Folks who are curious as to what, exactly, will be included in the Mortal Kombat X “Kombat Pack” now have a little bit more information to go on, as one of the game’s developers has revealed a handful of fighters and a whole bunch of new skins will be added to the game post-launch.
You apparently can’t release a game these days without plans for DLC and, more often than not, those DLC Plans come in the form of a Season Pass. We’ve seen all sorts of variations on this formula in the past few years, including major content updates, new game modes, new playable characters, etc. The cost, too, always seems to be in flux, ranging from 10 bucks up to $30. Sometimes the Season Pass looks like pretty good bang for your buck. Other times it appears to be a complete ripoff.
Where the Kombat Pass for Mortal Kombat X falls in that spectrum is completely up to you but, unlike some season passes, at least players will have an idea of what they are buying before plopping down the extra cash.
MKX Executive Director Shaun Himmerick took to Twitter recently, explaining that the Kombat Pass would basically be par for the course when it comes to fighting games. No crazy new modes, no new arenas, just fighters and costumes.
“The Kombat pack is four full characters and five skin packs (15 skins) which includes some of my most favorite skins in the game,” reads the tweet.
I have a couple of issues with this, only one of which isn’t an example of me being totally silly. For starters, “four full characters.” That’s right, boys and girls, no half characters in this Kombat Pass. Pay some extra cash and these fighters will be added to the game and completely usable.
On a more serious note, I’m of the belief that skins are best reserved for the free-to-play model, where they allow customization without affecting gameplay. If you’re telling me that, quite a while before the game comes out, these skins are already far enough along for you to know that they are some of your favorites, why the hell are we being asked to pay extra money for them? Let’s be honest here, skins are about the simplest form of DLC you can imagine and developers seem to feel that we should pay pretty unreasonable prices to enjoy them. Nobody is forcing you to buy them, no, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that charging for a pallet swap can often feel sleazy.
To be fair, we have no idea how much the MKX Kombat Pass is going to actually cost, so who knows how I’ll feel about this particular batch of DLC in the long run? Also, with around 30 characters in the core game, I’m not about to cry foul if NetherRealm Studios wants to charge a little extra for more characters. It’s impossible to feel like they’re skimping with the initial game if they’re offering such a big lineup.
