I hope they don't drop the ball on Kabal, give him his own special moment in the Storymode to be badass as always.

More happy that Skarlet is back than how she looked; now that I have had a moment I think she looked good almost great, sure the googles are a bit questionable but I accept them since it plays with her 'intelligent regal' look. Overall it could have been more ornamental but the highlights are her mask and headwear.

Glad old Baraka had made it in. Here I thought he would forever remain a non-threatening lackey.

25 in the base is low for me too.

I am kind of happy that ice clones are gone.

The koncept of the game's story is so going to be interesting and awesome!

The kombatants from different timelines fighting each other?! Sweet. And the fatalites has gotten better.

Man, oh man. Where to begin.

Right off the bat, this game is absolutely stunning. It looks damn near 1:1 quality compared to the reveal trailer. I’m seriously impressed.

The roster so far...is a pretty good start. Right out of the gate they gave us Baraka and Skarlet. Fan service to the max. Sonya, Raiden, Sub-Zero and Raiden were pretty much a given and I’m sad Sub Zero didn’t get a little screen time. Apparently there’s footage floating around, I’ll have to track it down. Geras didn’t really wow me, but we’ll see how he turns out come April. Kabal is pretty much confirmed as well. Playing it pretty safe. Hopefully the remaining 2/3’s of the roster will shake things up.

The fatalities. Holy hell. Some of the most creatively devious and vicious stuff we’ve ever seen. Crazy. Also, 16Bit teased brutalities coming back, which I applaud. One of my favorite features from MKX.

The gameplay design here seems really inspired from what we’ve observed so far. The run button is gone, footsies are back, zoning is viable. There seems to be multiple ways to play and be successful with a single character...which IS A GOOD THING. People dumping all over the gameplay already is kinda blowing my mind here. Fatal blows replacing X-rays are another great decision. So many layers to keep in mind while playing. I really can’t wait to get my hands on this game.

The story teaser was so great. Seeing Raiden go full dark side and torture Shinnok along with the Kronika foreshadowing. I’m legit excited to see where they take this.

So much to take in! I’m so excited for this game and am super impressed with its progress. Kombat Season is upon us!

I have achieved MAXIMUM CHODE

​​​​​​If Baraka made it, so can Mileena. Give me her and you gots yourself a preorder

Rapid fire thoughts and opinions...

Skarlet was by far the most surprising part of the reveal for me. I'd have assumed her to be a 1 and done character before today. Happy she's not. This franchise has way too many 1 and done characters. So I love to see characters who haven't had much exposure get more fleshed out.

I love gear, and can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm a big fan of cosmetics in any game, so... I will absolutely get lost in this mode. Here's hoping we get parts to re-create modern updates of many of the characters' classic looks. My only (minor) nitpick is Scorpion had a few looks that had so much white and blue and red... it honestly doesn't feel true to character at a point. Everyone's free to play their game however they want, but I promise you it will be a cold day in hell before I make a Scorpion that's anything but black and yellow! lol... (PS. Yes, this opinion also applies to rainbow Sub-Zero in Injustice 2)

Geras looks far more similar to Kronika than I imagined he'd be, which worries me. For two reasons. If they're both playable, I worry that having a similar look & gimmick will homogenize both characters, making them each less unique respectively. If Kronika ISN'T playable, and is only a boss (with similar, but suped-up powers)... that also bugs me, because I hate when the bosses aren't playable.

Story we've seen thus far seems to put more emphasis on the classic heroes than MKX did, which I like. While still maintaining ties to the end of MKX, which I also like. I enjoyed Cassie, and a fresh take on the story... but it felt like the beloved classic cast took a backseat in MKX. I'm thrilled to see Liu Kang's plot is moving forward in a non-undead capacity for the first time since MK4. (Wow, can't believe it's been that long. From MK5 through MKX, he was either dead, undead, briefly a reboot of same old Liu Kang, or undead again)... I'm super excited/happy to see the timelines potentially merging into a single canon again...

That said, I'm now more hopeful for a Mileena return, and will resume crossing my fingers, lol.

25 characters seems low to me too. Wanted 30. Boo.

I'm already more excited about the day 1 roster for this game than I was for MKX's roster at release. As many of us complained about at the time... MKX's roster felt entirely too safe. It 60% mainstays, 30% newbies, and a remainder of Shinnok. It took no risks, and the returning characters held no exciting surprises. Skarlet returning is already an exciting surprise imo. Kabal feels a little outside the safety net as well... not quite so much, since he's still a 2D era character... but he's at least a bit more seldom seen than most. Here's hoping we see more characters like this, and less returning familiar faces from MKX. (Don't get me wrong, fan favorites are fan favorites for a reason, and I like most of them as much as any MK fan... but I still appreciate shaking it up a bit, and 11 is already doing a better job than X did.)

This story would so lend itself to a re-appearance of Orderrealm and Chaosrealm. I don't need it to be a whole big thing... but they could easily weave them into this plot in some small capacity. Being that it revolves around... restoring order to a timeline in Chaos. I'd love to see Havik back. I'd accept Hotaru, even though I hate him. Again, I'm all about second chances, lol.

$300 Gamestop exclusive collector's edition is absolutely in-friggin-sane. I thought I'd be getting this until I saw the pricetag. Add that to the fact I get no discount whatsoever at Gamestop (unlike say Best Buy & Amazon) and yeah... NRS sold me on this early in the day, and then talked me out of it by the end of the day.

Alright, I feel like I had more thoughts this morning, but I forgot half of them... so that's enough for now.

Oh, remembered one more thing I wanted to bitch about, lol...

What always irked me about X-Rays was, in many, if not all cases, they looked as fatal, if not more fatal than some of the fatalities, yet it was possible to perform them on an opponent who could then often stand back up, dust himself off, and continue fresh as a daisy. I understand, this franchise has never been about hyper-realism but COME ON... some of the time that just came off stupid. We stab a guy through the face, or shatter his organs... and he keeps fighting... that's... dumb.

Now they've replaced X-Rays with Fatal Blows... and when I heard that I thought, "GREAT!" because I thought they were remedying that disconnect... my first impression was that fatal blows (much like death traps back in MKD & MKA) would end the match... fatally. And THEN I learned FATAL BLOWS STILL AREN'T FRIGGIN' FATAL! They're called FATAL blows for christ sake! And your opponent can still get up and walk away from them!? ARG! Just drives me friggin' nuts...

Don't get me wrong, I'll buy the game, get over it, and enjoy it... it just irritates the piss out of me, lol.

I am very excited for this game. It looks like it addressed all of the problems I had with the previous entries. The colors are a lot more bright and vibrant; the red looks like red, not pinkish brown, and there is way better contrast. The idle animations of the characters seem to be improved, which is something I think was sorely needed after MKX. I am still not crazy on the idea of custom gear from a gameplay perspective, but I do LOVE the idea for cosmetic reasons. I feel like I won't be unhappy with any characters's skins because I can mix and match until I find a good one. The story mode, looks like it has potential. I am really happy to see my boys Liu Kang and Kung Lao coming back from the past as humans, and I hope to see them end up with a happier ending this time around.

Some of the redesigns are absolutely fantastic. Skarlet's design looks so good she could pass as a brand new character (since she had so little character before she may as well be). Sub-Zero's design is a lot more oriental, and I think it looks very neat.

I am not super big on the "super moves", but I guess that's a route they're just gonna stick with. I do like it better than x-rays because there is more potential for variety, but I just think having an over the top move like that, which anyone can pull off, makes things like fatalities less special. In MKX a lot of the fatalities were super weak compared to how insane the x-rays were.

I am really looking forward to seeing more. There's pretty much only one thing that could ruin this for me. I don't wanna say it, but it rhymes with "boot loxes"

I dunno, this just felt too Injustice for me. I guess I need to see more.

First and foremost I am over the moon at the return of Baraka and Skarlet. I felt Baraka was sorely missing in MKX a I adored the design he had in that game.

Skarlet is in my top three female characters (along with Sheeva and Sindel) and am super happy they're continuing their trend of differentiating the characters further away from being recolours. MK9 Skarlet was great but basically looked like Kitana, Jade and Mileenna. Less of that, more of this.

The fatalities look fun as fuck, the defensive bar looks interesting, I know brutalities are back (Youtuber Dynasty uploaded a video showing the customization screens which featured brutalities as possibly interchangable), the run button is gone. I'm itching to play to see what the gameplay feels like.

Geras is... slightly underwhelming. But he has a super sick customizable appearance that gives him a club very similar to Drahmin's. It's even on the same hand. I wonder if it's a little nod in his direction, even though Boon hates the character.

The story looks fun and seems to be finally combining the two separate timelines into one, finally putting to bed the old Armageddon story that everyone wished was completed. This gives me hope that the future stories can finally go in a brand new direction without rehashing any of the old stuff.

I love it. I need it. Inject it straight into my veeeeeeeins.

I'd also like to add that I'm just going through the UK stream and Shaun Himmerick confirms Geras as the sub-boss. Probably could have deduced that from Kronika being the main boss but still nice to have confirmation.

My only complaint whatsoever is it looks like Scorpion has to meter burn his spear to get the free hit. That's very problematic for his playstyle and one of the reasons I didn't like him as much in Injustice. Sub-Zero doesn't have to meter burn to freeze but Scorpion has to meterburn to get any combos? Unless I missed something and his other moves combo better. I just REALLY don't want this game to feel as clunky and counter intuitive to combos as the Injustice series is.

Can someone who played the game comfort me that Scorpion can in fact do combos without meter and that the game plays more like MK and not anything like Injustice trash?

It felt like MK9 + Injustice. It already feels and looks fresh from MKX. The new tweaks in gameplay are good for the most part.

Skarlet is a surprise done so well. Sonya is as good as ever. Baraka stole the show. Sub needed more time but I like what I saw of him. Scorp and Raiden are the best they have ever been.

I don't like Kronika at all... I hope she is a one game character. Geras and her are too Injusticy.

Kabal is an awesome surprise. The Shaolin Monks are back and that's good.

What really really stunned me is the cenimatic direction... The dragon logo and the gate dark yet colorful...

NRS has really grown up. Wish em a much deserved success.

I already prefer it to X. Great to see Baraka and Skarlet. Praying for Mileena cos without her it'll be seriously lacking.

Sonia's looking better. The X characters all looked like dwarfish dutch pigs.

Happy to see the back of long juggles. Hope they ditch the X kids.

17 Arenas is awesome!!!

Only 25 Kharacter is very disappointing

Kronika first female Boss = #AWESOMESAUCE

Geras was boring also him as the Sub-Boss is weak.

Variations returning sucks I don't believe them when they claim to listen to the community

Story Mode looked more interesting than MKX

All 3 Cages is kind of meh.

5 End of Round Taunts is great

2 Win poses ????

No Faction Kills sucks????

Brutalities shown were very generic. Except for Sub-Zero's throw Brutality. There's hope.

Roster chances for Shang Tsung, Jade, Noob, Havik, Sareena, Li Mie, Frost, Kotal Kahn, Taven, Deagon & Nitara are shrinking.

Vs screen interactions are not as good as MKX and Injustice 2.

Overall the game looks and plays Amazing!!!

17 Arenas is awesome!!!

Only 25 Kharacter is very disappointing

Kronika first female Boss = #AWESOMESAUCE

Geras was boring also him as the Sub-Boss is weak.

Variations returning sucks I don't believe them when they claim to listen to the community

Story Mode looked more interesting than MKX

All 3 Cages is kind of meh.

5 End of Round Taunts is great

2 Win poses ????

No Faction Kills sucks????

Brutalities shown were very generic. Except for Sub-Zero's throw Brutality. There's hope.

Roster chances for Shang Tsung, Jade, Noob, Havik, Sareena, Li Mie, Frost, Kotal Kahn, Taven, Deagon & Nitara are shrinking.

Vs screen interactions are not as good as MKX and Injustice 2.

Overall the game looks and plays Amazing!!!

garus kronika and skarlet were the highlights for me. i wish they showed more of the customizing charachters part . itll be interesting because i like what i saw in terms of game play . i wish the roster was bigger instea dof being what 25 total?

I was at the event in London with my brother. Shaun Himmerick and Derek(we are here to boo not cheer) Kirtzig were also there.

The characters that got the most enthusiatic reactions from the first trailer were Baraka and Skarlet. Talking to people at the event, people were glad Barakawas back and Skarlet looked amazing to most people. Personally, I do not like the fact she does not have red hair any more.

I do not think Sub Zero came off that well though. I think most people did not like his costume at all.

I mostly played as Scorpion. There were canned combos. You have meter burn Scorpion's spear to get a free hit. Not really sold on that. Scorpion is extremely fast and now has got good range with the chains which he can use in combos. Scorpion does not do much damage though. I was doing combos 7-10 hits long and he was doing relatively little damage. Still unsafe Scorpion though from MKX. The game felt a little more methodical than MKX though. More things to think about. The relentless pressure from MKX has been dialled back in my opinion but the game is still extremly fast. Even a Skarlet who has long range normals was quite fast. To be honest I liked playing it much more than MKX. Playing against Liu Kang or Erron Black on ranked or against a skilled player was always daunting. It was horrible with the amount of pressure and chip damage they were doing. MK11 dials that back which I like.

I listened to some of the intros which take longer this time since the characters have to an animations first than talk. Garas offers to resseruct Scorpion's family but Scorpion rejects. Geras if I remember also bleeds blue blood if I can remember correctly and is taller than most characters.

Looking around most players were playing Scorpion, Raiden, Sub Zero and Baraka. Did not see much Sonya players even though they hyped her up.

Overall I really liked what I saw. I am really hyped for this game.

Despite my expectations, Skarlet alone managed to pull me in. I had never expected her to ever return.

The customization looks absolutely amazing, but one thing has me worried: the roster. It does look like NRS might be back to their old tricks, creating a bunch of new characters only to abandon them by the next game. With each additional character confirmed, the odds of a new MKX character returning grows slimmer, and so far, there has been no sight of any new MKX character other than Cassie Cage.

If less than four of the new MKX characters return, I will likely skip this game. I'm tired of getting invested in characters only to never see them again.

I've seen a lot of complaint/defense of Skarlet's hair color the last 24 hours, and to be completely fair, it was black and red streaked in MK9 too, it was just way more red, with minimal black streaking, and in MK9 it's way more black with minimal red streaking.

Just saying, they didn't change it, so much as push it in the other direction.

And as I pointed out to someone on Reddit yesterday, technically black hair makes her MORE accurate as a retroactive palette swap. Had she been in MKII, she'd have had black hair, lol.

So far the most disheartening thing I've heard about MK11 is that you need to meter burn to get Scorpion's spear to get the free hit.

I really, really, REALLY hate it when they change and/or remove longstanding familiar mechanics that have been part of the franchise since the 2D era. I'm all for mixing things up, adding some secondary moves, subtracting some. But screwing with the spear is like changing Ryu's Hadouken... you just don't MESS with some of these moves after 20-some years.

Changing the spear annoys me about as much as when they removed Uppercuts from most characters in MKDA.

It annoys the piss out of me to this day that they changed the button input for Sub-Zero's freeze somewhere along the line.

These are moves that create familiarity and comfort for players when jumping from chapter to chapter. Anyone should be able to pick up any MK game and execute Scorpion's Spear and Sub-Zero's freeze the same way.

Hope to god this doesn't make it past Beta.

I'm really liking what I've seen so far. What stood out for me was how much better the arenas look (Black Dragon fight club in particular.) And yes, the new stage interactions and Fatalities are terrific. From the small tidbits of what we've seen in regards to the story, it's already looking more exciting than X. The possible prospect of characters meeting and fighting alternate versions of themselves is quite tantalizing.

As for the revealed kombatants:

Scorpion: It's Scorpion, what did you expect?

Raiden: Judging from the clip with Shinnok, this is possibly his most ruthless version yet. I'm stoked.

Sub-Zero: His costume is a little dull, but him actually looking asian now is a nice touch.

Baraka: Although he hasn't been a favorite of mine for a long time now, I can't deny that this is one vicious looking mother fucker.

Skarlet: Like most said, this was a big surprise. Looks like NR learned something about one-and-done characters. I'm actually happy she doesn't resemble a ninja anymore. Makes her stand out as her own.

Sonya: Although some may feel differently, I'm glad she doesn't look too fancy again. Sonya is an experienced military ass-kicker, so she doesn't need to look extravagant. Her look in MKX was my favorite to date and this is a nice upgrade.

Geras: Really cool newcomer. The time reversing gimmick looks like a hoot to play with and is also visually spectacular. Can't wait to try this dude.

Overall, NR have hit the mark so far.

There's actually a video floating around youtube that shows off a lot of the character customization for the other (Non-Scorpion) characters, and as someone who hates Sonya's military formal look, I was pleasantly surprised by her alternate costume pieces. Her alt costumes are FAR more casual than her primary costume. They're very akin to the difference between Cassie's Main and Cassie's Alt in MKX.

One is very reminiscent of her MK3 costume (spandex pants and tanktop)... furthermore one of her "hat" customizations is an MK3 style headband. The other is kinda in the middleground, with her in more casual attire, but a heavy military jacket (kinda like her MKDA look, but not quite the same)

So as far as I'm concerned Sonya's customization is the best of both worlds! You can make her look both highly military and workout casual, lol. Everybody wins.

Agreed. Ahh, the benefits of customization. Here's hoping there's a "birthday suit" Baraka. Wonder if he's got a blade down there as well?

No, I only played against my brother. I never saw anyone play against the AI. I do not think you could. It was VS only with 7 characters and 3 stages. In MKX on the higher difficulties the AI cheats by reading your inputs. I know that you can program the AI of your characters so you can earn Gear while you are not playing.