Mortal Kombat X Livestream Recap: Devs Give Details About Variations Mechanic, Show Off New Fatalities

The developers at NetherRealm Studios took to Twitch yesterday to show off the game's Variations system as well as some new Fatalities from Scorpion and Quan Chi.

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The concept behind the game's Variations is to give players different options for how to play the same character. For example, the Sub-Zero of previous games was pretty consistently a tankier character, meaning many players would play him as the low-mobility, high-damage fighter that he was. In Mortal Kombat X, however, Sub-Zero has three different Variations that switch up his stat line. One Variation can make him quicker with more long-range potential while another can make him even beefier, slowing him down while adding more devastating counters and shields.

Some character Variations even open them up to new game mechanics, like Kotal Kahn's totem system for his Blood God form or Sorcerer Quan Chi's buff mechanic. Both of these fighter forms can lay down different buffs that can do anything from increasing your own damage to stealing health from your opponent. Kotal Kahn's other forms include the Sun God form, which includes a grab that increases in damage every time it connects, and the War God form, which gives Kotal a high-damage obsidian sword for some ranged gameplay. For every character, each of their three Variations offers a unique playstyle.

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Throughout the livestream, Fatalities for almost every announced character were shown off, some of which were shown off in their entirety for the first time. Scorpion has a particularly gory new Fatality on display, as does Quan Chi. Scorpion's new Fatality (which is, even by Mortal Kombat standards, pretty gruesome) is seen around the stream's 29-minute mark, if you want to go look for it. Quan Chi's can be found 54 minutes in.

The stream shows off around 45 minutes of gameplay, and the developers go into many of the new changes going into this game (including the addition of an elderly woman that can be used as a projectile). You can find the full stream below or on NetherRealm's Twitch channel. The developers said that a second Mortal Kombat X livestream will be coming in December, with many more in 2015 leading up to the big launch.

Mortal Kombat X will be coming to the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC on April 14.

Watch live video from NetherRealm on Twitch