New Mortal Kombat 1 announced in disgustingly gory trailer

It’s been teased endlessly for days and finally, we know what all those cryptic clues were referring to. The next instalment in the Mortal Kombat series has been unveiled by NetherRealm Studios, and it’s not Mortal Kombat 12 as most fans expected. Instead, the upcoming instalment will be titled Mortal Kombat 1.

Fan theories began going wild earlier this week, when a short trailer was posted online showing a clock counting down. Seeing as the last entry in the franchise was Mortal Kombat 11, most of us expected the clock hands to stop on 12. Instead though, they skipped ahead to one, leading many to assume that the series would be rebooting. Theories were thrown around, including one convincing argument that suggested the jump could be linked to Kronika’s time-altering hourglass. Well, now that the first trailer has been released for Mortal Kombat 1 we have a much better idea about what’s going on - and the reboot theory wasn’t too far off the money.

Take a look at the trailer for Mortal Kombat 1 below.

Set to release on 19 September, Mortal Kombat 1 will mark a somewhat fresh start for the series. Featuring Shang Tsung as the playable character, the game will feature a “reborn Mortal Kombat Universe created by the Fire God Liu Kang,” ushering, “in a new era of the iconic franchise with a new fighting system, game modes, and fatalities.”

I say fresh, Mortal Kombat 1 actually looks incredibly gruesome. This is Mortal Kombat like we’ve never seen it before. In fact, the game has been made in an entirely new engine. The team at NetherRealm Studios have made the switch over to Unreal Engine 5 for the project and judging by the slick graphics in the trailer, it’s easy to see what an incredible visual upgrade that’s been for the series.

Mortal Kombat 1 is continuing the trend of being new-gen only. It’s set to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Nintendo Switch. That does mean that it won’t be available on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, to confirm.