Expanding a base fighting game with a seperate expansion certainly does defy the standard rules of convention.

We’re very much in the era of the Fighter or Character Pass, with the previous Street Fighter getting multiple sets and blocks of characters and Tekken 8 following a similar path.

This isn’t new territory for Mortal Kombat, though, with 11 also getting the Aftermath Expansion, a pack that ultimately set the stage for the mainline story in MK1. With MK being so heavily story driven these days, it definitely does make sense.

And Khaos Reigns picks right up where MK1 finished off, feeding into the post credit scene after the final battle and straight away introducing us to some of the new characters being introduced in the pack – Cyrax and Sektor.

It’s so nice to see these characters get the spotlight, beloved over the years since their MK3 days but mostly being side-lined by bigger names. This time they’re right in the thick of the action, focal points of a follow-up story that sees Earthrealm and Outland once again cross paths, aligning against a common threat. And perhaps seeing something of a new beginning for these seeming cyborg-like rivals.

If you haven’t played through the Mortal Kombat 1 story at this point, this is your last chance to turn away as there’ll be some light spoilers to follow.

Alright, so as you saw in the post credit scene, Havik and his Chaos realm cronies felt a bit left out in the final battle between Earthrealm and Outworld, so now he wants to get in on the action. Portalling in, he captures some of our featured combatants in a bid to make them a more appropriate fit for the Khaos realm. Painting them more in his image. And, of course, it’s all part of a wider, more elaborate plot for world domination. Or something to that effect.

The story does feel a little bit like a longer side quest, all told, though you can also see how it expands certain characters arcs. As mentioned, Cyrax and Sektor definitely have their coming out party here, but also Noob Saibot, another fan favourite, also plays a key part in this adventure in ways you may not fully expect.

The story of Khaos Reigns is quite a bit shorter than the main campaign, but it is a compelling adventure with some unexpected twists and turns. And as a villian, Havik is pretty sinister and unsettling, really putting the story leads through the ringer in many weird and wicked ways.

The main problem I had with Khaos Reigns is that I actually wanted to spend some time with the adventure elements of the campaign and for them to be more interactive. For example, there’s a whole section that takes place in a maze filled with traps. I wanted to do some of the roaming, and evade some of the traps rather than just moving from one fight scene to the next.

It was a similar issue I had with MK1, actually, though at least there was some optional Test Your Might sections there. Much less here. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some great moments in Khaos Reigns and some of the fights are proper epic showdowns really befitting of the series but MK is also a series known for hits like Shaolin Monks and Sub Zero Adventures. We’ve seen some creative takes on action here before, so there’s precedent to try new things. I wish we’d got that a bit here, especially considering the size and scope of this expansion.

As we mentioned with Aftermath way back, though, the focus on storytelling is refreshing and the continuation of the story has been surprisingly compelling, though there’s not so much of a cliffhanger or continuation this time to feed into whatever comes next. Khaos Reigns is pretty well self contained and seems more like closure than a continuation.

The majority of Khaos Reign is the story, but you’ll also get the Kombat Pack 2 which will add Ghostface, T-1000 and Conan the Barbarian when they release down the line. Obviously once those fighters become available we’ll be able to provide some hands-on, but if they’re anything to the same quality as we’ve come to expect from the likes of Homelander and Peacemaker, they’re sure to be fantastic.

Additionally, classic fighters also now have Khaos costumes to really show off their wild side, and Animalities have finally been brought into the game, though this is part of a free content update so you don’t need Khaos Reigns for it.

As an expansion, this does feel a tad overpriced out of the gate. The story, as mentioned, is quite short at around five chapters, and I would have loved to have seen more interactivity over the course of it. It also doesn’t really set or chart a course for what’s next so much. Though the arcs of some of the characters, particularly N00b Saibot and Cyrax, are a blast to play through and you obviously get some new faces on the existing roster.

Once the other DLC characters release the full experience will unlock but as about half of the value of this expansion is contingent on that, it does feel difficult to give this a score or a final rating of any sort. It’s hard to imagine playing as all three of those iconic characters will be anything but a blast, though.

If you want to see what happens next in the MK1 story and you didn’t get quite enough the first time out, this is still high production with some powerful scenes, surprisingly gripping dialogue and some interesting settings and sequences. Even if it does feel a bit short and limited in terms of the offering at this early stage.