The long wait is over as NetherRealm Studios has revealed the next fighters to join Mortal Kombat 11. Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, Sindel, and most surprising of all, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn will be joining the action! Two additional characters will be coming as well, however they have not been revealed.
Shang Tsung is no surprise, as the character has been teased since before the release of the game and also highly-anticipated. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa’s likeness is being used for reference based on the 1995 movie-adaptation of the film. The tease of what this Shang looks like from yesterday has many fans happy to see such a well-made representation of the character.
Fans will love the details put into Shang in MK11. The voice acting and taunting line “Your soul is mine!” is so reminiscent of the 1995 movie. Speculation will also be high surrounding Goro, who appears to be deceased in the game, but fleshed out and looking terrifying in Shang Tsung's finishing move. Will the prince join the fight in later DLC?
In total, six fighters are available through this upcoming Kombat Pack 1, and those who order will have one week of exclusive early access. Now the real question is who are these two other characters coming to the game? Will they be characters from the Mortal Kombat series, or perhaps will be again be seeing the return of the Alien Xenomorph and Predator?
Previous datamining of the game seems to indicate that a total of 19 characters will eventually be added to the base game. This means not only that the game will remain fresh for a long time, barring the release of completely useless characters, but that we may be seeing a shift in how these titles work to extend their lifespans.
Tekken 7 for example is on its ninth character DLC pack and going strong in terms of competitive play. By slowly releasing quality characters into the game as opposed to all at once on release, or not adding new characters at all, the lifespan of the game is prolonged, and sequels can be spread further apart. This helps the new games feel fresh on release with new mechanics and avoids the problem that many consumers of sports games feel with titles like FIFA 20XX, where little is added in terms of innovation every year.
Mortal Kombat 11 is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.