Mortal Kombat 1

 PC
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. PC Gamer
    Sep 21, 2023
    70
    There's the skeleton of a good Mortal Kombat here, but it's lacking in meat. Low on personality and half-baked in its attempt to reboot the story, it feels fated to be remembered as the least interesting of the modern MK games.
  2. TouchArcade
    Sep 21, 2023
    70
    Mortal Kombat 1 is an excellent fighting game that managed to surpass Mortal Kombat 11 in almost every way, but I’d avoid getting it on Steam Deck unless you’re ok with 30fps gameplay. The game itself has smart improvements over the prior entry, and the story mode might be NetherRealm’s best one yet, but the online feels dated right now. Having now played it on Steam Deck, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch, I’d recommend getting it on Xbox Series X for sure, but avoiding it on Switch. The Steam Deck version is Verified by Valve, but I don’t think it is worthy of that badge right now. I’ll be revisiting it after a few updates, but my recommendation for the game on Steam Deck has a big 30fps caveat right now.
  3. Slant Magazine
    Oct 12, 2023
    60
    There’s plenty of room for MK1 to expand, but as it stands, Mortal Kombat just tested its might on another reboot and may have broken something unnecessarily in the process.
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  1. 3DJuegos
    Sep 27, 2023
    Mortal Kombat 1 reboots its universe to make it much more personal than before. Keeping its brutality and having lots of content, its roster of classic characters has never felt so alive.
  2. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Sep 18, 2023
    In short: good fightin', rushed writin'. The storytelling is markedly more generic than the previous game (even that was a bit too Marvel for me), and I'm less in love with the character design overall. I miss the big ringed chrome arms of Jax, for instance, the skittering sharpness of D'vorah's spikey limbs, or Kollector's blessedly messed-up arm anatomy (he's not playable so far). So for franchise-agnostic fighting game dweebs, it might not capture the imagination with the same might as its predecessor. But otherwise there's enough klassicism to Mortal Kombat 1 (and enough fan servicey callbacks) to please the diehards. A totally acceptable (akkceptable?) follow-up, provided the online kombatants follow through.