NetherRealm Studios held their most watched Kombat Kast this morning, attracting an audience of close to 40,000 viewers.
Subtitled “Whips, Sais & A Little Surprise,” their sixth live stream was full of juicy Mortal Kombat X details including the first publicly broadcast gameplay footage of two new kombatants and an old favourite.
A seemingly efficacious Mileena was up first, showcasing her new and varied abilities. Mileena’s variations include Ethereal (which allows her to teleport and disappear for a short amount of time), Ravenous (which gives her a few bite attacks and the ability to string together unique chain grabs) and Piercing, in which she gains unique Sai attacks.
Mileena’s Fatality sees her impale her opponent with both of her sais in the side of the head, before ripping it off and indulging on their facial flesh. It was definitely a hit with fans, with the attached chat exploding with flighty reactions.
Next up came newcomer Takeda Takashi, whose presence felt fresh and was greatly welcomed by the kommunity. Takeda’s three variations include Shirai Ryu (which allows him to perform Scorpion-inspired whip attacks), Lasher (which electrically charges his whips) and Ronin (which equips him with dual plasma swords).
Takeda’s Fatality saw him extend his whip toward his opponent’s face, causing it to become lodged in their mouth. He then summoned the whip’s blades to extract, at which point they impaled his opponent head internally, causing them to collapse in excruciating pain.
Finally Kung Jin was shown off, with some of his moves bearing striking similarities with those of Nightwolf. Wielding a bow and arrow and referred to as “Kung Lao’s cousin,” Kung Jin’s variations include Ancestral (which gives him unique arrow attacks), Bojutsu (which allows him to use his bow as a staff) and Shaolin (which gives him a hip-mounted shock disc that he can use to enhance his moves or as a projectile).
Kung Jin’s Fatality sees him knock his opponent’s head off and into the air with his bow before launching three arrows directly at his new target. The finishing move ends with the arrows falling into the ground, the head impaled.
Kombatants aside, the highly unpredictable Test Your Luck mode will make a welcomed return in Mortal Kombat X, sporting a similar format but with a few differences. Players can still select between three and seven modifiers, but the team have introduced a new ability to select them yourself rather than having them selected for you. In addition, players have the option to replay the match with the same modifiers should they wish to.
Ed Boon’s promise of a new “-ality” was fulfilled, with the trio (consisting of Derek Kirtzic, Tyler Landsdown and competitive player Steve Brownback) unveiling a new online finishing move dubbed “Quitality.” One of the biggest annoyances of online play comes in the form of “rage quitting,” in which a player’s opponent quits during a match to avoid a loss marring their statistics. The introduction of Quitalities means that if your opponent leaves a match in progress, their head will explode and you will be awarded the win.
