Mortal Kombat 1 is the fighting game on everyone’s lips right now and for good reason, since now we may be seeing the return of a fan-favourite villain. Street Fighter 6 has been and gone, Tekken 8 is somewhere on the horizon, we’re just not sure when it’s releasing, so for now, Mortal Kombat 1 is ‘all’ we have.
Related: Mortal Kombat 1’s First Kombat Kast Shows Off Two New Characters (and a Host of Kameo’s)
From its original announcement at the PlayStation Showcase to now, various aspects of the game have been shown off, leaked, or heavily rumoured. This latest nugget of information is a mixture of all three.
A Fan-Favourite Villain Returns?
The Mortal Kombat franchise has had its fair share of villains, but if you were to ask the average person who they think is the main one, they’d pick one of two; Shao Kahn or Goro. This current bit of news focuses on the former.
After the Kombat Kast a few days ago, new character bio’s for the recently announced additions to the roster were shared on Twitter. One of these character bio’s was of Rain, the water ninja/wizard with a long history since his original appearance in Mortal Kombat 2 as a secret, unplayable character, and then his fully fledged, playable appearance in the sequel, Mortal Kombat 3.
“As a student at Outworld’s exclusive Imperial Academy of Sorcery, Rain amazed his peers with his singular aptitude for water magic. Rain’s skills drew General Shao’s attention, who honed his water magic into a great weapon. Rain’s victories so impressed Empress Sindel that she appointed him as Outworld’s High Mage.”
The really interesting snippet of information here is the mention of a ‘General Shao’. As most will know, the ending of Mortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath DLC had Liu Kang resetting and remaking the universe. With this he created a completely new timeline, removing some parts and adding others, reworking it all to better fit what he considered to be the right universe now.
This is how the developers NetherRealm are able to bring back long dead characters, or forge new alliances and change established characters, as they have here. Whereas previously it was Shao Kahn, it’s now General Shao, and with him, Empress Sindel. It looks like we’ll be getting another, vastly different appearance by the infamous Mortal Kombat villain, but how much of a part he has to play in the upcoming game is another matter.
As a student at Outworld’s exclusive Imperial Academy of Sorcery, Rain amazed his peers with his singular aptitude for water magic.
Rain’s skills drew General Shao’s attention, who honed his water magic into a great weapon. Rain’s victories so impressed Empress Sindel that she… pic.twitter.com/YTpnPJBvjp
— The Realm Kast: Mortal Kombat Online (@RealmKast) July 6, 2023
Having died in Mortal Kombat 9 before a past version of himself returns in Mortal Kombat 11, it’ll be interesting to see how this new version of the character acts as a ‘mere’ general of the Outworld army, compared to its ruler. A being of his arrogance won’t deal with being told by what to do for long.
Related: Mortal Kombat 1 is “the beginning of a universe”: Ed Boon Discusses Mortal Kombat 1 Name Change-Up
With numerous returning characters, an entire new gameplay mechanic in Kameo’s being introduced, new timelines to digest and more, Mortal Kombat 1 is shaping up to be the biggest fighting game of this generation of consoles so far, and Tekken 8 is going to have to pull out all the stops to get anywhere near it.
Are you excited by the prospect of Shao returning, no matter his form or title? Are you going to be picking up Mortal Kombat 1 come release? Due on September 19th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch, we’ll see you there.
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