Mortal Kombat 1’s Kameos completely change combos

Mortal Kombat 1 felt like NetherRealm's best ever fighting game during our Summer Game Fest preview session

NetherRealm Studios gets better with every game it makes. Each release since Mortal Kombat (2011) has been a solid step forward for both Mortal Kombat and Injustice, but not a revelation. Though, that just means if you jump in now with 2023’s upcoming Mortal Kombat 1, you’re in for a finely tuned experience.

Mortal Kombat 1’s biggest innovation is the new Kameo system. There’s an entire roster of Kameo characters that essentially stand on the sidelines to back you up in battle. You can use Kameo characters like Assist attacks in other fighters – they can either get a combo started for you, or you can use them mid-combo to extend and get more damage done. Kameo characters have their own meter, and calling a Kameo out uses half of it, meaning a fully charged meter will allow you to use a Kameo twice in a single combo.

Kameo characters also decide the nature of your Fatal Blow, with the animation usually performed by the Kameo character. It’s a solid new mechanic – it doesn’t go as far as a true two-character tag battle system, but it does give NetherRealm the option of including new Kameo fighters for, um, cameos, as they’re bound to be easier to develop thanks to fewer animations.

Kameo characters help with Fatal Blow attacks / Warner Bros

We got to sit down with four fighters and three Kameo characters during our preview, and it’s already easy to imagine how character combinations will become a key part of the meta game. Your character needs a Kameo partner that can back up each of their bloody attacks.

Mortal Kombat 1 still doesn’t shy away from getting gory. As you fight, blood sprays from every hit, splattering on the floor. The stage tells the story of where the battle took place – and exactly how much time was spent in the corner – and all you need to do is look at the floor.

The Fatalities themselves are still laughably gruesome, with Kitana’s fans spinning through foes like a blender, leaving nothing but viscera in their wake. As always, when MK wants to be, it’s the most unnecessarily violent game on the market, gory enough to make you cringe, but most of the time it’s just comical blood showers.

Mortal Kombat is still a gruesome game / Warner Bros

Our time with the demo was split between the Kampaign’s Klassic Towers mode, and a little bit of Local Versus against another real-life Mortal Kombat amateur. It’s enough time to get the hang of the new iterations on these “klassic” characters: Mortal Kombat 1 is a reboot, and comes along with younger versions of the fighters you know.

Sub Zero and Liu Kang look and feel great, while Kenshi is back, and his supernatural swordsman abilities look cooler than ever, perfect for mixing up an unsuspecting opponent.

But Mortal Kombat 1 is up against tough competition. Street Fighter 6 just launched and is one of the best launch-day fighting games Capcom has ever released, and Tekken 8 is gearing up for a Closed Network Test in July.

Kameo characters have a separate roster to the main cast / Warner Bros

Mortal Kombat 1 is launching in one of the busiest possible years for fighting games, and while it’s definitely putting its best foot forward, we can hope that it doesn’t get whiff punished when it releases this September 19.