It’s no secret that the Mortal Kombat franchise is gory. It’s always been gory. It’ll hopefully always stay gory. Part of that gore is the standard fighting during the rounds, but the really infamy of the franchise comes from the over-the-top fatalities that players can impart on their rivals. As the franchise has grown through the years, these fatalities have grown more convoluted and ridiculous in all the best ways, from simple upper-cuts in Mortal Kombat (1992) to full-on dissections, freezing of specific limbs and organs and much more in the recent entries.
One thing every entry so far has had in common is the difficulty level that these fatalities (and later on brutalities) have, from complicated combos unique to each character to multiple fatality options and then there’s ensuring you’re the required spacing distance away from your victim. With Mortal Kombat 1, that looks set to change.
Mortal Kombat 1 has Fatalities for Everyone!
During the stress-test this past weekend, a lot has been learned from it for fans around the world. From the re-introduction of the ‘Quitality’, a system designed to mock and shame those who quit a match before the end of it, to the more simplistic nature of fatalities, it is looking like Mortal Kombat 1 is aiming to be the biggest and best of the franchise.
In an age where accessibility and ease of use is a much-needed and well-warranted conversation, NetherRealms Studios are looking to make the goriest match-ending moves a simple move to pull off for everyone. Gone are the long, complicated combos, replaced now by a simple three button combination. Down, down and then a third button, which is dependent on the character in question.
It is inarguable this’ll make it easier to pull your rival limb from limb, with far less time required or thought process needed. Gone also is the spacing requirements, with fatalities able to be triggered no matter the distance from your enemy.
Ease of use aside, it is yet to be seen whether this’ll actually increase the amount of fatalities used on PvP opponents, as there’s always been an unwritten rule to take your victory with good grace and end the match as quickly as possible, not have your opponent sit through an admittedly awesome unskippable cutscene. The quicker the match is ended, the quicker another can be started.
Whatever happens, the fact developers seem to be taking accessibility options more seriously is only a good thing, and the less complicated something is to pull off, the more it’ll be used. It’ll be interesting to see the statistics of fatalities in the first month of release, compared to that of Mortal Kombat 11. With the roster soon getting a few more characters confirmed, as teased by Ed Boon, it won’t be long before we can imagine what the next big gory fatality will be.
What do you think of this news? Will you be saving the easy fatalities for the single-player modes? Or do you plan on torturing those unlucky enough to lose to you with a protracted death scene? Let us know in the comments!
