So Shang Tsung joins forces with Fujin because Liu Kang is unable to forge a new timeline because he doesn't have Kronika's crown. So essentially the story boils down to a MacGuffin hunt. This means that all the players are back in play here, Kronika is alive now because Shang Tsung gets sent to the past...which leads me to ask how'd he get to...the er...future...land before time...wherever the hell Liu Kang is currently. Nether Realm wrote themselves into a corner with this game as I've said after literally killing everybody and rending the entire story meaningless, meaningless or not questions still linger and that is what happens next and it seems like they're answering that full stop.
If Shang Tsung betrays the group he might be setting himself up as the next baddie, which will bring us back to square one OR and hopefully we establish The Dragon King Onaga, he has yet to be mentioned in the new timeline and it'd be nice to see him revamped and done right, but sadly I doubt it. The thing is I'm more curious about the ending. Since "Mortal Kombat" has started doing actual story modes they've established continuity and as I've said before since EVERY ending is now canon (Kronika just restarting time after someone defeats Shoa Khan) I'm more concerned with how this will end and what will be established moving forward. Because they cannot reboot this early and if they do it'll just be seen as a cop-out.
The characters featured in the story will be Sindel, Fujin, Nightwolf, and of course Shang Tsung...not to mention Sheeva. Not sure if other DLC characters will be included in this story or not, personally I'm hoping not, it'd just confuse things. Sindel has been retconned, unfortunately. In the previous games, Sindel was a tragic character, an all-loving mother who took her own life after witnessing the death of her husband and the destruction of her own realm. Her suicide ultimately creating a ward the protected Earth Realm from Shoa Khan's invasion, after having been resurrected by Quan Chi she essentially became a zombie, brainwashed to serve Shoa Kahn. But now in Sindel's ending, it's revealed that she murdered Jerrod because he was weak...but that doesn't explain her suicide...if it was a suicide (this is Shoa Kahn we're talking about here). So Sindel will be a wild card considering she is no longer a hero and if she takes the role of the big baddie, in the end, I could live with that.
Fujin is back and as we all know in the original continuity he took over as protector of Earth Realm after Raiden became an Elder God in "Mortal Kombat 4". He had a brief appearance in "Mortal Kombat X" but that was all. Fujin has always been something of an afterthought and he hasn't been a star player in any of the MK games, he didn't even do the opening speech in "Deadly Alliance" so he's always played second fiddle to Raiden. This time around he seems to be more active by forming an alliance with Shang Tsung to get Kronika's crown, and from the trailers, it looks like Fujin is at least on to how cunning Shang Tsung can be if left to his own devices.
Nightwolf is in play and this will obviously have to be a Nightwolf from another time considering Nightwolf was killed (by Sindel) and is a revenant now. Looks like he'll be apart of Fujin's team. Nightwolf in "Mortal Kombat" the reboot was better served, now having a presence in the original tournament, not just to round out the Earth Realm roster but to establish Nightwolf as a follower of Raiden, and in the Mortal Kombat 3 chapter, Nightwolf not only stopped Quan Chi's Soulnado but defeated Sindel by sacrificing himself. Nightwolf was never seen a powerful character but the MK9 did a good job of establishing Nightwolf as a force to be reckoned with, hopefully, they keep that up in this game.
Sheeva I don't care about and I'm not interested in discussing but from the looks of it, it looks like she'll be Sindel's enforcer (possibly) I say this because Sheeva apparently respects Kitana (despite being a-okay with killing her in MK9...whatever) and having been a protector of her mother availed Sheeva a sort of kinship with Kitana...I'm just speculating because the retcon to her character from MK9 (that's just 2 games before) is jarring. With how "Mortal Kombat 11" ended "Mortal Kombat: Aftermath" needs to stick the landing and establish 1) A new big baddie moving forward 2) the landscape of the entire Mortal Kombat universe moving forward and 3) A new story and I'll unpack all 3. "Mortal Kombat" as a whole NEEDS a big bad guy that's the whole reason for "Mortal Kombat" HOWEVER, now that the tournament is over and done with and probably won't be coming back (because why would Liu Kang re-establish such a horrible practice) there needs to be a new dynamic and a new villain can establish that dynamic.
After "Mortal Kombat 2" the games after that became less and less about the tournament to the point the tournament was irrelevant and the same trend continues in these new games. If the tournament is irrelevant then some other threat needs to be. A new bad guy with new motivations can help change the flavor of the "Mortal Kombat" games moving forward. As far as the landscape goes, this is what I mean, "Mortal Kombat X" established a changing for the guard, and put a lot of characters firmly into retirement or moving towards that, Earth Realm and Outworld had an uneasy Non-Aggression Pact, and new faces were coming into their own as fully developed characters. This was the new landscape, Kung Jin, Cassie Cage, Jacqui Briggs, Takeda, Kotal Kahn, Ferra/Torr, D'Vorah and break out character Erron Black, these were the new faces that were going to push Mortal Kombat into the next generation. Some were characters riding on the legacy of others and others were new characters were set to be big players moving forward.
"Mortal Kombat 11" removed Kung Jin and Takeda for unknown reasons and added 2 new characters who didn't do much (Geras) considering he was replaced by another, unfortunately, more familiar character (Frost) and the other didn't do much either and had little impact on the story (Kollector). Takeda and Kung Jin aren't even mentioned at all and only Cassie and Jacqui remain. New new characters aren't bad but make us care about them. Geras was a good character and his existence in the story made sense as Kronika's number 2 but Frost also having that role made me ask why not just have it be Frost? Kollector could have easily been Ferra/Torr, after all, Erron Black was pulled from a timeline where he served Shoa Khan instead of Kotal so an evil Ferra/Torr could have come through that portal. Now Ferra/Torr doesn't have the same language skills as Kollector but again what did Kollector really do that couldn't have been done by...Skarlet? So the landscape needs to be are the old characters staying or are they retiring? Commit! I'm fine with having Johnny Cage and a few others be DLC or unlockable (what the f*ck ever happened to unlocking characters? Mortal Kombat used to be the progenitor of that) for the sake of having some new faces take the helm of the series. So either the new faces are here to stay or they're just passing through, one way or another Nether Realm Studios needs to decide.
And finally a new story and this is where the ending comes into play. By the end of "Mortal Kombat: Aftermath" we need to know why we'll spend $65 of our hard-earned money to purchase the next "Mortal Kombat" game in all its blood-filled excitement and that needs to be by establishing a story. "Mortal Kombat" has always been unique amongst fighting games not only for its graphic violence but for its story and how much time and effort was put into it, did they get some stuff wrong within their own continuity? Absolutely! Raiden was originally an arrogant Thunder God who entered the tournament to school mortals. But over time all of that changed. MK9 was a step in the right direction and they have an opportunity to show us that either there is someone awake at the wheel who knows where this is going or no one's driving the car. You're next. Who's next. What's next? Guess we'll see.
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