Gamers are no stranger to patches. Virtually every release these days has tweaks and updates to either add features or fix mistakes that slipped through the cracks. It is a bad deal for those with poor online connectivity, but it is an undeniable reality gamers have to live with. Modern fighting games often last for years and constantly add updates like extra characters, new story content, and tweaks to the balance.
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Mortal Kombat 11also follows this trend. The changes it received fall into a few different categories. Some of them addressed fans' complaints early in the game’s life. Other times, they fix nuances in the gameplay. The final and most positive additions toMortal Kombat 11are gameplay content aimed at extending replay value and also earning more money.
8Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath
The biggest expansion added toMortal Kombat 11wasAftermathin 2020. It adds a whole new chunk to the story featuring notable characters from the series who were absent from the initial story mode.People like Shang Tsungand Sindel take center stage in the new chapter.
Even though the main campaign leaves the franchise open to go in any interesting direction, the ending ofAftermathleaves the series' future in an even more intriguing place. Taking between two and three hours to complete makesAftermathfeel like one of the biggest story expansionsto a fighting game.
7DLC Characters
At release,MK 11’sroster stood at 25 characters. This is already a pretty decent number for a fighting game, especially when they all feel unique. With a franchise likeMortal Kombat, there is no way to please every fan short of including every single character to ever be playable, and that would only divide resources and result in half-baked characters.
Fortunately, the developers have released several packs ofDLC characters since 2019,only recently announcing they have finished work on the game and won’t be adding anyone else. By the end,MK 11’sroster comes out to 37 characters, including guests from other franchises. While this is a lot of fighters, it is still not even half of every character from the series.
6Adding Augments
One ofMortal Kombat 11’snew additions are augments. Players equip them to change certain stats on a character or make rewards drop more frequently. The game started out already with an almost countless number of augments.
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Further updates added even more. Some might not like this as a part of the meta, but at least they cannot be brought into ranked matches, ensuring the hardcore players can still have balanced matches.
5New Stages And Stage Fatalities
Stages are not super important to gameplay inMortal Kombat 11, though they do matter more than in most 2D fighting games. There are stage hazards players use to gain an upper hand in battle and Stage Fatalities to brutally kill an opponent after winning.
TheAftermathexpansionadded new stages, which are utilized during the new story content. The Dead Pool is a particularly notable addition since it first appears inMortal Kombat 2and is home to one of the most famous Stage Fatalities.
4Free Money
Some fans really did not like the use of currencies inMortal Kombat 11. Such a system has been in place sinceMortal Komat: Deadly Alliancein 2002 but it did not involve spending real-life money. The element of randomness in the Krypt definitely feels like it encourages those to spend money and roll the dice on what they will get.
To alleviate some frustration with this, the developers have given away chunks of currency for free to early adopters and those who stayed with the game. It is not a total overhaul of the system, but it is something.
3Changes To Special Moves
Some changes are hard to feel or are only noticed by hardcore fans or those whospecialize in a certain character.Tiny tweaks are made to special moves in various updates to make sure the game is as close to balanced as possible.
Maybe it is impossible to achieve perfect balance, but the developers work hard to make sure all players are satisfied.The changes to special movesget down to the differences in how many frames they are effective.
2Towers Of Time Were Made Easier
Towers of Time were at first considered way too difficult. As the main form of progress in the game outside the campaign and arcade ladders, it left a lot of players feeling like there was not a lot of content.
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In response, Netherrealm studios released an update heavily modifying the difficulty in these challenges. It does not change a lot for players who did not like them in the first place, but it lets less-experienced fighters at least earn money easier.
1Changes To The Krypt
The Krypt is a major point of criticism inMortal Kombat 11. The element of chance is seen as unfair and exploitative.
With the excess of augments, their variants, and menial clothing objects available, players often feel like they are unlocking meaningless collectibles instead of what they really want; Fatalities, Brutalities, and special moves. Updates have since increased the rate of achieving rare items. It is still not up to a satisfactory level, but it is not quite as bad as it once was.
Mortal Kombat 11is out now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC
