This was something Ed Boon hyped up via Twitter with a series of kryptic messages where he would change one letter to a number that signified the days left before the character reveal. Then, to make matters worse, NetherRealm made the big character reveal Sunday. Can’t think of a new character, how about a spinoff of one we already have? Recall that the roster of Mario Kart 8 was one of the only complaints ubiquitously shared, since it exemplified laziness in character design. To rectify that, NetherRealm introduced four new characters, two of which seem to be related to already-existing characters, making their appearance in the game equivalent to Koopas in Mario Kart 8. Mortal Kombat X now has to deal with the ramifications of NetherRealm Studios killing off almost half of its characters.

The campaign, though, carried within it what could be the seeds of its successor’s destruction. This addition, though, didn’t affect the hectic, violent gameplay we’ve all grown to love. Its campaign was overhauled, which became a complete story-driven experience, rather than a simple ladder-style death match that ended in a story of what would happen had that character won. Of course, Mortal Kombat 2011 did add elements to the game. It took out fighting styles and made it so almost every move could be combined with another in some way, rather than only allowing preconceived combos. NetherRealm Studios returned to 2D levels, making people more able to accept the game as a competitive fighter. It made everything simpler and chose execution to wow the player, rather than shaky innovation. Truly earning the return to the original name, this reboot of the franchise went back to what it did best. Notice that Mortal Kombat 2011 didn’t have any of these. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon added “kreate a fatality” and “kreate a character,” as well as a game mode vaguely reminiscent of Mario Kart. Mortal Kombat: Deception added other games, such as Chess Kombat and Puzzle Kombat (your standard Tetris variant).

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance added different fighting styles for people to string together combos across all three (after pressing the exact right 10-button combination, of course). Mortal Kombat 4 added a side-stepping mechanic, which was expanded into a full-on, 3D environment where players could circle around each other, dodging projectiles and other launch moves. Let’s look at what other Mortal Kombat games brought to the franchise. It’s not as though the game can’t be good, but a few details about it can certainly be taken as ominous thunder clouds sent by Raiden himself (and believe me, we’ll get to that later). The build up to Mortal Kombat X has been swift, exciting and troubling for those paying attention.

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