The newest installment in the esteemed fighting game franchise is finally here! This game is produced by Netherrealm Studios and is available on all next-gen consoles, PCs, and Nintendo Switch.

It is set in a brand new timeline following the events of Mortal Kombat 11.

Specifically, when Liu Kang won the final battle and became keeper of time, creating a brand new timeline, where the events of MK1 take place, and ridding the world of many of the evil characters who dominated stories in the past.

In this game, we take a deep dive into an expansive and heartfelt story with many returning favorite characters like Johnny Cage, Kitana, and Sub Zero as they take on their newest challenge — A mysterious benefactor bringing back the old villains. Overall, the gameplay is definitely a step up from Mortal Kombat 11 and while most characters took a step up and design and play-style some definitely took steps down.

One character in particular, who suffers in the update is Tanya who used to be a fast-paced and super interesting character but in the story and in gameplay she is slow, boring, and weak. This is really saddening to see for one of my personal favorite characters.

Unlike Tanya, characters like Rain took huge steps up. Many were skeptical when it was announced Rain was no longer a ninja but instead a sorcerer, but it was a great decision as it revived his character and brought a fresh feel along with new gameplay mechanics.

Mortal Kombat 1 remains a classic side-scroller game but with many cool and innovative features such as combo breakers, which solve one of the major issues of fighting-style games and that is people become so skilled that they lock you into game-ending combos.

These super long combos make the game boring and ruin the competition so the addition of these combo breakers that can be used periodically throughout the fight are very appreciated.

The developers also introduced damage scaling so moves are less effective when spammed repeatedly, which is definitely a plus because it increases the skill gap in the game and leads to a more fun balanced back-and-forth fighting experience.

Overall I would give Mortal Kombat 1 a strong 8/10 because it does certainly have room for improvement but the story is great, the gameplay is a huge step up and the characters are for the most part a big improvement.