MK11 'Leaks': A Case-by-Case Analysis

[mattteo]

I mean, yes, she does shimmer. But I sincerely doubt they would name this character 'Shimmer', when other divine beings have had names drawn from world mythologies.

'She shimmers, so her name is Shimmer' is a weird justification. Raiden crackles with lightning, but his name is not Crackle.

While we're at it, let's look at the other two original characters this person claims are in the game, besides the Dream Realm woman and Kano's son (characters almost everyone is expecting in MK11):

"Mercia is a new female Witch and resides on the moon in Earthrealm. During the Sindel Masacre, Mercia saves Johnny and Sonya from death as she saw Cassie playing a role in saving the realms. She also secretly imbued Cassie as an Embryo with the green magic that stopped Shinnok."​

She lives on the moon? A cute nod to the silhouette of a witch in the old Pit stage, I guess, but that seems unlikely. More to the point, this doesn't bear any resemblance to the actual lore: Cassie's 'green magic' is established in MKX to be something passed down through the Cage bloodline, as they are descended from a cult of warriors in the Mediterranean that bred empowered warriors for the Elder Gods.

"Ruin is a male from Nightmare Realm (first ever appearance in a MK game), whose parents were murdered by Dark Raiden. He joins the fight against Earthrealm and wishes to show Earthrealm what a nightmare truly is. We learn that the Nightmare realm is where dreams, hopes, and ideas went to die. Unrealized dreams are sent there and are twisted by it’s dark energies."​

This one's clearly just somebody's DeviantArt OC.

It's not really any of these that is a deal braker for me. Yes, the name "Shimmer" is not from mythology, but is a lot like "Tremor".

The fact that there is already a semi-established canon that the Cages powers come from an ancient Mediteranean cult that bread warriors is not enough for NRS not to change it. They're quite known for changing or forgetting their own lore. The guy who wrote the leak seemed pretty savvy about Mortal Kombat, so saying that Cassie got her powers from another place than her dad is a really bold move, as every tiny MK fan who played MKX knows it was the same kind of power as Johnny's. And Ed Boon twitted that witch with the moon in the background pic a few weeks ago, what was up with that?

But what really makes it non-believable is that it did not mention the Custom Variations. 5 DLCs instead of 6 I can accept, considering that the Italians might be counting Shao Kahn too. But no mention of the Custom Variation?
It just says: "Gear will also have no effect on vs. gameplay and will only be cosmetic. During story, gear will change your stats. Skins will also be present in the game, which will be unlockable through doing specific tasks. For example, you can unlock MK1 Scorpion by winning 100 online matches with Scorpion. Each character has 2 unlockable skins, in addition to the base skin/gear loadout."

This would have made sense after the original MK1 Scorpion in the trailer, but not with the announcement that there will be infinite possibilities to customize the characters.

None of the leaks gave that. So either they were all wrong (though that initial one seemed very, very believable and I still think that guy was James Fink though he tried to deny it later, he had his whole artitute with the "now get off my case about it" line like a friend was pressuring him into revealing what he knew about Mortal Komvat 11).

This or.....NRS is really trying to avoid revealing that one of the leaks was in fact true and they're throwing us off course with things like "time-bending story" or "custom variations" when, in fact, these are just exaggerations.


Edit: why does the page go all the way up when you click on the second page of the comments section? That's really annoying scrolling back down all that op rext.

 

[DownfouralitY]

Great job on this. Linking it to anyone talking about these fucking leaks lol, so tired of hearing about them already. Until there’s solid proof and multiple things add up everything is hella speculative.

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

@mattteo If you look at the comments (where the leaker continues to share more details) there are a million other things wrong with this Shimmer leak, like the fact that the guy says there are no variations at all. I don't think anything about it seems 'savvy' about Mortal Kombat, particularly. Ed tweets that witch picture every now and then because it's some kind of inside joke he has with the other old school Midway people. It's the "look to la luna" Reptile thing from MK1. I don't find this leak to be credible enough to be worth analyzing.

I think all the leaks are fake. Maybe the Salina and Dominic guy actually knew the names of those two characters. Maybe the Female Antagonist Leak person knew some plot details and extrapolated the rest. But overall? None of them are adding up, and it's just as likely they're all bullshit with some lucky guesses -- everyone who is into MK lore has been expecting the Dream Realm woman and Kano's son to be characters in MK11, for instance.

There's no reason NRS would lie in their official announcement materials to 'throw us off course', when the vast majority of their consumer base is casuals who would not be reading forums or hearing about any of these leaks.

 

[Tanno]

The 4chan one seems to be the official one before being deleted. If that's true, then I'm so happy that Fujin is back. I miss him since MK4.

 

[Living Corpse]

"Shimmer" could just be a placeholder name, like NRS knew leaks were gonna happen and are not ready for people to know her real name yet. Or they haven't come up with one yet.

 

[mattteo]

If you go through all the 4chan page, he mentions that her real name is Ikanama and that they call her "Shimmer" because of her powers. It sounds a lot like the Raiden/Haokah thing with Nightwolf's tribe.

I don't know if it's true or not, but it's a great story, I can only wish that NRS would do something like this.

 

[LaidbackOne]

Can we please stop. This is actually the shittiest leak of them all. Looks like some basement virgins fan fiction.

 

[mattteo]

Can we please stop. This is actually the shittiest leak of them all. Looks like some basement virgins fan fiction.

Guy talked about many Mortal Kombat related stuff that only a few of us know. I doubt you do too.

Quote:

"Story mode will also involve dialogue options and actions, which WILL change the course of the story. These are the characters you can play as during the story: Cassie Cage, Jacqui, Kenshi, Kitana, Kotal Kahn, Liu Kang, Raiden, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Takeda, Jade, Sareena, Kai, Ashrah, and Taven. Characters who you don’t play as are still very important to the story mode, and we made sure that no-one was a throwaway. Story Kombat is similar to games mentioned above, as well as the Arkham games (Rocksteady consulted on Story Kombat to make it as immersive and smooth as we could). "

"Jade was saved from the Netherrealm by Shimmer. Noob Saibot never actually died. The soulnado destroyed the evil part of him. And Shang Tsung takes over Ermac's body and "kills" him."

In reply to why Ed Boon would put Kira in the game:

"He doesn't love her, but wanted to redesign her for a new generation. What we did with her is pretty cool."- remember those characters from MK9 tied in Shao Kahn's arena or fighting in the background of The Pit stage? Who of them became playable? Kenshi+ Tanya+Bo'Rai Cho got on the roster. Reiko has been really close to being playable but they cut him at the last moment and just used gim in story- but still, very important. Li Mei, Sareena, Frost and Daegon have been hyped or appeared in story mode, as far as I know NRS still has plans for them. That just leaves Kira, who was also tied up in the Arena in MK9. You only saw the above characters with cameos, not Drahmin, Moloch, Mavado, Hsu Hao. Why is that??

Responding about the Quan Chi artwork for MK11 on the internet: "Those were fan made who wanted him in the game. He never was considered to be in the game"

"I didn't say Ed was the only one. There are many people deciding, but he's the main one. Art department really has no final say."- which is pretty true

"Jax promised his wife not to go back out in danger. Jacqui also begs him to keep her mother and him safe. He agrees, and they go into hiding together.

Sonya went missing in the beginning of the war, and left Special Forces in the hands of Cassie." - so that's what I meant by savvy about Mortal Kombat. The man obviously knew little things like that, so he dodn't know Cassie's green power came from Johnny? Of course he did. But he still made the reveal that they'll be addressing it in another way.

"Because we want to move away from those characters, and give others the chance to shine. That's why the Kombat Kids (minus Jin) are back. We'll be moving even further from the classics next game, according to Shawn and Ed."- do you even know who this Shawn is??

"Taven is a much more heroic character now, not just to gather power and fight Blaze (who isn't in the story). Deagon killed Kenshi's wife, and is a member of the Red Dragon Clan. Takeda and Kenshi find him, ass he aligns himself with Onaga to bring about the Extinction. Taven thinks he can save his brother from the darkness, and joins the heroes.

Close. Sonya finds out that Mercia is Onaga's right hand man, and that they plan on draining Cassie to bring him back"

Even I didn't know all that about the lore. So allow me to actually do take it into consideration instead of your ranting, because none of the orher leaks actually seemed like written by someone who knew what Mortal Konbat really was, the lore and the people behind it responsible. If you want, the other leaks are actually written like from a basement, by fans who only "leak" names of the playable characters and nothing regarding the actual story.

 

[Alec]

Guy talked about many Mortal Kombat related stuff that only a few of us know. I doubt you do too.

Quote:

"Story mode will also involve dialogue options and actions, which WILL change the course of the story. These are the characters you can play as during the story: Cassie Cage, Jacqui, Kenshi, Kitana, Kotal Kahn, Liu Kang, Raiden, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Takeda, Jade, Sareena, Kai, Ashrah, and Taven. Characters who you don’t play as are still very important to the story mode, and we made sure that no-one was a throwaway. Story Kombat is similar to games mentioned above, as well as the Arkham games (Rocksteady consulted on Story Kombat to make it as immersive and smooth as we could). "

"Jade was saved from the Netherrealm by Shimmer. Noob Saibot never actually died. The soulnado destroyed the evil part of him. And Shang Tsung takes over Ermac's body and "kills" him."

In reply to why Ed Boon would put Kira in the game:

"He doesn't love her, but wanted to redesign her for a new generation. What we did with her is pretty cool."- remember those characters from MK9 tied in Shao Kahn's arena or fighting in the background of The Pit stage? Who of them became playable? Kenshi+ Tanya+Bo'Rai Cho got on the roster. Reiko has been really close to being playable but they cut him at the last moment and just used gim in story- but still, very important. Li Mei, Sareena, Frost and Daegon have been hyped or appeared in story mode, as far as I know NRS still has plans for them. That just leaves Kira, who was also tied up in the Arena in MK9. You only saw the above characters with cameos, not Drahmin, Moloch, Mavado, Hsu Hao. Why is that??

Responding about the Quan Chi artwork for MK11 on the internet: "Those were fan made who wanted him in the game. He never was considered to be in the game"

"I didn't say Ed was the only one. There are many people deciding, but he's the main one. Art department really has no final say."- which is pretty true

"Jax promised his wife not to go back out in danger. Jacqui also begs him to keep her mother and him safe. He agrees, and they go into hiding together.

Sonya went missing in the beginning of the war, and left Special Forces in the hands of Cassie." - so that's what I meant by savvy about Mortal Kombat. The man obviously knew little things like that, so he dodn't know Cassie's green power came from Johnny? Of course he did. But he still made the reveal that they'll be addressing it in another way.

"Because we want to move away from those characters, and give others the chance to shine. That's why the Kombat Kids (minus Jin) are back. We'll be moving even further from the classics next game, according to Shawn and Ed."- do you even know who this Shawn is??

"Taven is a much more heroic character now, not just to gather power and fight Blaze (who isn't in the story). Deagon killed Kenshi's wife, and is a member of the Red Dragon Clan. Takeda and Kenshi find him, ass he aligns himself with Onaga to bring about the Extinction. Taven thinks he can save his brother from the darkness, and joins the heroes.

Close. Sonya finds out that Mercia is Onaga's right hand man, and that they plan on draining Cassie to bring him back"

Even I didn't know all that about the lore. So allow me to actually do take it into consideration instead of your ranting, because none of the orher leaks actually seemed like written by someone who knew what Mortal Konbat really was, the lore and the people behind it responsible. If you want, the other leaks are actually written like from a basement, by fans who only "leak" names of the playable characters and nothing regarding the actual story.

I kinda have to agree with @LaidbackOne here. Sounds super "fanfiction-y", don't see how that makes him savvy or very knowledgeable of MK Lore. He is just inventing upon what is known. Nothing there screams "legit" to me.
That "Shawn" is probably referring to Shawn Kittelsen, writer of the MKX comic and currently working for Netherrealm Studios.

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

@mattteo Enough. First and foremost, this person said there are no variations, which much like the 4chan leak means it's nonsense.

Most of the lore details you're praising here are either inaccurate, made up whole-cloth, or simply based on the MKX comic or the MK9 and MKX ladder endings.

Sidenote, this person claims to be an NRS staffer working closely with Ed Boon. If this were real, don't you think we would have seen a firing by now? Seriously.

The craziest bit, which you didn't c/p, is where the person claims Kung Jin has been cut because they don't want the game associated with gay people. That'd be pretty weird after they made a point of having a gay character in the first place!

It's fake. Let it drop.

 

[mattteo]

That "Shawn" is probably referring to Shawn Kittelsen, writer of the MKX comic and currently working for Netherrealm Studios.

I think the "Shawn" refers to Shawn Himmerick, who is in a decision-making position.

The variation customing needs be shown as more than aesthetics customization first. Not a long wait until new details.

 

[Alec]

I think the "Shawn" refers to Shawn Himmerick, who is in a decision-making position.

The variation customing needs be shown as more than aesthetics customization first. Not a long wait until new details.

That would be SHAUN Himmerick and not "Shawn" then. So, not likely.

 

[Alright RyRy]

Todd Mcfarlane just pretty much confirmed spawn.

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

Todd Mcfarlane just pretty much confirmed spawn.

lmaooooo

It would be extremely Classic Todd to fuck up the entire rollout months in advance. What a dink.

 

[thesacrifist]

The ToddMcFarlane-fuckup probably means the Mortal Kombat: Extinction leak is bollocks, seeing as Spawn isn't mentioned as a DLC-character there.

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

Updated the OP with the shocking reveal that Sub-Zero and Liu Kang are confirmed.

You may be stunned to discover TWO of the leaks predicted this!!!!

 

[Tanno]

It could be a hoax. Be careful.

 

[HeavyNorse]

Updated the OP with the shocking reveal that Sub-Zero and Liu Kang are confirmed.

You may be stunned to discover TWO of the leaks predicted this!!!!

OMFGZ THE LEAKS ARE CONFIRMED GUYZ!!!

 

[FoughtDragon01]

Updated the OP with the shocking reveal that Sub-Zero and Liu Kang are confirmed.

You may be stunned to discover TWO of the leaks predicted this!!!!

Oh snap, they're confirmed?! Thank goodness, I thought they were gonna be left forgotten like the rest of the 3d era characters since their debuts didn't make many waves. Thank god NRS is giving them a second chance!

 

[Sablicious]

Zero and Kang being in are about as 'shocking' as Scorpion's and Raiden's presence.... zzZ

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

Zero and Kang being in are about as 'shocking' as Scorpion's and Raiden's presence.... zzZ

yes that's the joke

 

[ProTremor]

The only leaks that I believe so far is the one from 4chan about the VGA. And the one from "Righteoushall04", if you noticed that DM is from jammesmk..That dude always leaks MK roster and it usually spot on.

Also, so bored at work I found this tweet https://twitter.com/noobde/status/995227797256843265?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^995227797256843265&ref_url=http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/content/forum/showmessage.cds?id=160894

Which basically confirms 6 DLC. Six Tremors..Tremor was DLC..Jeez i am bored lol. So i do not think Shao Khan is considered DLC and no leak has even stated 6 DLC chars, only 4.

 

[xXRagingFlameXx]

https://www.thenerdmag.com/rumor-mortal-kombat-11-box-art-leaked-sonya/

 

[xXRagingFlameXx]

I honestly hope that's fake because I want Sonya, Johnny, and Jax to sit this one out. But, with the aspect of going back to the OG timeline, I don't know if it'll happen. I'd be happy to have them as NPC's in the story, but I personally prefer Cassie and Jacqui and don't want the game to feel like Call of Duty. Too much emphasis on the Special Forces is part of the reason why MKX lost its luster after a while.

Sonya was just so bleh to me in MKX. Too serious and her fatalities were booty. Johnny wasn't bad, but I don't necessarily see the NEED for him anymore. Cassie is literally the best of both worlds when it comes to them, except I find her a lot more entertaining.

Same for Jacqui. I liked her before, and she's also basically just mini Jax. If anything, she just needs a major design overhaul and then she'd be fine for me. I feel like there's a lot of space for newer or returning characters that I'd find more interesting than those 3 parents.

I'd say the same for Kenshi / Takeda, but Takeda isn't a carbon copy of Kenshi which is great and I find both of them a lot of fun to play.

 

[mattteo]

Sonya as an in-game character would be the WORST news. 2 blonde bimbos AGAIN??