Really enjoyed the story up until the end.
That was possibly the least interesting and most irritating way to end off MK11. We're more than likely going into yet another brand new timeline with the next game, which is what irritates me the most.
There was A LOT of potential with the story post-MK9 and even MKX and they kinda just screwed the pooch with it. There's so many things they did right in this story mode, but they just... threw it all away. Also a lot of the character choices? Really not fitting for the story imo. They made a lot of characters REALLY good and made potential for so many more, and a lot of storylines were very promising but cut off too early or just not really explored much.
I would honestly rather they either retcon the ending or just make it so that Liu Kang + Kitana basically just decide to continue where they left off in the current timeline. They ended this timeline WAY too early and they just didn't explore it as much as they should've and could've.
I mean, characters like Shang Tsung, Ermac, Mileena, Reptile, Rain, Noob Saibot, Smoke, Baraka, Sheeva, Sindel, etc... had so much promise and potential.
Honestly, I feel like Kabal, Frost, Cetrion, and Noob Saibot were really not necessary in the story at all. Kabal did basically nothing at all and only made like... two appearances? Frost could've not existed in the story and really, nothing would've been different. Sektor/Cyrax did the job and she was just there in the background for the most part. Cetrion was... very underwhelming to say the least. I expected much more from her, but NRS basically just threw her in there as a way to wipe the current timeline. That was literally it. She's a character I wouldn't mind to never see again. She was utterly pointless. As much as I love Noob, he really did nothing of importance.
Another big problem I had was that Ermac, Reptile, and Ferra/Torr were just seemingly non-existent. Current timeline Erron Black only appeared once. All of Kotal's trusted allies were just MIA for no apparent reason. Speaking of, Kenshi, Takeda, and Kung Jin were also just... not there and never mentioned whatsoever.
Despite MKX actually using other revenants like Smoke, Nightwolf, Kabal, Stryker, and Sindel. This one only starred Kitana, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Jade, and Kabal for... whatever reason. Like they didn't even need to be fightable, they could've just been like Sheeva.
So many plot holes as well. Like when Kitana killed Shao Kahn. That effectively results in Kung Lao never dying, Sindel never being resurrected which would then result in none of the revenants ever becoming... revenants, Liu Kang wouldn't die, and Shang Tsung wouldn't have died(Probably so much more I'm missing). Kano dying also means that Kabal would've never been saved by him from dying to Kintaro.
As far as what this story did right?
Kitana's character development was amazing, and I love how they finally utilized Baraka in a new way. It was refreshing to see him turn to good rather than mindlessly follow the bad dudes for the lamest reasons ever. I LOVED Queen Sheeva so much, and she definitely works as a wonderful ruler to the Shokan as you could gather from the MKX comics and this story as well.
Kollector was actually a pretty nice addition to the cast, and he didn't feel out of place like Cetrion did.
Fire God Liu Kang was SUCH a good idea, but... well, you know how that turned out!
Overall I'd honestly rate the story a solid 4/10. They just did too much wrong and not enough right, and if this was an attempt at cleaning the slate to start anew again? It was a horrible way to end off the current timeline for a new one. If it was an attempt to just close off Mortal Kombat altogether? Easily the worst possible way they could've chosen to go about it. I really expected more from this, and this is possibly the first time I've played a NRS game and thoroughly enjoyed the story up until the falling action + resolution which was so bad that I ended up saying to myself "This was really bad and shouldn't have been the final product."
