Right out of the gate Mortal Kombat 11 looks incredible, from the character detail to the environments and the stylised and over-the-top moves, finishers, and Fatalities. As a pure fighting game it also represents the progression of the series as a somewhat simple Street Fighter clone to a combo and timing-driven fighter with a feel of its own.

But, outside of the excellent story things begin to feel a tad overdone.

Everything outside of the story mode though is built around currencies, items, and character load-outs that quickly veers off, to use some Mortal Kombat parlance, into the Realm of overload. From the stylised and wonderfully detailed Krypt that has you explore Shang Tsung’s island, to the Towers of Time that offers more arcade-like single-player progression with added modifiers and sometimes random events that fundamentally changes combat flow. Initially it all seems a bit much, especially when coupled with a progressions system to unlock skins and even items needed for Towers of Time being, well, a severely unbalanced and initially confusing grind.

It’s worth noting that NetherRealm has released a post-launch patch that lessens the more grind-y aspects of Mortal Kombat 11 as well as tweak and refine the unfair difficulty spikes seen in the Towers of Time mode. Once the story is completed, Towers of Time serves as the main single-player focus alongside a robust online suite of modes. But even after a patch the random nature of opening chests in the Krypt using currency you earn still feels unbalanced – where trying to get a skin or unlock takes on a loot box quality.

Click Here to Read Our Full Mortal Komat 11 Review