Its a complete and utter shit storm. really really badly written IMO.

Pretty predictable in a lot fo ways, and tbqh the endings were both so boring and lame.

So many time-travel plot holes as well.

Im very very disappointed in it.

Absolutely enjoyed both endings. Do hope the bad ending is the one they go with. They really doubled down on SIndel and they actually changed my mind so I would accept her new story since it all worked towards the final confrontation.

Loved it.

Shang Tsung has been treated like a lesser Quan Chi since Deception, so it's good to finally see him getting the respect he deserves. Unlike MK9 for example, he feels like a serious threat here. Shao Kahn was also sort of reedemed, but in a lesser way. While he is still just a brute, not the calculating, powerful and intimidating force he was before MK9, he is at least a powerful brute who can beat nearly the entire cast, including Liu Kang, and not job to Kitana and Kotal like before. I also like how they made Sindel a force to be reckoned with. I don't mind the change to her personality because it served the story.

Like with any NRS story it’s fine if you just kind of turn your brain off and enjoy the spectacle. If you think about it for too long or pay too close of attention to things...a lot of the story just doesn’t really hold up. I dunno...it was ok.

Just finished the story mode. I was very very happy with it. I was disappointed with MK 11 but Aftermath has really made it come together in a wonderful way. I was really shocked when MK 11 didn't feature Shang Tsung after they cast Cari Tagawa for the role. But it looks like they planned on saving him for the Aftermath story all along. Shang is my favorite character so I was very happy that he was heavily featured in it. He is arguably the most well developed character in the series now. Especially with the way they modeled him after Cari Tagawa and used his lines from the movie. I really hope that the actual ending is closer to Shang's one.

For the next MK, I hope they ditch the timeline and rebooting story lines. In my opinion, they should go back to a stripped down game that focuses on the tournament more and less on elder gods and titans. I'd also love for them to make a God of War style game with Scorpion (and possibly Sub Zero). It would be a cool way to explore the MK universe further.

They really don't need any more screen time. Seriously, they're shoved down our throats enough as it is.

Agreed fully.

I hope the go back to the focus on tournament and less on gods and bigger scopes.

@ResidentFan

I agree... They redeemed Shang fully for me. I hate how Quan Chi was portrayed as the better sorcerer but now it's all Shang.

Also I agree on shao Kahn, I would have loved it if they go back to pre MK9 formidable and scary mysterious Shao Kahn but at least he is tons better now than in vanilla MK11.

I just felt nostalgic when with the great Kung lao scene... Something sorta clicked in... It's a rather interesting concept to go back in time to that era ( the cost will be losing Johnny and other human staple characters). Imagine huaman Raiden, Sub Zero ancestor and Scorpion ancestor ( who actually branched out of the Lin Kuei). Really interesting concept.

I just hope they don't keep repeating winding and rewinding the time as they have done it to death but I fully understand with this huge cast and fan demands..

So above I posted my first knee-jerk reaction after I finished Aftermath but...after sleeping on it I really don’t think I like it to be honest. I still think it has immense entertainment value if you just don’t think about it too long or critically. It is rather poorly written though and some of the plot holes are gigantic. At the end of the day I guess it served its purpose though. I haven’t enjoyed the past two MK games as much as I expected to, and maybe a really hard reboot is in order to get things started on the proverbial right foot for the next game.

I do however find the idea of experiencing the Great Kung Lao’s Mortal Kombat tournament victory to be cool though if that comes to pass.

I kinda find it funny when people expect different end result when it comes to stories out of MK. Clearly, there will never be a Shakespeare level of writing in the series. Clearly there will always be massive holes in the game where fans demand spotlights for 30+ characters on screen. Clearly you will have to expect a campy story mode and nothing serious to begin with. People have issues with Sindel being actually evil... But why are they even giving a damn ? Why relate to a video game character that much ? Especially a fighting game character. I mean she got killed revived killed turned into a revenant then killed then revived then killed. That's how silly the story is.

There are tons of vocal fans online, they will hate it no matter how it's handled. There are some memorable moments in the story mode, Cage's funny lines, Shang's expressions, cringy Husband/Wife chapter that I enjoyed because at the end if the day it's stupid fun.

I just don't know where you guys thought MK had a serious story in the past ? It has always been campy, fun but stupid.

If you argue with me that the story mode kinda stops the development of antagonistic characters and turn them into punch bags ( Ermac,Scarlet, Erron, Mileena.. etc) then I understand and this is where the characters bios from the 3D era sorta avoided this, but the premise is the same.

I don't think the Marvel blockbusters are any different.

I don’t think anybody is expecting Shakespeare or masterpiece theatre, but I don’t think it’s beyond reason to expect some attempt at consistency or avoidance of plot holes.

Like for example Shang Tsung being the crafter of Kronika’s crown and him collecting souls on her behalf. Why does Kronika, literally an entity that is higher up and more powerful than the elder gods, require a mortal to do this? She’s literally the architect of time and essentially of reality, right? Furthermore, when did he do this? There’s never a reasonable depiction or explanation for the existence of the very plot device that is driving the story outside of a few sentences of exposition.

Show us, don’t tell us.

Like I said if you’re willing to turn your brain off and completely suspend disbelief it’s a fun and stupid spectacle that can absolutely be enjoyed on those merits. If you devote really any time thinking about it though it just doesn’t work. It’s just a shame.

I dunno, those are just my thoughts. Maybe I’m completely wrong. =/

+1 I'm just sick of seeing Scorp/Sub romance on the screen. Just stop, please. They are good as side characters, not main protagonists. And that is also why I think that Shaolin Monks with them would be a disaster. Maybe it could get better if they'd hire better writers but I'm not expecting miracles here. So it's a no no.

I don't expect deep and complicated plot. For me MK has always been 70's kung fu movie meets Rambo. But what is going plot-wise in MK universe since MK9 (or maybe even earlier) is just beyond stupid. Just nothing makes any sense. I really like stupid american action movies. They're fun and just what I need on friday or saturday evening after a week of work but this is even lower than a Mary Sue 13-year-old fan-fiction.

Anyone think that both Liu Kang and Shang Tsungs endings could be happening at the same time? Because in Shang Tsungs ending, he is the keeper of time. So Fujin and Raiden could be doing stuff for Shang at the same time liu kang approaches Kung Lao. Idk just throwing some stuff out there.

No. In Shangs ending he steals Liu Kang's soul and kills him. He only drains Fuijin and Raiden in the story to weaken them.

When you do 11 games, your plot starts to get non sense. Again, there are things I didn't like and yes things that just don't make any sense but it's just a campy series that you enjoy for fun. I mean thunder god who bables while he does a super man fly hit ?

I liked Vogel's style back in 3D games... People hated the crap out of them. Now he isn't doing the story anymore and there are people who demand his return. I am old enough to remember people hating on Tobias' stuff for MK3 and 4 as well.

People are putting too much thinking into this. Like why the heck is Sindel turned into an evil bitch seems to ruin people's lives ? I mean people are literally threatening Kittlesen on Twitter !!!

Like WTF people, it's a fictional video game character.

Also, I loved the bromance between Scorp and Sub. It was literally the best thing in the new timeline. You can hate it but it's better than the never ending flat rivalry.

Sometimes , it feels people are just here to hate. No matter what you do they hate. Maybe find something else ?

I definitely read and hear similar things in Marvel and Game of Thrones communities ( I am not comparing MK to them, just the situation).

I've been calling for a new MK game focused on the Great Kung Lao's tournament for years now, and it looks like it might be a bit closer to actually happening. And now it doesn't seem to need to go exactly the way it did before.

I think the Aftermath section did a much better job cranking up the stakes by letting the bad guys take some more wins. But even though a lot of people asked for that and this story delivers, it also comes with some downsides. Like, Sindel nags Kitana for leaving enemies alive but then she and Shao kill almost nobody. Would have added some shock to see more than just Kotal die. Imagine if they took out Johnny or Sonya, then Cassie ceased to exist, leaving the surviving parent to suffer the loss and be helpless to stop it. That would be a hell of a shock, and make it that much more important to restore the proper timeline. What if they executed Kitana, making it impossible for Liu Kang to get his "good ending" from the original story? Oof.

Also, when and how did Shang Tsung forge Kronika's crown? Shouldn't she have had it through thousands of time resets already? Would have made more sense for him to have learned its secrets from studying forgotten lore, or from stealing a soul from a servant of hers. Maybe a previous version of Geras? Shang could have mentioned the fate of his predecessor during their encounter, foreshadowing the twist.

Aside from those weaknesses, I enjoyed it pretty well. The multiple corners of conflict were fairly well orchestrated, it was more tense than the previous story even counting the villains' odd refusal to kill, and it pulled some decent surprises messing around with the events of Part 1. Overall I'm satisfied.

It seems like they have really embraced the idea of a non-linear timeline, and have put aside a lot of logical thought and explaination in favor of just having fun. I am okay with that because at this point, I think the new timeline is so absurdly broken that I cannot be bothered with it anymore. This was a fun addition to a fun, goofy story, and that's cool with me.

What I likes about it: Shang Tsung is a pure delight and exactly what I always wanted from him. I don't think there will ever be a better depiction of Shang. It was also cool to see Shao Kahn get some time to be badass. In the entire new timeline, this was the first time Kahn seemed like a real threatening villain. It also explains what may have happened to other character who could have been here; those who refused Kronika were sent to the void. I also like that this story add-on was ultimately inconsequential; despite the timeline being altered again, it ultimately ends with Liu Kang getting to reshape the timeline and fix what went wrong (unless you go with Shang's ending).

What I didn't like: NRS, you dug yourself a hole with Sindel's character, and instead of crawling out, you chose to die in it with this story mode. Here, I will fix it for you; Shang Tsung lied and said he wasn't gonna mind control Sindel when he resurrected her; he did anyway and just didn't tell anyone, no one caught it, and she lied due to her corruption later in the game. The bio and ending were also lies because they were written from Sindel's perspective. There you go, that is official canon from Johnny1up. Also, while it was cool that Shao Kahn and Sindel got a big chapter to themselves, why didnt they actually kill any of the heroes? We've already determined that this timeline is fucked and about to be rewritten; why not hammer that in and have Kahn hammer some faces in? If that's too dark, just have Liu Kang's ending have an extra scene where it flashes forward and shows his friends all alive again due to the timeline reconstruction.

Overall, I think it's fine, a fun story with a great anti-hero protagonist. Going forward, it is time to completely drop the element of time manipulation and get back to a linear story. Use the fact the the timeline is being rebuilt to tell a more compact, linear story with real stakes; have Liu Kang be the only character who even knows other timelines existed and he never dwells on it.

So which ending will be canon ? Shame we don’t see any NPC at all in this aftermath, I was hoping to see Havik when they sent Geras in Chaosrealm hehe

The only konstants in the Universe are Shang Tsung and Taxes...

Notice the rat statuette GKL was working on? Great callback to Kung Jin's story where he stole it.

Somebody's gotta edit Techno Syndrome into the very end.

You know it started playing in all our heads when GKL said "Train, for what?"

MORTAL KOMBAAAAT!! Dun dun dun, dun Dundun

Ka-Tra

Quite honestly, Aftermath was done really well in my opinion. I really liked the fact that we were treated to an appearance of the Great Kung Lao. I hope that his appearance gives us a taste of where MK12 will head towards. Hopefully The Great Kung Lao will be the main character and we will get to see some new faces but there will be many characters I will miss seeing if they do go that route.

Written during my first play of the Aftermath story:

I have mixed feelings on the Aftermath story and will be playing it through a second time to get clarity on my exact feelings. I can't say I had the same struggle with them when I completed MK 11 main story, it was amazing and with that comes the first complaint. The re-writing the end of MK 11 with Liu Kang/Raiden working on the hour glass. Ending the MK 11 story with Liu Kang and Kitana set up so much potential for MK 12. The absolute worst thing they did with Aftermath is have us play as Sindel/Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung while they are presented as bad guy characters. Who the hell wants to play bad guys in a heroes journey??? I didn't mind seeing the good guys get beat up, but I didn't want to be the one doing it. They officially ruined Sindel, which I suspected they would double down on their idea to make her evil all along. I was hoping they would undo that, but I knew better. Her evil persona is done well, but it ruins the character that she was presented as from MK 3 through MKX. I didn't hate the retcon when she was released as DLC, now I'm starting to after the Aftermath story. Considering they had us play as the bad guys for the last 2 chapters, I must admit I liked the bait and switch at the end where you can choose to play as Fire God Liu Kang and rightfully hand Shang Tsung his ass. I also liked that the final battle of this 30 year MK history comes full circle with the original rivals from MK 1 Liu and Shang. Liu Kangs ending going back to visit the Great Kung Lao was bittersweet for me. It was sweet as everything comes full circle and that's awesome but I just pray they don't go back to that timeline with MK 12, I don't have any interest in seeing MK leading up to the events of MK 1, anything in the Onaga era of any reboot of Deadly Alliance, Deception, Armageddon eras. Those would be cool as side DLC stories but not the main MK 12 game. Where it's bitter for me is that they ruined a good chance to craft a new timeline going forward into the future with Fire God Liu Kang and Kitana with the original canon ending of MK 11 main. It seems much easier a path to take to go forward with choosing a story line leading up to the events of MK1 than it does coming up with fresh ideas and some new characters for the events that could follow MK 11 into the future. Shang Tsung as the ultimate bad guy has some appeal, especially if it were 1992 but here in 2020 it feels a little flat that he defeated Kronika, it kind've cheapens her "baddest MK boss ever" vibe that comes at the end of MK 11. I did enjoy seeing Shang kill Shao Kahn and Sindel as well as Kronika as long as they go with the canon of the Liu Kang ending, but overall it did take away from the feel of 30 years of good writing. It seems like a pandering 'feel good' moment for the nostalgia of fans wanting to see Kang and Tsung go at it again. It's also hard to see past versions of Liu Kang, Kitana, Jade, Kotal(beheaded), the Cage/Blade clan done away with and not have any redemption by the time the story line concluded. If there was some ultimate payoff it would feel different. They also left out a lot of details like what happened to Sub Zero/Scorpion/etc.

At first I thought the "Choose Your Destiny" aspect at the end was a brilliant touch and twist of events, but after playing both I've concluded that Shang Tsungs ending is horrible. If that ends up being canon, I wouldn't touch MK 12 with a 10 foot pole, and would get rid of all of the MK games I own. I figured they' have Shang lose in both endings and give this era of the franchise a proper send off with Liu Kang being victorious.

After second play through: I found that I enjoyed Aftermath even less during the second play through. All of the things I didn't enjoy with it the first time are amplified more so now. Cary Tagawa's portrayal of Shang Tsung was great, I noticed that more so this time around, other than that I mostly didn't enjoy it. I can't get around why they would have us play on the side of evil for the final chapters, even being able to play as Liu Kang at the end doesn't really redeem it, especially when the ending leaves us in the far past with the Great Kung Lao, so boring to know that the next MK game will probably be Great Kung Lao era stuff rather than a completely fresh take on the future of where the franchise could go with the original MK 11 Ending. The negative feelings about Sindels retcon are even stronger this play through. It's amazing how different the experience feels when you're playing on the side of evil for a majority of the story, especially the last half more so than the first. I found myself half-heartedly playing and struggling to beat my opponents during both play throughs of the Sindel/Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung chapters, I just wanted to see Liu Kangs crew win, and even if they're destined to fail/die, I'd rather be playing them and taking the loss. Aftermath was entertaining and interesting, but put a sour taste in my mouth for what MK 12 could end up being. I was pumped and excited at the end of MK 11, now I feel deflated with Aftermath.

For those hoping the story mode would have ret-retconned (anteroconned?) Sindel's story to make her a hero again: sorry, but that was never gonna happen. The story plot would have been settled a long time ago, back when plans for the DLC characters and their dialogues were finalized, and reworking half the story in the few months since Sindel's release would have been unfeasible. Like it or not, we were getting what we're getting all along.