Robocop Is Koming To Mortal Kombat 11 (Among Many Other Things)
Big announcement today from the good people at NetherRealm Studios. It seems that after they went through all the trouble of kompletely destroying the entire timeline of Mortal Kombat for the second time in Mortal Kombat 11, they are now starting the difficult task of putting it all back together again. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll rekap. Mortal Kombat (2011), aka MK9, started off by basically admitting that the storyline had become unsalvageable and pulling a mulligan. It then proceeded to do a hard rewrite of the entire franchise’s storyline, with key elements changed. Mortal Kombat X stuck with this new world order vibe, introducing a whole new kast of heroes, villains, and making Johnny Cage the anointed defender of Earthrealm. It was fucking amazing. Then Mortal Kombat 11 came along and for some reason re-introduced the old timeline with some wibbly-wobbly time nonsense. To be fair, the actual plot is that the goddess of time realized that the timeline had been broken, and was koming to restore her tyrannical preferred kanon. So she’s basically the living embodiment of lore nerds. It ended with Liu Kang literally becoming a god and killing her at the start of existence, effectively destroying time itself and the universe.
After emerging from the based keg party that must be the Mortal Kombat writer’s room, the legendary Ed Boon looked at the future of his beloved franchise and did a hard think. With all of reality destroyed and the whole cast reduced to one dude transcended to godhood, where could they possibly go from here? In a move that only cements him as the dude in gaming I’d like to party with the most, his answer was simple: RoboCop.
Okay, not JUST RoboCop. But yeah, the new expansion has RoboCop. And the classic Peter Weller RoboCop RoboCop, too. Featuring Weller’s voice and likeness, RoboCop joins a long list of action/horror icons to make their debut as mortal kombatants. It’s all a part of their new expansion, titled Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath. Aftermath is mostly a new storyline to try and re-establish the universe after the konclusion of MK11. Aftermath also comes with three new characters: Fujin, Sheeva, and Robert the Cyborg Police Man.
The expansion comes alongside a hefty new bevy of free kontent that should please Mortal Kombat fans. Both Stage Fatalities and Friendships are making a return. With how much of MK11‘s kool stuff was locked behind a pay-wall, this free update is a nice bonus for existing players.
The only downside is that Mortal Kombat: Aftermath is strangely expensive if you’re buying it to komplete your kollection. The Aftermath expansion itself is a whopping $40. It can also be bought as a bundle with the Kombat Pack for $50, or as the Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Kollection with the base game, Kombat Pack, and Aftermath for $60. This is nice for new players, who can get all the stuff for $60. For fans that have spent $60 on Mortal Kombat 11 when it released, $40 on the Kombat Pass, and are now expected to spend $40 on Aftermath, it’s a bit of a pisser.
As the pay-wall was basically my only complaint about Mortal Kombat 11, it is vexing to see the asking price be so steep. Still, Mortal Kombat 11 is one of the finest fighting game experiences you can find. The modern run resurrected the series, and set a new standard for fighting game storytelling. So if you haven’t checked it out, definitely grab the $60 Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Kollection when it drops on May 26th for PC, Stadia, Xbox One, and PS4. You can find more about Aftermath on the official Mortal Kombat 11 website here.
