Kombat Kast Showcases Reiko, Shang Tsung & New Invasions Mode details

As digital downloads for those who have pre-ordered the premium edition of Mortal Kombat 1 start, the team at NRS went live with a much-awaited Kombat Kast on the eve of early access. As always Tyler Lansdown, Derek Kirtzic, and Stephanie Brownback went over the details of how Invasions mode was going to play out during a season, including details on what type of content would be available through invasions and what players can expect to find each season.

Invasions Mode

Derek provided a lot more details as to how Invasions will work. A single-player, but always online, mode that seeks to combine MK11's Krypt. Each of the seasons will feature a basic story about an invading force coming into Liu Kang's timeline seeking to disrupt his peace. For season 1, the main antagonist of the story will be Scorpion.

Invasions are divided into mesas; for season one there are eight mesas. Each has its own main theme, and some are considerably harder to get through the others. To deal with that, the mode includes RPG elements, allowing you and your fighters to level up over the course of play as well as elemental damages, augmentations, forging, etc. At the center of it is the gateway mesa, which will provide many of the daily, weekly, and seasonal towers for players.

Each season will create a new set of mesas and a story for players to explore. More importantly, these seasonal invasions are free for all players, no battle pass, no microtransactions, no pay to win or even play. You will receive a new invasion season. Invasions is also not the only way Kameos and skins can be unlocked. As Derek explained, players can unlock just by playing any of the modes, including online, while they also earn more skins for specific characters by playing that specific character.

Here are some other details about invasions:

• All nodes contain secret fights.
• Max level is 30. Levels reset each season. all characters levels at the same time.
• The mesas are chuck full of references and easter eggs relating to Mortal Kombat.
• Talismans & components can be craft together at Bob's Forge to enhance its damage, size, speed, element, etc.
• There will be a down period between Invasions, but the Gateway will stay open alongside a practice and testing mesa to play around with the RPG elements.
• The exclusive seasonal rewards earned during the season are unique and won't come back unless the Invansion itself does.
• All the classic Towers are still in the game alongside Invasions.

Reiko & Shang Tsung

The Kast then moved on to showcasing Reiko and Shang Tsung. One of the key takeaways for the Outworld commander is that the is a grounded grappler who has a good number of options to fight at mid-range, which is deceptively longer than you might think, and can even parry into combos.

Shang Tsung is far more complicated, a very cerebral character. He has two basic morphs, young and old Shang Tsung; but he can also morph into his opponent's character. Almost all of his normal attacks make use of his toxic claws. At any time, he can morph into his two forms at will, which he can also do during combos to create new strings, as his specials are different between the two forms. Finally, He can also morph, for a limited time, into his opponent.