Everything We Know About 'Mortal Kombat 11'

Since 1992, the Mortal Kombat franchise has been delighting audiences with its ultra-violent aesthetic, crowd-pleasing finishers, and bizarre intersection between dark humor and melodramatic lore.

The first Mortal Kombat game was framed around a fictional martial arts tournament and shared much in common with Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon film. But as the series progressed, the writers began adding fantastical elements, like alternate realms, sentient cyborgs, and a convoluted backstory concerning Elder Gods, destiny, and vengeance.

The gameplay of the Mortal Kombat franchise has changed significantly since its heyday. The early video games were unbalanced and glitchy—heavy on flash and shock value, less so on competitive strategy. But starting with Mortal Kombat 9, and continuing into Mortal Kombat X, NetherRealm Studios began designing these games with a more serious, competitive intent.

Mortal Kombat 11 continues this trend, incorporating all-new meta-mechanics for the hardcore fighting game community to sink its teeth into. The recent, early access beta provided a positive indication of things to come. Here is everything to know about Mortal Kombat 11 that we've learned thus far.

The release date for Mortal Kombat 11 is Tuesday, April 23. You can order the Standard edition or the Premium edition of the game; pre-ordering the game will allow you to play as Shao Kahn, Emperor of Outworld and Big Bad of the franchise. (He died at the end of Mortal Kombat 9, but death has never stopped any of these characters from making a comeback.)

The Standard edition is just the game and the pre-order bonus. The Premium edition grants you access to a Kombat Pack: six downloadable content characters released over time, early access to play as those characters, and exclusive skins and gear.

Mortal Kombat 11 will launch on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Cross-platform play will not be available at launch, but director Ed Boon is not opposed to it; the studio is considering adding it at a later date.

Thus far, NetherRealm has announced 25 playable fighters. Among these are Liu Kang, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Kano from the original game, and more recent characters like Skarlet, D'vorah, Erron Black, and Cassie Cage.

There are three new playable characters announced so far. Cetrion is Shinnok's sister (the Elder God was decapitated in the last game), an Elder Goddess who can manipulate natural elements. Geras is a henchman of Kronika, who can stop and start time, and the Kollector is a four-armed servant of the Outworld Empire, who mostly cares about getting rich.

Kronika, the mother of Cetrion and Shinnok, is the main antagonist for the new game, but she has not been confirmed as playable. Shang Tsung will be the game's first DLC character.

The cast is comprised of established voice actors, but two of them stand out in particular. The first is Ronda Rousey, the UFC Hall of Famer who just finished a stint in WWE as Raw Women's Champion. She will be voicing Sonya Blade.

The second is Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who chewed the scenery as Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie. He will reprise his vocal performance in the new game.

Mortal Kombat 11 will have crystals available for purchase, which can then be spent towards Easy Fatalities and cosmetic changes. These crystals can also be earned through gameplay.

NetherRealm intends to steer away from "pay-to-win" transactions; any purchasing that you do beyond the initial Kombat Pack, which includes more characters, will not affect actual fights in any significant way, and will simply add convenience. No lootboxes, no hidden costs.

The stages in Mortal Kombat 11 are smaller than those in Mortal Kombat X. There's also a lesser emphasis on juggling this time around. The developers' intent was to create a more intense, intimate experience, based on close quarters, parrying, blocking, and counter-attacking. Short, damaging combos are much more exciting than having to wait, unable to move, as your opponent combos you midair.

Mortal Kombat X had a single meter for offensive measures, defensive measures, and your X-Ray Attack. Forcing players to spend a limited meter on multiple outcomes, led to predictable gameplay, where most players would save their meters for defensive, preventative measures rather than the more flashy, theatrical attacks.

Mortal Kombat 11 gives you two meters, one offensive (represented by a sword) and another defensive (represented by a shield.) So now, you can engage in both fancy offense (like amplified special moves) and fancy defense (like combo breakers). The meters regenerate slowly over the course of the entire match.

X-Ray Attacks no longer drain the meters. Instead, NetherRealm renamed and split these moves into Fatal Blows and Krushing Blows. The game triggers both on a conditional basis.

You can land a Fatal Blow on your opponent when your health is below 30 percent. Like the X-Ray Moves from the prior two games, a Fatal Blow is a devastating, gory desperation attack that can end the fight outright. However, unlike the X-Ray Attack, which could be landed multiple times in one match, you only get one Fatal Blow per match. Once it connects, you're no longer able to use it in the next round, so choose wisely and strategically.

A Krushing Blow is an extra-damaging attack that happens when you meet certain conditions, like using a special move to punish your opponent, or connecting with an overhead while the opponent is crouch blocking. Like the Fatal Blow, each specific Krushing Blow (all characters will have several different types) can only be used once per match.

If you hit the Block button at the moment your opponent's move connects—within frames of animation—you will get a Flawless Block, which will give you a window to counterattack or interrupt someone else's combo.

This will wreak mayhem on the professional circuit, where many players are skilled enough to hit buttons within one to three frames of accuracy.

The fatalities in Mortal Kombat 11 are extremely grotesque. Baraka rips off his opponent's face, skewers his brain, and takes a bite. Liu Kang performs a one-inch punch on an opponent, causing him to break apart into bloody chunks. Sonya Blade pushes her opponent into the whirling blades of a helicopter. The end of each fatality is animated in slow-mo, to accentuate the carnage.

These moves are ridiculous enough to make you nervously giggle and realistic enough to make your stomach turn. If you want a game that thoroughly earns its Mature rating, try this one on for size.