Mortal Kombat

We sit down and review Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath. A new story expansion for Mortal Kombat 11 with other updates. Here is our review it all

There have been a whole lot of updates and DLC for Mortal Kombat 11 so far since it first dropped on the PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. Most of which have been character add ons and then the normal tweaks that NetherRealm Studios has to do so they can keep the game balanced and accessible to all fans as things march forward. Most of the time, this is for the multiplayer aspect of the game and not for those that play for the story and lore. The team has done wonders to push that forward in the genre and franchise so far. That is why I was excited to hear about Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath as it would push all of that further without the need for a whole new game. It is also why I was glad to sit down and see just what it would be bringing to us besides a few new characters to fight with. Here is our review of how this DLC adds to it all.

Story

This bit continues down the path of Mortal Kombat and after Liu Kang as won the day again. It has not been about the tournament for a while now, if you have not been paying attention, and is all about bigger threats. It was defeated and the winners aimed to reset the timeline to bring back our fallen friends and remove those that would cause harm to EarthRealm. All does not go as planned as we see Shang Tsung championing this path to possibly get the Mortal Kombat tournament back on track. How does all of this flow for our crew? When you will have to enter the tournament to find out.

Hated

Given that Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath was supposed to add a lot to the story and round things out, one would have expected this to add hours and hours to it all. More so when you look at the price of admission even if you owned the game from the start. Sadly, it is a short little addition to it all. That is by no means to say it was bad, but it all focused on a few of the characters in the game with only two of the new ones getting a highlight. Sure, other DLC characters that are cannon to the Mortal Kombat franchise had their own sections too, but it felt like there was a lot of glossing over along the way when things could have been fleshed out more. This could be the story snob in me more than anything as this is what I love about this franchise the most.

Also, and this one is totally a personal preference issue, I really only enjoyed getting the addition of Sheeva to Mortal Kombat 11 here in terms of fighting. I loathed playing and fighting as Fujin and Robocop are nice for nostalgia, but only Sheeva felt like she fit in with the base mechanics we have learned in the game. This is from special moves to basic combos as well. Again, this is all personal feelings as not all characters are made for the playstyle of everyone, but the three new ones we have in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, only Sheeva felt right. Fujin was almost unplayable for me, which is bad as he has a whole story section you have to play as, and none of his moves felt fluid. Which was weird, as he is an air-based character and you would think it would be the other way.

Loved

Even though it was short, the new story for Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath added so much to the franchise as a whole. The script in this even took care to make there be solid reasons for fights to take place and not just use a "because the script said so" mentality to it all. Something that the core game did on occasion because they needed a bit of game mixed in at that moment. Even when allies had to fight, there was sense behind it with misunderstandings and deceit running rampant. Not even the normal Mortal Kombat trope of "sorcery made me do it" is used all that much. It worked so well that it even had a branching ending where both made logical sense and could lead to another expansion or what is used to drive a whole new title. NetherRealm has learned how to do this so very well and I cannot wait to get more.

One of the other core updates that came here for Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath was some new finishers for levels and the return of Friendships. Something I scoffed at in the past given how they generally do not always fit the tone of the game. That or feel like there is too much setup that has to go down to make them work in it all. I am eating those words now as they all added to my enjoyment of not only this DLC but also the multiplayer parts of it all. The friendships all work for the characters they are for and I find myself aiming to pull off the stage fatalities more than I ever have in the past Mortal Kombat titles. All to the point that I want to see those Babalities and Animalities make a way back in they expand even further with more characters as they can now.

Overview

Hands down, if you are a fan of Mortal Kombat 11 in general you are going to want to pick this up. The update for the finishers is free to add on but the story expands so much more and gives you something else to strive for. I only really had fun with Sheeva in terms of the characters but, again, subjective based on your playstyle. Just be sure to take a look at them all before you make the choice. Also, maybe wait until a price drop if you want to feel like you are getting an expansion to it all that fits what we are getting in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath. It just felt like there should have been a bit more to me. Other than that, extremely well-done.

I give Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath 29 Friendships on the Friendship scale.

Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath was developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. for the PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on May 26^th, 2020. A PS4 digital code of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.