New Mortal Kombat tease hints at reboot for the series

Are we going back to the 1500s?

New Mortal Kombat tease hints at reboot for the series

NetherRealm studio’s Mortal Kombat reboot is named “Mortal Kombat 1” (NetherRealm studios)

On May 10, 2023, the Mortal Kombat franchise’s creators, NetherRealm Studios, posted a video teasing the next game in the series. The game is likely to launch on all the major platforms: Xbox One X, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. But in the teaser, fans of the franchise noticed something unusual which indicates that the next Mortal Kombat game is unlikely to be a sequel to Mortal Kombat but rather a reboot.

Mortal Kombat is a Street Fighter-style hand-to-hand combat game first released in the 1990s. Although the comparison between the two games should be taken with a grain of salt, Mortal Kombat is much more graphic and brutal.

YouTube video

To continue that legacy, NeatherRealm Studios is bringing back this classic game with a reboot titled ‘Mortal Kombat 1’.

Related: NetherRealm teases Mortal Kombat 12 with 30th anniversary “Thank You” video

NetherRealm Studios might be rebooting Mortal Kombat game

Mortal Kombat

NetherRealm’s co-creator and chief creative officer, Ed Boon, uploaded a very interesting video on Twitter that read #MortalKombat. In the video, we can see a clock ticking from 9 to 11, and then there’s a cut. Next, when the video resumes, we see the clock hit 1. This may indicate that after Mortal Kombat 11, the franchise will get a reboot.

Not long after that, popular data miner @billbil-kun seemed to reveal the new name, Mortal Kombat 1. Well, a reboot doesn’t sound too farfetched if you remember how Mortal Kombat 11 ended. The villain of Mortal Kombat 11, Kronika, reset the universe’s timeline after her defeat at the hands of Liu Kang with some new details.

It is quite possible that we may get to see the story of the First Mortal Kombat in the reboot. It may even tell the story of the Great Kung Lao, and that does sound like an exciting prospect. This character, although teased many times on various platforms, like the previous games and comic books, has yet to make an in-game appearance.

The Twitter post from @billbil-kun also mentions how much the various editions of Mortal Kombat 1 would cost:

  • Standard –  $69.99 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S and  $59.99 on Nintendo Switch
  • Premium – $109.99.
  • Collector’s Edition – $249.99 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S

With the supposed reboot of the franchise, we might see some old-world raw action sequences in Mortal Kombat 1. Moreover, if the reboot focuses on the great Kung Lao and his rise to power then it’s possible we may see almost 500 years into the past. That is basically like bringing back the era of the warring period. So it will be interesting to see the lore for the Mortal Kombat from now onwards.

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