Summary
By all accounts,Mortal Kombat 1is yet another great entry in the long-running fighting game franchise. While some hardcoreMortal Kombatfans might still be yearning for a different roster, or pointing out some issues with the game’s balancing, many players are still really enjoyingMortal Kombat 1, and it’s generally considered to be an improvement over its predecessors in a number of ways.
Mortal Kombat 1is the best-looking game in the entire franchise without question, and potentially even one of the best-looking fighting games overall. On top of its impressive technical features,Mortal Kombat 1also brings an exciting story mode to the table, along with a pretty diverse Kameo system, and an incredibly varied roster featuring characters from across the franchise’s 30-year history. But whileMortal Kombat 1is a good game, there’s one area in particular in which it doesn’t hold a candle to its predecessors, and that’s its Fatalities.
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Mortal Kombat 1’s Fatalities Don’t Hold a Candle to Previous Entries
Each ofMortal Kombat 1’s 23 fightershas two unique Fatalities, and generally speaking, they’re all pretty great. With the best graphics in the franchise,Mortal Kombat 1contains some of the most realistic, gruesome Fatalities in the series, and they’ve never been quite as satisfying to pull off. Whether it’s a simple dismemberment and explosion like Smoke’s, or a full-on shredding of an opponent’s entire body like Liu Kang’s black hole Fatality, there’s a dark pleasure to be found with each ofMortal Kombat 1’s Fatalities, even if some of them don’t entirely fit the character, like General Shao’s midair spin.
ButMortal Kombat 1is severely lacking when it comes to other forms of Fatality. Over the last few decades,theMortal Kombatserieshas dabbled in bringing new types of Fatality to the game. These have ranged from Babalities, which turn the opponent into a literal baby, to Animalities, where the player transforms themselves into an animal and rips apart their opponent, to Friendships, which see the two fighters end the match peacefully. Over the years, fans have come to expect at least one of these extra Fatality types in every new entry, butMortal Kombat 1doesn’t feature any of them.
Mortal Kombat 1has noAnimalities, Babalities, Friendships, or even any Stage Fatalities, which have been a staple of the franchise for quite some time. WhileMortal Kombat 1still gives each Kombatant two Fatalities - along with a unique Fatality for each Kameo fighter - and that’s technically the standard amount for an entry, this doesn’t feel like a lot when those are the only types of Fatality in the entire game. EachMortal Kombat 1fighter does have a slew of different Brutalities as well, which does help to numb the pain.
But just because these extra Fatalities aren’t currently inMortal Kombat 1doesn’t mean that they won’t ever come to the game. NetherRealm has made it repeatedly clear in the last few weeks that it plans on supportingMortal Kombat 1for a while yet. Along with at least one already-confirmedKombat Pack DLC, NetherRealm has also teased some kind of story expansion forMortal Kombat 1. On top of these additions, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that new Fatality types could be added toMortal Kombat 1. It’s really not a major issue in the grand scheme of things, but there’s no denying that more Fatalities would help to makeMortal Kombat 1feel even more like the ultimate franchise celebration that it’s really trying to be.
Mortal Kombat 1is available now on PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
