While it’s extremely unusual for a fighting game, but I have a deep love for the lore and story modes of the Mortal Kombat games. From the very beginning when you’d finish a tower with a single character, I was invested in knowing how things played out for them. In recent generations, the storytelling has been such a core component of these games where lore is either expanded, explored, or completely reworked. The story expansion named Khaos Reigns for Mortal Kombat 1 is “Part 2” of the story, picking up from where the end credits left off. Unfortunately, Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns doesn’t quite do enough to justify its own existence both in story and new things to do when that story is done.
After the concluding events of Mortal Kombat 11‘s Aftermath expansion, things seemed to be at ease, it was cool to see a complete restart of the timeline. In Mortal Kombat 1, we saw Liu Kang as an Elder God, and it flipped everything we ever knew upside down, changing things from character origins to even gender swaps. It was really fun to have followed every one of these games and be like “hey that’s a different take on that fighter” or “I remember her”. Mortal Kombat 1 was a sublime experience for its gameplay, story, and modes – it’s a lot to live up to.
As we continue in Liu Kang’s Era, Khaos Reigns is well, short lived. We see Havik, resembling Fire Marshall Bill from “In Living Color” with his burned skin, no lips, and exposed teeth. He’s assembling an army of kombatants from other timelines in an effort to seize Liu Kang’s. What once was a timeline that started so Utopian has devolved into the most cursed timeline. At no point during this second part of the story did I feel like the story had the stakes of part 1. One thing is for sure, the cinematics are out of this world good; I just wish the rest of it matched in quality.
Khaos Reigns starts where Part 1 left off, at Chapter 16 and ends at the end of Chapter 20. This is a character-focused expansion, only letting you play as a handful of fighters, such as Cyrax, Tanya, Sektor, and Noob Saibot. The way that cutscenes are interspersed with fights helps keep the momentum going when the story doesn’t.
Completing Mortal Kombat 1 took me six and a half hours. Khaos Reigns took just over three hours, which is expected for an expansion such as this. Along the way you’ll unlock rewards in the form of banners, palettes, and weapon skins. In totality, there’s nearly ten hours of story to get through, and it’s wholly fun.
Where Khaos Reigns doesn’t skimp out on is the new arenas to fight in. There’s some amazing sets to fight in, that definitely rival the main game. It’s nice seeing more of the gender-swapped Sektor and Cyrax, maintaining their humanity but wearing cyborg armor, I appreciate that they didn’t fully augment them and we see them in-between. Havik has an obsession with his minions having mohawks, saying “chaos”, and ripping off his body parts for emphasis.
Right now you can play as Cyrax, Sektor, and Noob Saibot, as they come with the expansion and have no prerequisites to use. The cyborgs play differently enough from each other, with Noob Saibot being a fantastic addition, and probably the best in the kore bunch. In a staggered release, there will be new characters that join the roster. What you can see on the fighter select screen is: Ghostface (“Scream”), T-1000 (Terminator 2″), and Conan the Barbarian (“Conan the Barbarian”). It’s not clear how these characters stack up to previously release “guest” characters, but sure look fun.
Nothing’s been changed here on PC, the game still supports ultrawide monitors, and runs at a smooth (but locked) 60fps for gameplay. Cinematics run at 30fps, but can be unlocked in the settings to also run at 60fps. I think the game would look better running at an even higher framerates, even only for offline modes. All the same, Mortal Kombat 1 continues to perform incredibly well on PCs.
My PC Specs:
– Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
– Intel Core i9 13900K @ 5.8GHz
– ASUS ROG RYUJIN II 360 ARGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
– G.SKILL TRIDENT Z5 6000MHZ 64GB (32×2) DDR5 RAM
– ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4080 16GB GDDR6X
– WD_BLACK SN850X M.2 (4 TB)
– LG UltraGear 34GP950B-G (21:9 Ultrawide @ 3440×1440)
For $50, Khaos Reigns expansion does not live up to the standards set by Mortal Kombat 1. The game as a whole is the best its ever been, and if you haven’t played MK1 yet, now’s a great time to jump in with a complete story. As an epilogue to the MK1 story, it does not stand on its own, and after the credits roll there’s only Invasions mode to compete in. Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns ends the story in an abrupt way that’s rather unsatisfying for what came before it.
A Steam code was provided by the publisher for review purposes
