Mortal Kombat 11 quickly became one of the most successful fighting games of the console generation. The brutal fighter has reached more than 8 million units sold since its release back in March of 2019, and with the onset of the next console generation, any upcoming games in the genre will have a new high mark to aspire to in order to measure up.
Hype around Mortal Kombat 11 blew up quickly after its announcement, as its predecessor Mortal Kombat X was widely popular among fans for the cinematic story mode, wealth of character choices, and the variants for each fighter. Mortal Kombat 11 expanded on nearly every one of those features and helped cement the game as what would be a community favorite almost two years later. And its updated version for the new Xbox and Playstation made it one of the highest-rated games of the new generation so far.
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One of the foremost reasons why Mortal Kombat 11 has become so popular, often reaching a wider base than the core fighting game community, is because it is more of a 'total package' than other fighters can be. While games like Street Fighter 5 and Dragonball FighterZ deliver excellent systems of gameplay, both highly regarded by the community, they are considered by many players to have faltered a bit when it comes to offering content outside of the fighting itself. These games are popular with fans of MK11, but it tends to stand head and shoulders above the others in terms of the berth of content available.
The story mode of Mortal Kombat 11, for example, is unlike any other fighting game with the possible exception of the Injustice games. That won't come as a surprise to most as they are both created by NetherRealm Studios, with MK11's story mode being cinematic, well-written, and generally fun to play. While other games like SF5 and DBFZ offer story modes, they lack the same level of polish and Hollywood flair present in MK11, and NetherRealm expanded on that success with Aftermath which many consider one of the best DLCs released in 2020.
Furthermore, the diversity of gameplay options in MK11 dwarfs most other entries in the genre. Beyond the aforementioned story mode, Kombat Towers present both classic arcade styles and unique mix ups to the gameplay formula via modifiers to basic mechanics and intense stage effects to battles. The Krypt offers a separate third-person adventure game as a way to unlock various concept arts, character skins, and other items. Even the freshest Mortal Kombat 11 beginners are given access to an incredibly robust training mode that teaches broad details like simple combos down to the minutiae of individual characters frame data. This wealth of modes offers a lot of replayability, and the Kombat Towers are updated consistently offering fresh challenges to even long-time players.
Another feature that was expanded on from MKX was the ability to customize Kombatants. Players were given the ability to not only choose different variations for their favorite fighter, they could now create their own. Each fighter has a selection of different special attacks and abilities to choose from to create a version of their preferred fighter tailor-made for their playstyle. The game also offers a diverse customization system that allowed for players to obtain new skins, gear, weapons, opening cinematics, and victory animations that keep players coming back to the game in order to unlock their favorites. These options went a long way to making MK11 one of the best fighting games of the PS4/Xbox One generation.
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One of the biggest things that has helped keep Mortal Kombat 11 relevant is a high level of community support for the title from NetherRealm Studios. There have been many patches released that included balancing changes and other adjustments to help make the Kompetitive mode as balanced as possible, while the Kombat Towers are updated hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly with new challenges for returning and new players. Moreover, the steady release of DLC for the game, including the massive Aftermath story expansion, have kept both the story and the roster fresh for even the longest-time players, and even now the developer has teased even more MK11 DLC characters on the way.
NetherRealm has also done a lot to try and keep the multiplayer both online and offline as competitive as possible. The online modes offer a Kompetitive mode that restricts the variations for fighters to maintain balance between the roster, and the variations are updated semi-regularly from feedback from the games community. Online tournaments have been running regularly through the game and were a great feature for many in the competitive community, especially during the year that was 2020. Other fighting games could learn a lot from Mortal Kombat in regards to supporting their competitive community the way NetherRealm Studios has done.
Lastly, the plethora of crossover content both in MK11 and related to it go a long way in keeping fans engaged with the game. The guest characters that are present in MK11 bring some more diversity to a series famous for palatte-swapped ninjas. Seeing characters like Spawn battle with fellow spirit of vengeance Scorpion or watching villains like Shang Tsung interact with DC's Joker breath some life and very often comedy into the violent world of Mortal Kombat 11. And spinoff content like the Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge and the upcoming April release of the Mortal Kombat movie reboot are possible largely because of the success of MK11 and help flesh out the universe of the game at large.
Mortal Kombat 11 raised the bar for fighting games in the eyes of many fans and players. It presents a more full package than a lot of other games in the genre, and as the price of AAA games raises again with this new generation many frugal fighting gamers will be hard pressed to spend their money on anything less than the best. As the new generation of consoles begins, upcoming fighting games would do well to take a page from the bloody story of Mortal Kombat 11.
Mortal Kombat 11 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
