Controversy seems to follow the Mortal Kombat franchise everywhere it goes. With the release of the highly praised Mortal Kombat 11, it seems some fans aren’t happy about the game’s portrayal of male and female characters.
Those who have paid attention to Mortal Kombat 11‘s many trailers and gameplay footage might have noticed that it takes a much more measured approach to art direction, specifically in the way it portrays its female characters.
This was confirmed in an interview with art director Steve Beran, who mentioned the more restrained art direction:
“Our character lead, Brendan George, has been a breath of fresh air of just introducing new ideas. Our design is just getting more mature and respectful. You’re not going to wear a bikini to a fight. You’re not going to be showing so much skin. I think it’s just what the game is about: You’re going in to fight for your life, and you’re not going to be wearing such scantily clad items.”
As one would expect, not everyone has been accepting of this approach, with many fans taking to social media to voice their displeasure.
Some are displeased with how the female characters have been covered up even though some of the male characters still wear very little clothing. There are also comments on how “ugly” the female characters look, especially in comparison to previous iterations of the game.
The game is only censored because of sjw influences.and it’s cool for the dudes to almost naked with only loincloths right?
— ozzymenandez56 (@ozzymenandez56) April 19, 2019
wait… MK 11 has Female Characters? I only saw Male hmm.
— Sanji Vinsmoke (@Maj_Ocelot) April 18, 2019
It’s being downgraded, why cant you see that? Mortal kombat always had their females looking like attractive. You’ll just sit there and let politics fuck your games up?
— ozzymenandez56 (@ozzymenandez56) April 19, 2019
@NetherRealm wtf are you guys doing Lol?????
Normal men and women don’t want to play as these goofy abominable woke-ified female characters someone has convinced you would be a good idea
Go back to making good character designs, please
— Joshua A (@AdamJ22166960) April 18, 2019
Billy, look what they did to Sheeva. pic.twitter.com/dRHvvdZ4yQ
— StarElite (@StarElite023) April 18, 2019
This has got to be some kind of sick joke, Mortal Kombat has truly castrated itself!
— I am consumer (@Imaconsumer) April 19, 2019
It’s not even about the sexual stuff. It’s about having our games censored due to politics.
— ozzymenandez56 (@ozzymenandez56) April 19, 2019
What are your thoughts on the changes? Is this just a bunch of fanboys who are looking for something to complain about or do they actually have a valid point? Do Mortal Kombat fans deserve an uncensored game without political and social interference?
I thought the characters look pretty cool! The different costume designs look awesome! If you reeaally just want to play a game thats all about the amount of skin showing, perhaps you should look elsewhere; there are tons of games that satisfy that requirement. This is a fighting game – so it’s all about looking awesome, tough, maybe even scary. AND even with the change, some of the females still look really nice…