MK1 Trailer Reveal at Gamescom — New Kameo Fighters, Raiden First Look
Like Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 1 got a brand new trailer at Gamescom as well. At the opening keynote in Germany, Ed Boon joined Geoff Keighley on stage to introduce the new look at the story and gameplay which brought back a trio of classic characters.
In this trailer, we got our first look at some old favorites in Raiden, Sindel and General Shao. Because of the retcon in the story, their roles in the world of Mortal Kombat are a bit different than we are used to. Because Liu Kang now functions as Earthrealm’s protector, Raiden takes over as Earth’s champion. His lighting-based powers are still intact and so he should feel similar to his previous incarnations. Sindel and General Shao, however, are a bit different. Their roles are not somewhat reversed from what we know. Sindel served as Shao Khan’s wife and the stepmother of Kitana in the general continuity. But in MK1, Shao is not the ruler of Outworld, Sindel is. General Shao is the champion of Outworld becoming the foil to Raiden and counterpart to Goro from the old timeline.
In terms of gameplay, all of the announced characters look like their older versions. Shao, in particular, looks a lot like his MK11 version, only with a battle axe instead of a hammer. Sindel, who didn’t appear in MK11, borrows a lot from her previous appearances. She still uses her hair as a weapon and possesses banshee-like screams that paralyze her opponents. In her Fatal Blow, that hair is used to bone-chilling effect as she pulls her opponent's legs out of their sockets. Ouch.
We also saw a couple of new Kameo fighters as well with Motaro and Shujinko. Motaro is a centaur who was the original boss of Mortal Kombat 3. Shujinko is one of the more unique protagonists in the MK mythos. He served as the main character of the MK: Deception storyline, which served as an adventure mode of sorts. That game explored the world of MK more than any other game before it, and thus made Shujinko a well-recognized character to MK die-hards.
The “Rulers of Outworld” trailer was just another way to whet the appetite of the Mortal Kombat faithful, and its story looks to be top notch as usual. MK1 is slated to release September 14th, 2023.
