Mortal Kombat 1 was of course playable during Gamescom 2023 but instead of versus matches, I played the new single-player mode called Invasions. It takes the best from the older Mortal Kombat campaigns and combines it into something new and exciting!
A brutal interactive board game
The mode is called Invasions and can best be described as a brutal interactive board game featuring your favorite Mortal Kombat fighters. Before you start, you pick your fighter and support fighter and get going. I was playing the first level of Invasions, which is there to show you the ropes of the mode. In short, you advance on the virtual board by defeating opponents or by clearing special challenges. When you succeed, you’ll get rewarded with tons of fun stuff, welcoming the smaller RPG layer to the mode. You collect relics and talismans which can alter the way you fight and even give you some fun advantages such as the powers of other fighters or more support from, for example, a small flying dragon.
What I liked most about Invasions is the overall flair and feeling, it feels like a mature version of Mario Party where the main focus are of course the typical Mortal Kombat fights with a twist, a refreshing and fun way to play with the iconic characters for sure!
Prepare for some challenges
The more steps I cleared on the board, the more difficult it all became. What started as a typical Mortal Kombat match soon ended with buffed out opponents who were able to hit me with powerful combos that were extremely hard to block. Besides that my opponents often gained extra advantages through relics/talismans which I had to counter by using my own. It brings a new meta to the game as it changes the original moves of the characters and throws in new rules for you to take into consideration. I love the unpredictable approach of the mode and I’m pretty sure the later boards will prove to become a true challenge.
Next to Invasions, the team is also hard at work on a true chapter driven story-mode which will reset the world of Mortal Kombat. To top it off, there will be seasonal content and challenges to keep the solo players entertained. It’s amazing to see that solo content isn’t an afterthought here but a main selling point of the game, giving you even more reasons to put it on your list.
Early conclusion
The multiplayer proved to be fun during the beta but it’s good to see that Mortal Kombat 1 will offer tons of amazing content for the solo gamer. This is easily becoming the best Mortal Kombat game to date if they keep this up!
