Mortal Kombat's Fatal Flaws: Benchmarking the Latest Entry on PC

Warner Bros recently launched the newest instalment of the Mortal Kombat series developed by NetherRealm, using Unreal Engine 4. Some enthusiasts have analyzed its performance on the PC platform, and here is a summary of what they said about Mortal Kombat 1.

The latest Mortal Kombat game was benchmarked on various PC hardware configurations. CPUs ranging from a simulated dual-core CPU to a simulated Hexa-core CPU, as well as real CPUs, including the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D. The GPUs tested spanned from older models like the NVIDIA GTX 980Ti and the AMD Radeon RX 580 to newer flagship models like the RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080 and RTX 4090. The latest drivers, including GeForce 537.13 and Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 23.9.1, were used. 

Shockingly, it was discovered the game requires at least a modern Hexa-core CPU for smooth performance, with stuttering found on Quad-core CPUs even with hyperthreading enabled. Graphically, the game looks amazing with highly detailed character models, great fatalities, and gorgeous pre-rendered cutscenes. Performance is solid on a wide range of GPUs at 1080p max settings - even older models like the RX Vega 64 ran smoothly. At 1440p, the top 5 GPUs also performed well, though crashes occurred on the 980Ti due to VRAM limitations. At 4K, the top 3 GPUs provided 60 fps.

However, some issues were found, like high CPU core requirements, stuttering cutscenes, and 30fps caps on certain gameplay elements. Mods exist to help but they shouldn't be necessary. Overall, the game shows promise but needs optimization work via updates to address technical shortcomings like CPU core scaling. It is hoped the developers address these problems soon to improve the experience.

The full benchmarking can be read here.