NetherRealm Studios’ next Mortal Kombat game has quite a confusing title which may make sense in its upcoming story mode’s climax. But as a 2D fighting game adding more to an already-solid base that is Mortal Kombat 11? It’s shaping up to be pure gold bathed in blood.

Long story short: 2D fighting game with a block button, but now with additions of Kameos. You pick your main fighter and your kameo fighter, the latter being able to pull off assist moves be it projectiles or a horizontal body attack. They can also take a hit for you if they’re out and at the front, but they’ll experience a longer cooldown in return. You’re not completely defenseless without a Kameo, but they do help immensely when it comes to surprise attacks or combo-juggling.

So far, there’s been coverage for the existing beta kombatants: Liu Kang (fireball spam FTW), Kitana, Sub-Zero, and Kenshi. I suspect with the latter’s spectral moves and zoning, along with his Ancestor summon as a puppet-style option, high-level players will check out Kenshi more.

We’ll focus more on the new kharacters -Li Mei, Johnny Cage, Frost (Kameo)- in the beta during the weekend of 18th-21st August (PST). As far as other non-gameplay features go, I’m glad that:

(a) The fights load really, REALLY fast
(b) The network indicator is still available, meaning when you’re fighting online, you know who’s on a LAN cable and who’s on wifi.
(c) There’s no practice mode, but you can use the default Kombat Tower single-player mode to test your skills and attacks before going into a real online fight.

Li Mei

She’s a lawbringer of sorts in this MK timeline, meaning she’s all about bringing justice to all with a dash of vengeance. Li Mei has mobility, a few air moves, good range with her hits and combos, and a lot of high/low attacks to keep opponents guessing. She can use her Sky Lantern to keep opponents from jumping, so she can use her ground mixups and quick moves. Her Enhanced Fireball hits three times and can set up a juggle since it launches opponents to you; this equals a free uppercut or even more air combos using her air spinning kick.

The problem? She isn’t a big damage dealer and she requires help from Kameos to help her with that and juggling. She feels like a jack-of-all-trades kind of character, having moves that cover her base but needs Kameos for that extra push. So far in the beta, I’m lucky enough to fight opponents that love to jump a bit, so knocking them down and then activating a Sky Lantern can keep them in check while I use a Kameo like Kano to throw knives and do cannonballs.

Johnny Cage

He plays a little different this time around. While he still has his Rising Star anti-air, Ball Buster, and Shadow Kick, he now gains power through momentum. He has no projectiles, but he has a counter and the Hype Meter. As he uses certain moves, he builds up a Hype Meter (the big star just above his bars of meter). When it’s full and when he activates it (manually, in which a spotlight appears above Cage), he gains the ability to cancel special moves into other specials, as well as use enhanced specials without spending any meter.

In fact, you can cancel one move to his Hype Activation, followed by another special move. The only drawback? Building the meter in the first place can be tough depending on the matchup, but with patience, you can pull off a combo that just downs an opponent’s life from half.

51% Hype Meter Combo With Unblockable Reset Launcher?? pic.twitter.com/o99onfezCx

— Yardy (@Yxrdyy) August 19, 2023

Frost (Kameo)

Sub-Zero’s female counterpart has one of the most useful assists in the game: a low-hitting ice blast. Sure, she has a slow-moving orb that can control space as another assist, but so far, all my games are won/loss due to great timing with her ice move. It freezes her opponent, leaving them vulnerable to follow-ups and combos.

She may not be as versatile as Kano, but having a surprise move that requires opponents to crouch block means you can set up for overhead moves to dish out some punishment.

Even with the short time we had, there’s a lot of fun to be had with Mortal Kombat 1. While it remains to be seen if it’ll be better than Street Fighter 6 in terms of kontent and depth, it at least will be doing its best to succeed Mortal Kombat 11 in most aspects.

Mortal Kombat 1 will be out in 14 September for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.