Mortal Kombat 11 trailer introduces Kotal Kahn, then viciously kicks his ass

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A new Mortal Kombat trailer introducing Kotal Kahn, an Osh-Tekk warrior and the Emperor of Outworld, is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, Kotal is the last playable character from MK11 to be revealed in these nutso-violent videos we've been enjoying for the past several weeks. [Update: My mistake—there's more!] And second, because instead of bearing witness to whatever laughably blood-soaked fatality he brings to the fight, we get to watch him take a brutal ass-kicking at the hands of Jacqui Briggs.

The video begins with Jacqui landing some serious shots on Kotal, including a straight right that literally breaks his face, which struck me as an odd way to introduce a new fighter. But then Kotal pulls his sword and absolutely clobbers her with it—not very sporting, but we're not exactly in Marquess of Queensberry territory here—and then literally starts to saw her in half. I figured that would slow her down pretty well, but no! She turns it around with a couple of low blows and then pulverizes the back of his skull with a vicious elbow. Then he gets impaled with what looks to be some kind of bone sword.

This turn of events would make most people give second thought to their choice of profession, but not Kotal Kahn: He rips Jacqui's stomach open, holds her over his head, and shotguns her innards—yup, that happens—and then smashes her face-first into the ground like he's hammering down a circus tent peg. And then he sets her on fire.

This, I thought, had to be it—but I was wrong again. Jacqui comes back, and now she's really pissed. She viciously shatters his femur (which doesn't seem to impact his ability to stand), steps around the poor guy who's just trying to feed the jackals so his boss doesn't get on his case about screwing up the schedule for all the rest of the animals, throws some kind of force-field grenade behind him, and the pastes him with a Black Widow-style wrist-mounted rocket launcher.

At that stage, we get to see her fatality, and to be honest it's not as impressive as some of the others I've seen, like Geras, Kabal, or Jade. There is a fun surprise at the very end, though, when the expected explosion turns out to be... something else. But even though the fatality is a bit flat, the fight itself is a hell of a thing to watch. Mortal Kombat has come a long way from the days when I'd annoy my friends by repeatedly freezing the floor with Sub-Zero's ice blast.

Oh, I forgot the part where Kotal turns into a panther and rips Jacqui's throat out. That happens too.

Mortal Kombat 11 comes out on April 23. Here's everything else we know about it.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.