MK1: Kombat Pack Review Summary

Incredible story mode, excellent gameplay, and great guest characters, though the DLC is overpriced and its characters arrive delayed.

Excellent guest character choices: Guest characters like Omni-Man, Homelander, and Peacemaker are highlighted as excellent and great fits for Mortal Kombat. They are considered amazing licensed characters.

Great DLC character value: The DLC is praised for bringing a good set of characters at a good price, with high value from six characters and five kameos. The Kombat Pack roster is considered great.

Incredible story mode: The campaign story is incredible, with top-notch writing and visuals. The story is amazing, captivating compared to MK11, and worth the price alone.

Excellent overall gameplay: The game is described as awesome, excellent, and with very good gameplay. The core mechanics are well-received and considered impeccable.

Omni-Man is fun: Omni-Man is specifically noted as fun, easy to pick up, and with an insanely aggressive and fast playstyle. He is considered a good guest character with good air combos.

DLC overpriced for content: Players consistently report that the DLC costs as much as a full game and is not worth the price. The value is seen as especially poor when compared to the base game content.

DLC characters delayed release: Many players complain that DLC characters are released months apart, with some arriving about a year after launch. The lack of immediate availability and unclear release dates frustrates buyers.

Base game characters sold as DLC: Several characters already present in the base game or story mode are locked behind the Kombat Pack, making players feel cheated. This includes characters like Quan Chi and Ermac who appear in the story.

Story characters locked behind paywall: Characters that are mandatory story fights or heavily featured in the story are sold as DLC, which players find unacceptable. This includes Quan Chi and Ermac, who should have been in the base roster.

Purchased characters remain locked: A significant number of players report that after purchasing the Kombat Pack, characters like Takeda, Ermac, Peacemaker, and Homelander stay locked in the character select screen. Restarting the game or completing story mode does not fix the issue.

Kombat Pack contents: The Kombat Pack includes 6 main roster characters and 5 kameo fighters, providing a substantial amount of post-launch content. This is a common expectation for fighting game DLC.

High difficulty level: The fights are challenging, generally tougher than Tekken 7, and the game is difficult overall. This may appeal to hardcore fighting game fans.

Character leveling system: Characters have a leveling system, which adds progression elements. This encourages long-term engagement.

Game requires optimization fixes: Reviewers report that the game suffers from performance issues and needs optimization patches to run smoothly. This likely includes frame rate drops, stuttering, or other technical problems affecting gameplay.

Long load times without SSD: Players note that load times are significantly long unless the game is installed on an SSD, indicating a potential optimization issue for HDD users. This can disrupt the gaming experience and may require hardware upgrades to mitigate.

Wait for a sale: Many reviewers suggest waiting for a discount before purchasing the game, as the full price is considered too high. Sales are seen as the appropriate time to buy.

Avoid buying DLC separately: Multiple reviewers advise against purchasing DLC characters and kameos individually, recommending the Kombat Pack instead. Buying separately is seen as poor value.

DLC characters not immediately available: Reviewers warn that paid DLC characters are not available right away, which may disappoint buyers. Some suggest waiting a few months or refunding if this is an issue.

Not worth buying at all: A few reviewers state that the game is not worth buying, with one saying 'Do not buy it' and another 'Not worth it'. This indicates strong dissatisfaction.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $40.00.

Competitive Meta Player: Analyzes character movesets, plays ranked, follows meta shifts. Motivation: Exploring competitive depth, character mechanics, and meta evolution. Stance: sale.

Story and Presentation Seeker: Plays through story mode, watches cinematics, values presentation. Motivation: Experiencing the story, visuals, and cinematic moments. Stance: buy.

Monetization: The game features traditional DLC (Kombat Pack) and a premium currency store for cosmetics and consumables. User feedback focuses on DLC pricing and misleading labeling, but there is no evidence of pay-to-win, gacha, or aggressive monetization. The premium currency store is standard for modern games, with consumables described as quality-of-life items. Overall, monetization is not predatory, though transparency issues exist.

Poor value compared to predecessors: Reviewers note that MK11's Ultimate Add-On Bundle offered more content for the same price as this Kombat Pack. The DLC is also seen as overpriced relative to MKX and MK11's packs.

Premium edition pricing criticized: The premium edition costs over $100, and some players paid that price only to find the standalone game later cheaper. The premium edition was also removed from stores, causing confusion.

Skins and fatalities sold separately: The game sells skins and fatalities as individual purchases, with story-mode skins priced at $5-10 each. Seasonal skins are also sold separately, adding to the overall cost.

DLC price nearly equals base game: The DLC and kameo pack add significant cost, with the DLC alone costing about 90% of the original game's price. This makes the total investment very high.

Refund period ends before issue: Players discover the DLC is not available after the refund period ends, leaving them stuck with a purchase they cannot use. This is seen as a deceptive practice.