When it comes to fighting games, there are a few notable names in the genre: Tekken, Smash Bros., Killer Instinct. But none of them quite hold such high stature compared to Mortal Kombat. While Street Fighter is one of the biggest games in EVO, Mortal Kombat was responsible for the creation of the American ESRB. With 11 games under the series’ belt, NetherRealm Studios decided that it’s time yet again to reboot the series. Toward that front, the latest game’s title returns to the single-digit roots: Mortal Kombat 1.

NetherRealm Announces Mortal Kombat 1

Series Creator Ed Boon shared on Twitter the announcement trailer for Mortal Kombat 1. His announcement was then followed up by an official website promoting the game. A reboot for the series wasn’t out of the question, as the Aftermath DLC for Mortal Kombat 11 shows series protagonist Liu Kang ascending to godhood. After Liu Kang achieves godhood, he resets the timeline, thus creating the “New Era” timeline in which Mortal Kombat takes place.

According to the Mortal Kombat 1 website, the fighting system is going to be changed quite a bit. How is still left up to speculation, but it doesn’t involve something called “Kameo Fighters.”

The website refers them as a “Unique roster of Kameo fighting partners to assist in battle.” While speculation, this most likely means that players are going to have two rosters of characters: One being the main playable characters, and one being the Kameo characters. While it will be cool to see some characters that haven’t been seen in a while, this also means that some characters might be locked behind assist slots.

This is a lot to take in, and with the success of Mortal Kombat 11, plenty of players are wondering what else is going to be coming. The story and lore has been effectively reset. The characters are going to be slightly different. Furthermore, new Kameo fighters are going to be a main part of the gameplay loop.

It sounds like Mortal Kombat 1 is going to be very different from Mortal Kombat 11. Either way, players can preorder the game soon. This will allow them to unlock Shang Tsung as a playable character, as well as beta access. Mortal Kombat 1 is slated to release on September 19th of this year.