulet and corrupted during the Jinsei’s purification, warns the Netherrealm rulers Liu Kang and Kitana that they will face "fates worse than death" if they threaten Earthrealm. Raiden leaves behind Shinnok’s severed but still-living head as a final warning before departing.
Characters
The game had 25 playable characters when it was first released, with 8 more characters added through downloadable content (DLC). Characters shown in bold are new to the series, while those in italics are guest characters. Goro could be obtained as a pre-order bonus or by purchasing Kombat Pack 2.
Along with regular characters like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kitana, and Raiden, the game added several new fighters: D'Vorah, a bug-like human who controls insects; Ferra/Torr, two characters who work together—a young armored female warrior and a large masked warrior; and Kotal Kahn, an Aztec-inspired "blood god" who is the new emperor of Outworld. The game’s story spans 20 years and introduces children of existing characters, such as Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade; Takeda, the son of Kenshi; and Jacqui Briggs, the daughter of Jax. Other new characters include Kung Jin, an archer and cousin of Kung Lao; and Erron Black, a Western-style gunfighter. A non-playable demonic version of Shinnok called "Corrupted Shinnok" appears as the final boss. Tanya and Bo' Rai Cho, who later became playable through DLC, first appeared in story mode cutscenes, with Tanya as a non-playable opponent. Other characters who appear but are not playable include Baraka, Sindel, Fujin, Rain, Sareena, Li Mei, Frost, Stryker, Kabal, Nightwolf, and Smoke.
Development
NetherRealm Studios started hiring people openly for work on new games for the latest technology in April 2012. In July 2013, it was announced that a new Mortal Kombat game was being made and was expected to release at the same time as the movie series' reboot in September 2011. In February 2014, actor Kiefer Sutherland said he was involved in the game in an unnamed role. However, in June 2014, Ed Boon, co-creator of the series, denied Sutherland's participation. Karen Strassman, who voiced characters in the 2011 Mortal Kombat game, mentioned in her resume that the game's working title was Mortal Kombat 2. A leaked poster showed the game's logo, which was an updated version of the series' famous dragon symbol, on May 28, 2014. Ed Boon shared daily riddles on Twitter that hinted at a June 2 announcement date and suggested the game's title might be Mortal Kombat X. One clue was an image of a Lincoln MKX emblem with the comment, "I wonder what the X stands for?"
On June 2, 2014, the game was officially named Mortal Kombat X. A trailer was released, showing a fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero and a song called "Can't Be Stopped" by Wiz Khalifa. The game was first shown to the public at E3 2014 on June 10, 2014, where four new characters were introduced, in addition to the two from the trailer. The trailer received over eleven million views and was the third most-watched on YouTube in the second quarter of 2014. NetherRealm Studios said they were making versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One only. The game runs at 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second and includes the most violent finishing moves in the series. Ed Boon said, "We have meetings where people suggest ideas for Fatalities. The ones that seem impossible are the ones we try first."
By July 2015, High Voltage Software removed most references to Mortal Kombat X from their Facebook page after criticism about problems with the PC version. Later, it was revealed that Polish developers QLOC took over work on the PC port. On August 28, 2015, Warner Bros. canceled the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Mortal Kombat X because they could not meet quality standards for older consoles. NetherRealm Studios' community specialist, Tyler Lansdown, said Kombat Pack 2, Mortal Kombat XL, and improved online features would not be available on the PC version. However, on August 25, 2016, an open beta test for the PC version of XL's online features was announced, and the game was released on October 4, 2016.
Marketing
Before the game was released, DC Comics created a comic book series based on the game. The first comic came out on January 6, 2015. The game's first trailer and opening video included a song by Wiz Khalifa called "Can't Be Stopped." The official television commercial and launch trailer were made by Shavo Odadjian, a member of the band System of a Down. These videos used the band's 2001 song "Chop Suey!" The Mortal Kombat X logo was on NASCAR driver Erik Jones' #20 Xfinity Series car, which was sponsored by GameStop. This car won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 race on April 10, 2015. Mortal Kombat X was part of eSports competitions in Europe, Asia, and North America. Weekly prizes began on April 19, 2015, with a final tournament on July 11, 2015, offering at least $100,000 in total. In the ESL Pro League Season 1 Finals, Dominique "Sonic Fox" McLean from Critical Reaction won using the character Kitana and Erron Black as a secondary character. McLean earned $60,000 from this event. The ESL Pro League Season 2 for Mortal Kombat X started on October 18, 2015, and ended in early 2016.
Release
Mortal Kombat X was released worldwide (except Germany) for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 14, 2015. Due to the German USK initially refusing to assign the game an age rating, the official release in Germany was delayed until September 1, 2015. The Kollector's Edition of the game includes a Scorpion figurine, a Gold Scorpion skin, and access to Kombat Pack 1. A major update was released alongside Kombat Pack 2 and Mortal Kombat XL, introducing balance changes, a new stage called "The Pit," additional stage brutalities, and rollback-based netcode similar to GGPO.
Before the game's launch, Goro was offered as a pre-order bonus. After the game's release, he became available for purchase separately. The game received many downloadable content (DLC) packages, which included skin packs and new characters. Examples include the Ultimate Horror Pack, featuring Jason and horror-themed skins for Ermac, Reptile, and Mileena, and the Predator/Prey Pack, which includes Predator and Predator-themed skins for Johnny Cage, Scorpion, and Jax.
On March 13, 2015, Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise was announced as the first downloadable bonus character in the Kombat Pack season-pass bundle. One week later, Predator from the Predator franchise was revealed as the second DLC guest character after being accidentally shared by the Xbox Games Store. Tremor from Mortal Kombat: Special Forces and Tanya from Mortal Kombat 4 were later added to the Kombat Pack. The pack ultimately included all content from the Samurai Pack, Ultimate Horror Pack, Klassic Pack #1, Predator/Prey Pack, and Klassic Pack #2. At one point, Terminator and Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise were considered for inclusion.
On September 2, 2015, Ed Boon hinted at a Kombat Pack 2 DLC, which would include four new characters. On December 3, 2015, the characters were revealed as Bo' Rai Cho from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, a new character named Triborg (a cyborg with variations of Cyrax, Sektor, Smoke, and Cyber Sub-Zero), Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Alien from the Alien franchise. Kombat Pack 2 also made Goro playable for those who did not pre-order him, included Kold War Scorpion, Kold War Pack, Apocalypse Pack, and Klassic Fatalities #1 and #2. The pack was released on March 1, 2016, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but not for PC at first. It was later released on PC on October 4, 2016, along with the PC version of Mortal Kombat XL.
On January 20, 2016, NetherRealm Studios announced Mortal Kombat XL, a new version of the game that included all previously released DLC up to Kombat Pack 2. It was released for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on March 1, 2016, in North America, and March 4, 2016, in Europe.
After Kombat Pack 1, the PC version was not updated for a time. In August 2016, Ed Boon ran a poll on Twitter, and 45% of 10,000 voters requested a PC version of Mortal Kombat XL. Following the poll, a free-to-play beta version was released on Steam from August 25 to September 1, 2016, to test the game's online features. After the beta ended, Mortal Kombat XL became available for PC on October 4, 2016, along with Kombat Pack 2 DLC. The PC version was updated to match the console versions. The porting of XL to PC was handled by QLOC, unlike previous problematic PC releases by High Voltage Software. An XL Pack was also released for existing owners, combining all prior DLC into one package. A balance patch, affecting most of the 33 characters across all platforms, was also released with the PC version.
Related game
On March 2, 2015, NetherRealm Studios announced that their mobile division would release an iOS and Android version of Mortal Kombat X in April 2015. The mobile game is described as a "free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid," and players could unlock content in the console version of the game by playing the mobile version (and vice versa). The iOS version was released worldwide on April 7, 2015, while the Android version was released in some Asian countries first on April 21, 2015, and later launched globally on May 4, 2015.
With the 1.11 update of the mobile game on December 6, 2016, Freddy Krueger, who was a downloadable character in Mortal Kombat 9, was added as a mobile-exclusive character using his signature moves and X-Ray attack from Mortal Kombat 9. In the 1.13 update, Jade and Baraka were also added as mobile-exclusive characters, using their X-Rays from Mortal Kombat 9. By September 2017, the game’s version 1.14 included Takeda, a character many players wanted, and Tremor, a new ninja character. On October 4, an update added Goro (Klassic and Tigrar Fury) and Shao Kahn. A February 2018 update introduced Bo' Rai Cho and Kintaro. An October 2018 update added Leatherface, a character previously available on the console. In February 2019, the game was renamed Mortal Kombat Mobile with its 2.0 update, which included major changes to support features from Mortal Kombat 11. The 2.0 update also upgraded the game’s graphics engine from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4.
The app has 50 million downloads on Android.
Reception
Mortal Kombat X received mostly positive reviews from critics. A website called Metacritic collected reviews and gave the Xbox One version a score of 86 out of 100 based on 21 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version a score of 83 out of 100 based on 81 reviews, and the Windows version a score of 76 out of 100 based on 10 reviews. The game became the fastest-selling game in the Mortal Kombat series and reached the top of the US and UK PlayStation 4 sales charts during its first month of release.
Brian Shea from Game Informer said Mortal Kombat X is one of the best fighting games in years, with complex and varied gameplay and enjoyable multiplayer options. Peter Brown from GameSpot praised the game’s fighting mechanics but criticized the downloadable content for being overly focused on monetization. Lucas Sullivan from GamesRadar described the story mode as entertaining, with strong voice-acting and a good script, but noted that other single-player modes and tutorial options were less developed.
Chris Carter from Destructoid gave the game an 8 out of 10, calling it one of the biggest fighting games of 2015. He believed the game would improve as more characters were added through downloadable content. Brett Phipps from VideoGamer.com also gave it an 8 out of 10, praising the story, character variety, and intense action but noting problems with online gameplay. Nick Tan from Game Revolution liked the gameplay, character options, and story concept but missed features like Stage Fatalities and tag-team matches.
Michael Huber from GameTrailers called the game a strong addition to the series, highlighting its gameplay, story mode, and online features. Vince Ingenito from IGN gave it a score of 8.4, calling it the best Mortal Kombat game ever made and praising its depth and new characters. Michael McWhertor from Polygon said the game is one of the best in the series, with strong gameplay and new systems. Stephen Kleckner from VentureBeat had concerns about confusing animations, online issues, and a bug that erased save data on the PC version. Matt Elliott from PC Gamer said online gameplay had mixed results and was not reliable enough for competitive play.
In March 2019, Warner Bros. announced that Mortal Kombat X had sold over 12 million copies worldwide. It was the fastest-selling game in the franchise and the ninth-best-selling retail game of 2015 in the United States. The game’s first-month sales were higher than the first-month sales of every game released in April 2016.