Khaos Reigns won’t convince players to return to Mortal Kombat 1

Mortal Kombat 1's Khaos Reigns story expansion is fun, but not a compelling reason to return to MK1.

Noob Saibot / Warner Bros.

The release of a new Mortal Kombat game feels like a novelty you shouldn’t miss out on. The twists and turns of the story that make your eyes roll, the egregious gore, and the suite of new playable characters – it’s a convincing package, and I can’t blame anybody for picking up Mortal Kombat, playing through the story, and then locking the game away in the depths of their hard drive until some friends come to visit. Mortal Kombat has its place as the nostalgic fighter for people who don’t play fighting games otherwise, and the main game for a handful of people who take NetherRealm Studios’ games seriously.

MK1’s big new update, Khaos Reigns, includes most of that proposed package. There’s a new story mode to battle through, kontinuing on from the klimax of the original, and a host of new kharacters (that one felt like a stretch) to try out. And MK1’s character roster is nothing if not prolific. The DLC Kombat Pack 1 includes The Boys’ Homelander, Invincible’s Omni-Man, and John Cena as Peacemaker. Kombat Pack 2 has already introduced Cyrax, Sektor, and Noob Saibot, with Scream’s Ghostface, Terminator’s T-1000, and Conan the Barbarian himself coming to the roster soon.

It fits the audience perfectly. I’m a weeb, I’m a fan of Japanese games and anime, and my main fighting game is Street Fighter. I’m not the target audience for this roster of crossover characters – Mai Shiranui is infinitely more exciting than Omni-Man for me – but I get it. Invincible has been a hit animated show on a streaming platform that isn’t Crunchyroll, and if you’re approaching 40 I bet the T-1000 is amazing to see. Normies, rejoice, for your prayers have been answered, it’s a sampling of the cast of Ready Player One – you already have them in Pop Vinyl form, so you might as well play them in MK1 too.

Havik is the main enemy of Khaos Reigns. / Warner Bros.

Even I’m a sucker for the novelty of a Mortal Kombat story mode though, and MK1’s Khaos Regins expansion is undeniably more of the same. MK1’s story introduced a grand multiverse of new timelines that split off from the conclusion of MK11, and one of those timelines is controlled by Titan Havik, who has assembled the Kamidogu. If you’re familiar with MK lore, you’ll know what the Kamidogu are, but if you’re not, they’re essentially the Infinity Stones. Havik charges the Kamidogu with magical properties from the kidnapped Geras, and that will allow him to take control of the primary timeline. Somehow. The mechanics of it aren’t really clear, it’s just a big threat.

The core of Khaos Reigns actually revolves around Sub-Zero, his split from his brother Scorpion, and his corruption by Havik’s Khaos Magic. The writers really tried to make something happen here, something mimicking character development, but it didn’t land. Characters will argue and conclude “we’ll see what happens when it comes to it,” foreshadowing a future event. But then that event will happen in the very next scene – a literal camera cut will happen, and what was just discussed is already coming to pass. This happens all the time, because characters can’t be given too much time to actually, y’know, develop. It gets in the way of the fighting and blood.

Ghostface is just one of the upcoming Kombat Pack 2 characters. / Warner Bros.

Even the end of the story, which sees Havik defeated, left me wondering if that was truly it. The climax isn’t anywhere near as interesting as what we saw at the end of MK1 or even MK11, Havik just gets beat and that’s it. It’s over. The team doesn’t even return to save the cool dragon they meet and completely forget about. After a couple of hours of rolling my eyes at the “tough guy” dialogue bookending every fight, I couldn’t believe I didn’t even get a bit of CGI spectacle to reward my time.

Khaos Reigns isn’t an amazing reason to play the game again unless you’re a lore buff – the real reason to jump into MK1 now is to play those new DLC characters. I might not care for them, but they have unique and interesting playstyles that set them apart from the rest of the roster. It’s almost a shame that you can’t just play through the story mode as John Cena and Omni-Man.

It's fine. / Warner Bros.

A year on, and Mortal Kombat 1 is still plodding along. If you’ve felt a bit gore deprived recently, Khaos Reigns is a great way to refresh your sicko meter and have some fun with friends, but even with infinite combos and a variety of new characters, MK1 still feels stuck in the mud. Hopefully, the next MK game will take place in a timeline where the gameplay doesn’t feel stiff, though I’m not sure even the Kamidogu can help with that.

Platform: PS5