Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) Official Gameplay Trailer

The very first gameplay footage of NetherRealm's new Mortal Kombat 1 was showcased at Summer Game Fest 2023 (hosted by Geoff Keighley). The trailer features Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Scorpion, Raiden, Johnny Cage, a sighted Kenshi, Kitana, and Mileena, as well as cameos from Goro, Sonya, Kano, Stryker and Jax.

Main gameplay:

1. Kung Lao vs. Sub Zero
2. Johnny Cage vs. Kenshi
3. Scorpion vs. Liu Kang
4. Raiden vs. Kenshi

Shorter gameplay clips:

• Sub Zero vs. Raiden
• Mileena vs. Liu Kang
• Kung Lao vs. Johnny Cage

Kameo characters (may also be main cast):

• Goro
• Sonya
• Kano
• Stryker
• Jax

 

Think of it this way, would nrs reveal a playable character of the main roster by only showing their kameo version? And not how he will actually be featured if he was main roster?

To me its clear that Kano, Sonya and Jax are not main roster characters. But we'll see. Personally I don't mind that as there are a lot of other characters with great potential.

 

Think of it this way, would nrs reveal a playable character of the main roster by only showing their kameo version? And not how he will actually be featured if he was main roster?

To me its clear that Kano, Sonya and Jax are not main roster characters. But we'll see. Personally I don't mind that as there are a lot of other characters with great potential.

I think there's a pretty decent chance not all characters are finished (as in polished and complete enough to be shown) so there's a pretty good chance their kameo versions are finished but their playable versions aren't.

 

Why devote your longest dev time to kameos instead just adding tag with a larger launch roster? It's so gimmicky. Personally don't really like the visuals of it not being 1v1 anymore, like you can't recreate classic battles really.

so that actually lowers chances of Jax, Sonya & Kano being in main roster IMO.

Because it would be logical to show some fighters that are KAMEOS ONLY.

But as I'm writing this, why am I even seeking logic in NRS moves & marketing?

Would those fighters not be Goro and Stryker?

If we're getting 16 kameos I think 8 will be from the main roster and 8 will be kameo only, if only NRS could have just completely separated the two and saved us from all this nonsense or even just be upfront about who is a kameo only

 

The best thing from kombat packs now is that they add cameos and we get more xrays/fatalities and moves for them. This game can actually be played for a long time umlike MK11.

 

After watching the trailer a few more times...

1. I can completely see the idea that this was originally going to be IJ3 and they had to reskin some early assets.
2. The movement looks like MK11, but everything else seems turned up to the MAX and they removed most of the things that people complained about most.
3. Air strings aren't the same thing as a juggle imo. I'm seeing string.holdup.string.kick.ender. Im getting MvC vibes but I like those games and the combos look fun so I cant complain.
4. I think a lot of people expected kameos to function similarly to tower items from Mk11 so seeing it confirmed wasn't a big surprise. The kameo fatals and fatalities were a pleasant surprise.
5. Overall, I expect this game to be better than MK11 and that's good enough for me.

 

I'm sorry if this has been said already, I went away for a while and the threads became convoluted. Are we expecting more gameplay this weekend? Like peole playing a build?

 

Press are allowed to play the game but will probably be embargoed until next week

 

I'm honestly pretty shocked they didn't do a Konquest type story mode. I thought for sure the Krypt in MK11 was made internally as a proof-of-concept for a modern Konquest mode.

Still possible that's a game mode I guess but if they're doing a traditional story I don't think it would be super expansive.

 

Would those fighters not be Goro and Stryker?

Goro and Stryker were NOT showed in the Kameo roster. I initially considered this as a hint. But as I said - I'm not going to seek for any sort of a logical reasoning with NRS marketing at all. They just suck at it and are probably throwing random things into their reveals.

If I have to bet my money - Yes, Sonya, Kano & Jax are in both rosters.

 

I'm totally gonna get grilled for this. But my initial thoughts when the fight game play started was "this looks like a cartoon"... There's something about the special effects that look cheap to me. Almost to a fortnite or mobile game level, especially on something like when Kung Lao's kameo character does the spin, that effect around him looks so cheap. Or even the pink glow around Mileena when she rolls.

Anyways will need to re-watch a few times to see if my thoughts change.

Thank you i thought it was just me. Was starting to feel crazy with everyone praising this trailer. I'm really not feeling the arcadey look...

 

FYI all, the official Discord has added Kharacter Channels now, and Goro, Kano, Jax, Sonya, and Stryker all have Channels.

While not confirmation, this does suggest they'll be actual characters and not just Kameo fighters.

Time will tell.

 

I really like that stage at the start, the old asian architecture with modernity. It looks like a hotel maybe? Johnny's mansion in hollywood is a great and unique idea, something I would've never thought about myself. We finally get Edenia in all its surrealistic glory, which looks like it takes inspiration from the best bits of each ancient civilization.

If there's one thing I feel positive about it's the stages! They look better than ever.

 

FYI all, the official Discord has added Kharacter Channels now, and Goro, Kano, Jax, Sonya, and Stryker all have Channels.

While not confirmation, this does suggest they'll be actual characters and not just Kameo fighters.

Time will tell.

Man, if I get both playable Shang AND playable Goro in a modern MK game, I'm gonna lose my shit

 

To those who are saying it looks like MK11, I can tell y’all never played other fighters

There’s something called “legacy games”, in which the new product is just the previous game, but updated. Not saying MK1 is a legacy game, but it does look MK11-ish, and I’m fine with that. The fact that it looks like they took MK11 and added combos, breakers and the OG meter system back is more than enough for me to have huge hopes for the game. Hopefully they tweaked this game’s “fatal blow” (or whatever they’ll call it)

FGs do this concept all the time. Street fighter, tekken, soul calibur, even NRS did it with Injustice. It wouldn’t be the first time MK went this route

I think the impression comes more from the movement, or lack thereof. Neutral looks like MK11.

But yeah regardless I find it hard to believe that the game will end up feeling like MK11.

 

I think the impression comes more from the movement, or lack thereof. Neutral looks like MK11.

But yeah regardless I find it hard to believe that the game will end up feeling like MK11.

Keep in mind everyone wanted a more neutral game after Mortal Kombat XL.

I'm curious to see when people are going to complain about how awful Mortal Kombat 1 is and how great Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate was. Happens every game eventually, it seems.

 

Keep in mind everyone wanted a more neutral game after Mortal Kombat XL.

I'm curious to see when people are going to complain about how awful Mortal Kombat 1 is and how great Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate was. Happens every game eventually, it seems.

yep, pretty much this , every MK game since MK9 , had this : at first people compliment the new game, and after some months, just start to complain about and comparing with previous one, saying "oh, the previous game was much better, this new game stinks, I hate this, I hate that blablabla etc"

it will not be different this time, unfortunatelly. This is one of the reasons why NRS games are not that much respected inside the overall and generall FGC , due the fanbase behaving like a bunch of spoiled children pretty soon when the new game come out

MK 1 seems amazing, the art direction, the gameplay, everything is looking pretty good, and I like that NRS always try , at least, to change things here and there with the franchise ..... they know the risks, but they try, in order to avoid stagnation and boring repeting themselves , so, I support that

 

I wonder if they're taking away some full screen options for some characters. In the trailer, Kenshi's teleclone acted different than what we're used to seeing, as it lingered on the screen and stayed close to him. In the gameplay demo he uses telepush but no teleslash (bf3). edit: actually he has full screen teledrop in the gameplay demo

We don't see Johnny Cage use his forceballs, neither do we see Kung Lao throw his hat outside of fatalities. He doesn't even have his hat in the first part of the trailer. Maybe it's a part of storymode before he gets the hat so he just doesn't have hat toss in that section? Oh and I don't think we saw Mileena throw her sais.

 

I wonder if they're taking away some full screen options for some characters. In the trailer, Kenshi's teleclone acted different than what we're used to seeing, as it lingered on the screen and stayed close to him. In the gameplay demo he uses telepush but no teleslash (bf3). edit: actually he has full screen teledrop in the gameplay demo

We don't see Johnny Cage use his forceballs, neither do we see Kung Lao throw his hat outside of fatalities. He doesn't even have his hat in the first part of the trailer. Maybe it's a part of storymode before he gets the hat so he just doesn't have hat toss in that section? Oh and I don't think we saw Mileena throw her sais.

yeah, but a lot of these details where out due the time restriction, I mean, they showed a lot of stuff in only 4 minutes, but, sure these stuff will be in the final version of the game; Kung Lao throwing his straw hat was just a joke comedy element , that's for sure. He probably will have some kind of projectile and later, have access to the razor sharp traditional hat

There is no way in hell that Mileena will have not her sais as projectiles, they just did not show that, but she will have them, that's for sure

That's the reason why Kombat Kasts are so important to clarify the doubts , so, cannot wait for them to start ASAP !

 

Kung Lao stills seems to be cocky, I don't like that. Johnny on the other hand is less goofy

 

yep, pretty much this , every MK game since MK9 , had this : at first people compliment the new game, and after some months, just start to complain about and comparing with previous one, saying "oh, the previous game was much better, this new game stinks, I hate this, I hate that blablabla etc"

it will not be different this time, unfortunatelly. This is one of the reasons why NRS games are not that much respected inside the overall and generall FGC , due the fanbase behaving like a bunch of spoiled children pretty soon when the new game come out

MK 1 seems amazing, the art direction, the gameplay, everything is looking pretty good, and I like that NRS always try , at least, to change things here and there with the franchise ..... they know the risks, but they try, in order to avoid stagnation and boring repeting themselves , so, I support that

I loved MK11 but in terms of gameplay it definitely felt a bit like a downgrade compared to X. However both MK games were amazing in their own right. I wish people gave constructive criticism instead of incessantly whining.

From what we’ve been shown, MK1 is really good.

 

I'm not sure where people are getting these movement complaints for mk11 from. Hakf the cast could wave dash across the screen like they were on crack and the vast majority of characters had normals and strings that advanced them hella forward(looking at you, Kotal Kahn). It was fine. Lol

 

I'm not sure where people are getting these movement complaints for mk11 from. Hakf the cast could wave dash across the screen like they were on crack and the vast majority of characters had normals and strings that advanced them hella forward(looking at you, Kotal Kahn). It was fine. Lol

The game itself was too slow

 

I'm not sure where people are getting these movement complaints for mk11 from. Hakf the cast could wave dash across the screen like they were on crack and the vast majority of characters had normals and strings that advanced them hella forward(looking at you, Kotal Kahn). It was fine. Lol

People's perceptions are oft different than reality.

 

I loved MK11 but in terms of gameplay it definitely felt a bit like a downgrade compared to X. However both MK games were amazing in their own right. I wish people gave constructive criticism instead of incessantly whining.

From what we’ve been shown, MK1 is really good.

yep, good point

after watching the gameplay video on 4K a dozen of time, you can see a lot of details you missed first time seeing, and how good this game will be , once release.

Of course , criticism will be welcome always, in order to point out things that could be better, but I think that is valid ONLY after people have access to the full game, and after some fair considerable time has passed, because only that way, people can end having the minimum necessary experience with gameplay, moveset mechanics and everything else, and can then, point out improvements here and there

anyway, I'm very curious about the rest of the playable roster, cannot wait for who's next they will show up

Raiden gameplay seems too much fun and sick good so far !

 

The game itself was too slow

The game wasn’t that slow, it’s just that the game lacked the combo potential which they seemed to pick back up. MK11 never was a “slow” game. The game and animations also felt very fluid.

The game just felt stale, especially when there were only a few optimal combo’s so you only had to memorise those. The Mashable fatal blows taking 1 3rd of your health wasn’t really an improvement either.