As of August 15th, 2024, Mortal Kombat 1 has released their first official announcement trailers for both their new “Mortal Kombat 1: Khoas Reigns” downloadable content as well as a new definitive Cyrax gameplay trailer which has fans shook. NetherRealm Studios, the developers of Mortal Kombat, wishes to re-immerse us with these beloved past and new characters in a teasy cinematic format. All MK1 gamers and fans have been debating over NetherRealm Studios' decisions, alongside these characters and their potential gameplay, asking themselves the questions: Will Kombat Pack 2 actually be able to live up to its standards placed by its fans? Or on the other hand, will the lengthy controversy over the release date and various character opinions control the relevant prominence of MK1 as a whole?
Release Date and Controversy
After months of leaks and speculations as to who the characters would actually be, we finally got our first look at them, announced on their official YouTube channel and at San Diego's Comic-Con. With that being said, there will be a total of six playable characters featured within this pack known as Cryax, Sector, Noob Saibot, Scream, Conan The Barbarian, and T-1000 from the terminator series. Three of them (Sector, Cryax, and Noob) are heading towards a release date of September 24th, this year. While fans are both wildly excited to see old faces return and new characters being introduced, many of the game's player base are complaining due to MK Pack 1 being released over the course of an entire year since the game's initial release date. The majority of fans have said that since then, the game has died out. It's seen all over the game's reviews and player bases across social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. More and more people have been subjecting the game to threats about the lengthy releases from NetherRealm. In turn, however, NetherRealm has realized this problem whilst taking it into further consideration for the future, such as Kombat Pack 2’s release.
Character Overview and Cinematic Gameplay
As Mortal Kombat Pack 2 will eventually hit off, the main thing that's different vs. this pack is that not only will there be less downtime between the characters but three characters will all be released simultaneously as mentioned before. This is unlike the singular releases NetherRealm had been doing with the MK Kombat Pack. With that being said, there will even be a new campaign mode and invasion season to go along with this, ensuring that the player base will be satisfied and not be constrained due to past wait times. For the most part, players are excited with NetherRealm’s pick for the new pack as not only did they bring back similar faces from the franchise's past like Noob Saibot, and Cyrax/Sector, but also introduce characters such as Ghost Face and T-1000! Through their announcement trailer and new Cyrax gameplay teaser, they are able to both incite new story cutscenes about the evil Hvaik from the end of the campaign. Alongside this, they implement flashy gameplay in between those cinematic cutscenes to have audiences hooked, which is something NetherRealm Studios has never failed to surprise us with.
Concerns and Over all Changes
Even with all of that information being said, people are still concerned about two characters from the pack, being T-1000 and Conan the Barbarian. MK1 Gamers are slightly unsatisfied with T-1000’s pick and overly disappointed with Conan The Barbarian. While T-1000 may be an overall boring pick for both new and longtime fans, his overall potential as a character can skyrocket once the trailers and the gameplay of him releases, since he can function or even have redeeming factors in how well his combos/gameplay will play out. Unlike T-1000, however, fans have been speculating Conan as a forgotten movie character from the 80’s that no one remembers or knows. Comparisons have also been going on between him and General Shao. Instituting his combos will have no redeeming factor and overall be way too similar to the already beloved General Shao. Nonetheless, the fans still appreciate the flashy combos, new animations, new designs/gender swaps, character arcs of Noob, Cryax, and Sector within their respective trailers. No matter what's being said about T-1000 and Conan, Ghost Face still receives immense hype as one of the new characters being introduced, as NetherRealm wants to learn from their past experiences and do their best to keep bringing people back to MK1.
Overall Thoughts
Even with all of that information being said, NetherRealm Studios has solidified itself as a good company that actually listens to their fans and moral supporters. With the early release of three characters instead of one every three months, Mortal Kombat Pack 2 is 100% a must grab for all of you die-hard fans out there, and I highly recommend that you check it out. It'll start at a price of $59.99 for both the DLC characters and the new expandable story pack, Khaos Reigns, and will be dropping on September 24th. NetherRealm Studios has a lot in store for both people wanting to come back to the game, as well for the ones that never left.
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