In late September,Mortal Kombat 1will receive its first story expansion DLC in the form of Khaos Reigns. Here, players will have to defend Liu Kang’s new timeline from Titan Havik and his army as they attempt to sow chaos throughout the universe. Like theMortal Kombat 11Aftermath expansion before it, Khaos Reigns will introduce new playable fighters intoMortal Kombat 1’s roster, from gender-swapped Sektor and Cyrax toScream’s very own Ghostface slasher. However, there’s one other feature from Aftermath that could prove successful in Khaos Reigns in terms of granting players more choice and allowing for more story potential inMortal Kombat 2: multiple endings.
Mortal Kombat 11’s Alternate Ending Explained
InMortal Kombat 11’s base game, the campaign ends with Thunder God Raiden bestowing his godly powers on Liu Kang in order for him to be able to defeat the time Titan Kronika. Meanwhile, Kitana was able to defeat Shao Khan and gain control of Outworld and its army, ushering in a new era of relative peace between the realms. However, this was notthe true ending ofMortal Kombat 11, as the Aftermath expansion showcased another, unseen side of the story. Nightwolf, Fujin, and Shang Tsung were sent back in time by Liu Kang to steal Kronika’s crown to prevent her from gaining power in the first place.
Shang Tsung used this opportunity to manipulateMortal Kombat 11’s previous events and sabotage Raiden and Liu Kang’s efforts. Kitana’s mother Sindel was resurrected but chose to aid Shao Khan instead of her own daughter, ensuring she never became leader of Outworld. Tsung stole Kronika’s crown to gain control of the Hourglass and seeped the lifeforce from Fujin, Nightwolf, Raiden, Shao Khan, and Sindel. Here, players had a choice tofight as either Titan Liu Kang or Titan Shang Tsung, with the former creating the main timeline inMortal Kombat 1and the latter becoming the villain ofMortal Kombat 1’s base campaign.
WhileMortal Kombathas featured several fighter DLCs since 2011’sMortal Kombat,Mortal Kombat 11Aftermath was the first story-focused expansion in theMortal Kombatseries.
Potential Mortal Kombat 1 Khaos Reigns Alternate Endings
While not much ofKhaos Reigns’ endgame storyis known, there is still a lot of potential for it to have alternate endings. Khaos Reigns will likely feature a climactic battle between Titan Liu Kang and Titan Havik or have Liu Kang select a champion to fight Havik, similar to the final battle ofMortal Kombat 1’s base campaign. If the final battle is between Liu Kang and Havik, one potential ending with Liu Kang could be defeating Havik and Liu Kang attempting to heal the multiverse from Havik’s destruction. If Havik wins, one potential ending could have him destroy Liu Kang and usher in a new age of chaos across the multiverse.
Khaos Reigns could innovate on alternate endings’ potential by having branching narratives leading to multiple different endings instead of just two. For example, if players decide to play as Cyrax primarily instead of Sektor in fight sequences, this could cause Cyrax to have a better ending than Sektor. The same could happen to Sektor or other characters when chosen more often where multiple fighters are available. Branching narratives and multiple endings could help increaseMortal Kombat 1’s replayability and grant NetherRealm Studios more options to bounce off of forMortal Kombat 2.
Khaos Reigns’ Potential Effects on Mortal Kombat 2
If multiple endings do appear in Khaos Reigns similar to Aftermath, NetherRealm Studios could take multiple avenues on how they address them infuture DLCs orMortal Kombat 2. NetherRealm could try to weave every ending option intoMortal Kombat 2’s story, similar to how they canonized both Liu Kang and Shang Tsung’s Aftermath endings inMortal Kombat 1.
It may also select only one ending to be the canonical ending forMortal Kombat 2, leaving the other ending as a mere multiversal concept or the subject of future multiplayer events. NetherRealm could also go the way of Telltale Games and record which choices most players made to determine what should be the best ending to lead intoMortal Kombat 2, but only time will tell if the studio plans to branch out in its storytelling avenues.
