Mortal Kombat 11, the best fighting game of 2019, received a large expansion pack last month (that I’m finally getting the time to review now that unexpected personal obligations have subsided). The expansion, known as Aftermath, brings with it three new playable characters and a direct continuation of the story mode of MK11, adding another six chapters of kontent, complete with lots of new in-game cinema and battles. Though Aftermath is a separate purchase — and a steep one at that for current owners of MK11 ($40) — owners of MK11 also got new free content drops at the time of Aftermath’s release, too.
As a one time anecdote, it took a little time to get MK11: Aftermath installed and running for me. After redeeming the review codes, I had to get some patches and then also download the extra content within the game, it was kind of strange. From the start menu, I would see Konquer, which takes you to the Story Mode, and there was an option for Aftermath, but the game said I needed to purchase Aftermath. I clicked through to the PS Store link, which said I couldn’t buy Aftermath, but soon after I found a way to download it within the game itself. It was all pretty weird and convoluted, but, once I figured out these extra hoops to jump through I downloaded Aftermath and the other content.
The new patch for MK11 that is free for non-Aftermath owners has new stages, including the awesome Dead Pool which debuted as the first arena in MKII. The Soul Chamber arena is included, new Stage Fatalties (such as using the acid pool to finish off your foe) and the return of Friendship finishers are all included. For those who do not have MK11 at all, the best value is to get Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Kollection which has everything, including the six additional playable characters, pre-order stuff, and twenty-five character skins for $60.
Ok, so regarding specifically Aftermath, I was excited to first try out Fujin, who I believe was first playable in MK4 if I’m not mistaken. Fujin is Raiden’s brother, and is the god of wind. I took on a Novice Tower with Fujin and quickly found I enjoyed his move set, which includes a ranged krossbow, a really awesome series of four rising kicks, and a cool tornado move. I then jumped into Aftermath the story mode, which begins by replaying the final cutscene of MK11 that sees Kronika, and her crown, destroyed. Liu Kang, now the fire god, is the ruler of time and earthrealm. However, as he and the now-mortal Raiden begin the process of setting things right, a portal opens up and three characters appear: Fujin, Nightwolf, and the sorcerer Shang Tsung.
Shang Tsung looks and sounds like he did from the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, which is exactly what you’d hope for (he did in MK11 as well, but it had been a while since I played it and he’s much more present in Aftermath than in the base game). Upon stepping out of the void that he, Nightwolf, and Fujin were banished to by Kronika, he presents a compelling case for alliance with Liu Kang and Raiden, though Raiden has his suspicions from the outset. Shang Tsung says that due to Kronika’s crown being destroyed in battle, the alliance must go back in time and keep her from ever getting the crown…
The story and characters of MK have always been pretty tongue-in-cheek zany, and that’s part of its allure. I mean, where else are you going to see an army comprised of para-military soldiers and Shaolin monks led by the gods of thunder and wind charging into battle against outworld minons? It’s nuts, and there have been so many subplots and story arcs throughout the series’ nearly thirty years that it’s hard to keep straight. Yet the production value of the cutscenes and the fan service that permeates each iteration of the game is noticeable and appreciated, so kudos to Netherrealm for going all in, again.
Ok, so that said, the team goes back in time and the story and battles begin, with players getting to use Nightwolf first, and then Fujin, and several others including Shang Tsung, Sindel, Sheeva, and Shao Kahn. I was really impressed with Fujin and Nightwolf, although it’s fun bashing foes with Shao Kahn, too. Sindel, who hasn’t been playable I think since her introduction in U/MK3, is actually pretty fun to use as well, and her shriek is as chilling as ever. Nightwolf’s Rhino Charge shoulder ram, a throwback to his MK3 days, is great, (Shao Kahn has a similar move), and his “dragon punch” like hatchet uppercut attack is also great.
I dabbled a little bit with other characters that I hadn’t previously played, including the new guest character, Robocop. He and T-800, the Joker, and even Spawn are all cool. There’s such a large roster of great characters now it’s kind of tough to choose who to play as. Side note, one semi-gripe I have in general with MK11 is the tremendous amount of unlocks, kollectibles, koins, time krystals, hearts, etc etc. There’s just a metric ton of various “stuff” — I hesitate to say junk, but gosh there’s a lot of stuff here, some of it hardly worth a look. Modifiers to use within battle still doesn’t feel right to have at all, a million things to unlock in the Krypt, the daily challenges, I have to admit there’s just a lot of ‘noise’ with MK11. I feel the same way about SFV for what it’s worth, and granted my origin with these games is their franchise originals at the arcade, so I’m not so accustomed to such much extra side content. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate storyboard art and alternate skins and things, and I unlocked the entire Krypt back in the Deadly Alliance days on Gamecube, but there’s a point where enough is enough. The new Krypt is like a game mode on its own and it’s a lot tougher to unlock stuff here than previous Krypts. Anyway, all this to say it’s just kind of daunting to fire up the game and just, you know, play, and not get inundated with all of the extra “stuff.”
Overall, though, MK11 is an outstanding game, and the free content update and the paid Aftermath expansion give this game another boost to carry it on through 2020. I would point out again that for previous MK11 owners, Aftermath has a stout $40 price point at the time of this writing. The cost of games drops a lot quicker this gen than previous ones, thought sometimes DLC and expansions are awfully stubborn to do so. Anyway, we’ll see happens with the price of Aftermath, but I feel for those who previously bought the $60 (or even higher) cost versions of MK11 and are now left with an inkomplete game. Anyway, that aside, how Netherrealm Studios tops this outing is something I’ll be curious to see. In the meantime, for accessible, deep, fun, and nostalgic-rich fighting, you’d be hard-pressed to do any better than MK11: Aftermath.
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