Mortal Kombat XL Review PC

Let’s just forget for a second that the initial release of Mortal Kombat X on PC was an absolute mess. At least we’re going to for the sake of this review. Despite an excellent version of the game launching last year on consoles, those who purchased the game on PC were literally hung out to dry. When Mortal Kombat XL hit consoles, the developers said they were dropping support for the game on PC. Then out of nowhere, a beta was announced on PC that offered some hope for future improvements. That beta test offered said improvements to the netcode, something that the PC version of the game lacked for months. Obviously, this is something very important for a game that relies on online matches working well for longievity of the title. Rolling out with the recently released patches, this improved netcode (among other improvements) and all the downloadable content that’s been available for purchase over the last year make up the final package of Mortal Kombat XL on PC.

The good news is that the PC version of Mortal Kombat XL is finally something worth playing. All that goodness that critics praised the console versions for is here in spades. Online matches work flawlessly, at least in our tests during this review. PC players also finally get a chance to play with Kombat Pack 2 content, which includes new playable characters and a batch of new skins for the game. The first Kombat Pack is also included in XL, so despite that dropped support from NetherRealm and Warner Bros, PC players can finally get the full Mortal Kombat experience, even if it is a little bit late.

We praised the game back when it was originally released. Of course we reviewed it on consoles at that point, but those with modern PCs arguably have the best version of Mortal Kombat XL available at this time. We reviewed the game on a GTX 1080 and were able to fully max out just about every graphical setting in the game. Taking it up to 4K and its hard to find a more impressive looking fighter with all of the gory goodness that MK offers. Combine the impressive visuals with a slate of both single player and online content that the game has offered from the jump and Mortal Kombat XL on PC is pretty great. It’s hard to excuse the lack of communication and length of time that it took the developers to get this right, but they did get there. I guess you could say that it’s better late than never for Mortal Kombat fans who play on PC exclusively.

NetherRealm hasn’t shown the PC community much love either. The bare minimum of getting the game working is a low bar to hurdle, and is expected when you purchase a product. Even those who plunked down cash on the premium edition of MKX will need to actually purchase this late-arriving content in Kombat Pack 2. It probably would’ve shown some goodwill to release this stuff for free on PC after so many issues with the game. It’s actually pretty confusing for those who purchased different editions of Mortal Kombat X on PC. Mortal Kombat XL is essentially a free upgrade. That includes things like a new stage, stage fatalities, and the all-important netcode. If you already own the game, you can check this stuff out without any cost. But if you want the downloadable content it’s gonna cost. If you already own MKX with Kombat Pack 1 you can just purchase the second Kombat pack. If you own nothing, MKXL will give you the base game with improvements, Kombat Pack 1 & 2 for $39.99.  It seems like a pretty good deal for a fighter as good as MKX with all the DLC.  It’s just a little bittersweet that it took this long to get there.   Furthermore, if you’re just jumping into MKX at this stage in the game, you’re way behind the curve competitively.

Still it’s a fantastic looking and playing fighter.  The added fixes to netcode make things like Faction matches and online versus modes a viable way to spend your time in MKXL, but a robust story mode and single player suite can keep you busy as well.  While we’re not gonna dip back into all the features of the game on both the single and multiplayer fronts that make it one of the better fighters released in the last few years, you can check out our initial review of the PS4 version for more details about the core game modes and features of MKX. If you’ve already heard all that, and you’ve just been waiting to see if this game is finally worth playing on PC, it is.

The Verdict

While the downloadable content is about seven months overdue, and the patches to fix online performance even longer, Mortal Kombat X for PC is better than its even been with the release of Mortal Kombat XL.