Losing progress can also be an issue if, for example, you duck out to your console’s dashboard to share a video clip of a close victory, which will suspend your game and disconnect you from its servers. There was one instance where game servers went down on all platforms, and I lost my progress on a Tower of Time. As they stand at the time of writing, the Towers of Time succeed in providing an endless, compelling palette of single-player content to tackle once you’ve completed the story mode. The difficulty curve and number of challenges you need to tackle are reasonable enough that achieving the prizes at the end of a tower, and the end of a whole island of towers, always feels within reach. One week later, NetherRealm released a major patch (1.03) that acknowledged and adjusted a large number of variables related to the Towers of Time, reducing (and in some cases, eliminating) a number of unbalanced modifiers, normalizing the resilience and difficulty of AI opponents, and increasing the amount of rewards for completing activities across the board.

They’re enticing pools of goods, too–the aforementioned Konsumables, character cosmetics, and large denominations of the various currencies needed to open chests in the Krypt, MK11’s third-person quasi-puzzle-adventure mode designed for unlocking even more collectibles. That’s fortunate, because the modifiers in the Towers of Time add genuinely interesting dynamics to MK11’s already enjoyable fighting flow. MK11 also features tools that help you have some control over your experience–in casual matches, you have the ability to see your opponent’s win/loss ratio, your estimated chance of success, and information about each player’s internet connection–and the game thankfully allows you to decline a match if you think you’re going to have a bad time. The robust online options make it a worthwhile avenue to pick a fight without the modifiers of the Towers Of Time. The mode’s focus on using “Konsumables,” a variety of limited-use items that you can equip and activate during the fight, did little to even the playing field, and their method of attainment was too dependent on luck to even make them a reliable strategy in the first place.

These kinds of challenges are a welcome exercise that push you to consider different ways to approach a MK11 fight, forcing you to, say, become extra defensive or keep a closer eye on your positioning. The variety of Konsumables–which have abilities that range from letting you call in another character to perform an assist attack, rain missiles down from the sky, or simply replenish your health–can give you extra tools to help keep a handle on the situation. Regardless of their asking price, chests have the capacity to furnish you with something exciting, like new costumes or brutality finishers for a specific character, or something as basic as a piece of concept art. There are a range of online multiplayer modes, of course, including ranked and casual matchmaking, a king-of-the-hill mode, and forthcoming ranked seasons, as well as private options like lobbies and the ability to use practice mode with a friend.

From the design to the fabric, everything is perfect for the fans who love perfection in the real and illusionary world as well. However, the High Voltage Studios-ported PC version of the game received zero post-launch support, much to the dismay of hardcore Mortal Kombat fans. However, the focus soon shifts to the popular Mortal Kombat tournament storyline. The always-online nature of the game can pose a much larger concern on Nintendo Switch, however, especially if you’re looking to play the game in handheld mode away from a wireless connection. A great way to taunt your opponent by looking like a circus freak! The pads that scorpion wears are pretty thick, so I cut them out twice as big as I needed and then folded them over to get that thickness I was looking for. Pre-ordering Mortal Kombat XL gets you the Cosplay Pack, which allows female fighters Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs to dress up as the likes of Sub-Zero and Scorpion.