Mortal Kombat 1 first gameplay revealed at Summer Game Fest

NetherRealm Studios showed Mortal Kombat fans the gameplay of their next fighting game. Mortal Kombat 1., showing off the rebooted roster and revealing what “Kameo Fighters” are all about. Fans were treated to a number of Mortal Kombat-style deaths including skull crushings, decapitations, and broken bones.

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon was on hand at Summer Game Fest’s kickoff livestream on Thursday to show off the 12th mainline MK game. MK1’s gameplay reveal showed off some familiar faces, including Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kitana, Mileena, Johnny Cage, and even Kenshi, the blind swordsman.

As further evidenced during a match set in Johnny Cage’s Hollywood home, Mortal Kombat 1. is taking the franchise back in time, seemingly in the late ’80s/early ’90s, well before the story and cast of characters became bloated — and in need of a reboot. MK1 looks like a back-to-basics approach to Mortal Kombat’s broad-appealing brand of fighting game, thanks to its familiar faces and what appears to be a scaled-back fighting game system.

A new twist will always keep things interesting. Mortal Kombat 1.’s Kameo Fighters, a separate roster of assist characters that, based on footage shown by NetherRealm, includes old-school versions of Kano, Sonya Blade, and Jax. These three characters appeared only in their early costumes as assistant fighters. Boon explained that these pop-in/pop-out kombatants are available to assist during matches and they can be called with just a button push.

NetherRealm hasn’t revealed just how big the Mortal Kombat 1.A roster has not been released yet but on the Kameo Fighters menu, it was indicated that there were at least sixteen characters in this roster.

Mortal Kombat 1.The game is coming on Nintendo Switch as well as PlayStation 5, Windows PCs, and Xbox Series X in August. It’s the first new game in the franchise since 2019, when NetherRealm and Warner Bros. released Mortal Kombat 11,.