If you’re a fan of the recent MK games then you probably already know this, but Mortal Kombat 11 is anticipated just as much for its story, as it is its gameplay. In particular, Mortal Kombat 11 ties together the recent events of the last few games with the events of the classic Genesis/Arcade games that first launched the series into the stratosphere. If you’re here you’re probably looking for a story summary of Mortal Kombat 11.
Let us warn you that obviously, this post is going to contain spoilers. If you’re here and reading this, you should fall into one of two camps, 1: You already beat the game and are looking for some additional detail or clarity on things you didn’t understand or 2: you don’t care about being spoiled and just want to know what happens.
Either way is fine but be warned that from here on out, we’re going to be running through all 12 chapters of Mortal Kombat 11 in detail, so do something else, like read our review, if that isn’t what you’re looking for.
*Mortal Kombat 11 Story Spoilers Ahead*
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary
Chapter 1: Next of Kin
The story picks up not terribly long after the events of the last game. Raiden has defeated Shinnok and taken hold of his amulet. Raiden can’t kill Shinnok permanently, but he does visit his old pal to behead him to keep him completely incapacitated.
The amulet has corrupted Raiden, turning him into a homicidal fanatic of Earthrealm. No longer content with just defending Earthrealm, Raiden wants to go on the offense and defeat any potential threats.
The story picks up with Raiden and the Special Forces planning an attack on Netherrealm. Cassie Cage, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage are all kind of freaked out by Raiden’s new murdery tendencies, but at least he’s on their side so they put up with it.
To be fair to Raiden, though, Netherrealm led by Revenant versions of Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana, and Jade totally do want revenge, and are 100% definitely raising an army to attack Earthrealm. So Raiden might be a little wacky right now, but he’s not totally off base.
Special Forces and Raiden launch an attack on Netherrealm. Raiden with the power of the amulet, holds off the undead army while Special Forces (Cassie, Jacqui, and Sonya) infiltrate the stronghold to bring it down once and for all.
The plan… works! Except for one major sacrifice: Sonya. She was pinned in an explosion and ordered everyone else to escape and not waste time trying to rescue her as it would have led to everyone dying. Her death leaves recently promoted Cassie Cage, as the new commander of Special Forces.
While the good guys won, the cost was high for both sides. Cassie isn’t thrilled with Raiden for pushing for such a risky op on everyone, and now the balance between light and dark is too tilted towards light, which has gotten the attention of the new major villain: Kronika.
Kronika reveals herself to be the true architect of pretty much anything that has ever happened in Mortal Kombat. She’s the mother of Shinnok and his more angelic counterpart, Cetrion (a new character for Mortal Kombat 11).
She has tweaked the timeline, replaying certain outcomes many times in order to get it just the way she likes it, but she did not account for Shinnok’s defeat, and Raiden becoming as powerful as he has.
Now Kronika seeks to start over from scratch, this time, without Raiden. Current timeline Raiden is erased, but in order to fully realize her plan, she’ll set things back to around the time of Mortal Kombat 2.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 2: Timequake
Kronika needs time and resources in order to complete her plan of totally resetting the timeline. There isn’t just a big red button for her to push, but she does have a big hourglass.
She decides to sow a little bit of chaos, and enlist the help of Mortal Kombat champions past, present, dead, alive it doesn’t matter. She sets back the current timeline to around that of the Mortal Kombat 2 timeline, and past versions of heroes and villains alike re-emerge, including a new Raiden who is unaware of the person he would become.
Everyone is understandably pretty confused. Shao Khan, for example, shows up and sees his former general, Kotal Khan, sitting on his throne and is not that happy about that. Their final confrontation will wait until later though.
More important right now is that past versions of Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana and Jade return and quite horrified by their fate. Although in their timeline they think quite highly of Raiden, they are a little freaked out upon learning they turn into vengeful Revenants.
Cassie and Johnny Cage, in particular, are also a little startled to see past Sonya Blade show up, and are forced to have an awkward conversation about her fate as well.
Everyone, especially Raiden and Liu Kang, are determined to not repeat history and decide to use this predicament as an opportunity to change their fate.
Kronika enlists the help of villains such as the current Revenants, Shao Khan, and a new champion of her creation, Geras, to help buy her enough time to finish her plan with the promise of a better fate in what she is calling, the New Era.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 3: Shaolin Monks
Liu Kang and Kung Lao team up to return to their old temple, a location that contains resources crucial to Kronika’s plan.
While they navigate the boobytrapped temple, they share a candid conversation about Raiden and whether or not he should still be trusted.
It’s Raiden’s decision making that ultimately led them to their deaths, and they learn about how he becomes wholly corrupted by Shinnok’s amulet. Although their faith wavers a bit, they stay true to their cause and mission: to protect the temple.
They encounter resistance from Revenants such as their past selves along the way who try to warn them, but ultimately they push through and are able confront Kronika’s warrior toy, Geras. They are able to defeat Geras, but he is unkillable thanks to the power of Kronika’s time-bending magic.
Geras cheats his way to getting what he needs using the power of time, but ultimately spares the two of them as they need to stay alive in order for Kronika’s plan to play out the way that she wants.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 4: Fire & Ice
Meanwhile, the rift in time has also allowed for the reopening of the Cyber Lin Kuei Initiative which Kronika is hoping can be used to create an army powerful enough to put down any resistance mounted by the Earthrealmers.
Sektor, Noob Saibot, and Frost all work together to see this plan realized and obtain better futures for themselves, but elder statesmen, Scorpion and Sub-Zero, team up again with Cyrax to stop them.
Sub-Zero and Scorpion go through this gauntlet of enemies that serve as ghosts of their past essentially and come out on top, and are able to temporarily shut down the Cyber Initiative.
We’ll see later that once again Kronika is able to undo this progress thanks to her and her henchmen’s control over time, but Sub-Zero and Scorpion do buy the other heroes enough time to get their plan up and running: uniting Earthrealm and Outworld.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 5: Truths Revealed
Chapter 5 takes us back to Outworld where past and present Outworldians struggle with what the heck is going on. Past Jade, who was Kotal Khan’s lover in a past life, is happy to be reunited with Kotal, but is disappointed in how hard he has become since taking over as Khan.
He’s certainly not a monster like Shao Khan, but after a plan by Jade to infiltrate a Tarkatan camp containing Shao Khan, D’Vorah and other Outworld enemies goes wrong, Kotal Khan shows a more brutal side.
He is willing to execute innocent Tarkatans for pretty much no reason, and Jade is disgusted by his behavior. She abandons Kotal and he is captured by Shao Khan.
Meanwhile, Raiden returns to the Elder Gods to find that Cetrion has betrayed them, and she and Kronika have eliminated them. Even they are not stronger than time itself, and Raiden realizes the bleakness of their current situation and starts to get more desperate.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 6: War on the Homefront
Things get worse in Chapter 6. Enemy forces including Erron Black and the Cyber Lin Kuei show up at the gates of the Special Forces. Their intent is to destroy the Special Forces, and capture crucial members such as past and/or present versions of Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Cassie Cage.
They are… quite successful. While Johnny Cage(s) do an admirable job resisting Sektor, past and present Kano show up just at the wrong time and capture both past versions of Johnny Cage and Sonya. With them under the Black Dragon’s control, Cassie is neutralized because if anything happens to one of them, Cassie is erased from this timeline.
Cassie is able to place a tracker on Kano’s ship as they escape in order to track their location.
Kano blows up the Special Forces HQ, but Raiden is able to save everyone just in the nick of time, transporting them to present day Scorpion’s home, the HQ of the Shirai Ryu, where they are safe to plan their next move: reuniting with Kitana to help persuade Outworld to join Earthrealm in fighting Kronika.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 7: Coming of Age
Back in Outworld, Kitana is busy trying to convince Queen Sheeva to ally with her, but she is hesitant to betray Shao Khan. If Kitana could somehow convince the Tarkatans to ally with them, Sheeva would be more inclined to believe that they have a chance to defeat Shao Khan’s forces.
Kitana fights her way to Baraka, and after besting him in combat earns his respect. While he is extremely hesitant, knowing about how Kotal Khan tried to execute Tarkatans earlier, Kitana convinces Baraka that together, they can convince Kotal Khan to treat the Tarkatans as equals, instead of slaves like they are under Shao Khan. Kotal will eventually agree to these terms.
With the help of the Earthrealmers, Kitana and her Outworld allies attack Shao Khan. Kotal Khan and Shao Khan fight, but Shao defeats Kotal and cripples him.
Kitana then fights Shao Khan, her former adoptive father, and defeats him ending the war and claiming victory.
Kotal, no longer fit serve in his eyes, passes on the title of Khan to Kitana. Jade forgives Kotal due to his change of heart, and vows to stay by his side and protect him.
Outworld and Earthrealm are now on the same page again united to fight Kronika.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 8: Fight Club
While everything is coming up roses in Outworld there still exists the fairly major problem of major portions of the Special Forces being captured.
Sonya Blade and past-Johnny Cage are forced to fight in a pit for the entertainment of the Black Dragons while they await the New Era. Sonya, being the bad-ass that she is, beats the crap out of everyone in order to buy enough time.
The pair distract them long enough for the remainder of the Special Forces to reach the club to free them. Sonya takes on both Kanos. While present-Kano threatens to kill past-Johnny Cage (which would also kill Sonya), Sonya comes to the realization that all she needs to do is kill past Kano and poof, no more present-Kano. So she does that and bam, problem solved.
A new and improved version of Geras shows up to finish the job but the combined might of the Special Forces is enough to blow him up, and escape with their lives, all together once again.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 9: All In The Family
While this is all going on, Jacqui Briggs teams up with the past version of her father, Jax Briggs, to search for an artifact of great value to Kronika on Shang Tsung’s island: a special crown needed to amplify her powers. Present Jax is retired, and struggling with depression, hence why it’s just the two of them.
The pair fight their way through a gauntlet of Revenant resistance and are able to secure the crown. That is until Cetrion shows up with present-day Jax, who has reluctantly joined Kronika.
You see earlier, Jax was visited by Kronika at his home. Jax, who is haunted by his past demons and the constant worry that Jacqui will eventually suffer too if she continues to go down the same path that he did. Kronika convinced him that by helping her, she could protect Jacqui and make a better life for the two of them.
So back on the Island, Cetrion and present-Jax confront Jacqui and past-Jax. Past-Jax is able to subdue present-Jax and Cetrion, but Cetrion is able to use her powers to put Jacqui in a perilous situation, threatening her life. Neither Jax wants her to die, not even Cetrion really, so past-Jax agrees to turn over the crown in exchange for not letting Jacqui die, which Cetrion agrees to.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 10: To Hell And Back
The Earthrealmers send Scorpion to try to locate Kronika’s hideout located somewhere in the Sea of Blood.
He is once again haunted by the specters of his dark past. D’Vorah with past-Scorpion confront present-Scorpion. His angrier past self is upset with how Shirai Ryu has been tainted by outsiders, stooping as low as to work with formal rival Sub-Zero.
The two battle, but D’Vorah gets involved and fatally poisons present-Scorpion. Scorpion is able to get through the thick angry skull of his past self, however, and his dying wish is for past-Scorpion to let go of his anger, relay the newly discovered location of Kronika’s hideout, and join the Earthrealmers. He complies.
Back at the Shirai Ryu, everyone is initially distrustful of Scorpion, especially Raiden who is slowly succumbing to Shinnok’s amulet all over again.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 11: Cutting the String
Raiden is starting to lose his mind again. He is getting desperate and wants to use the amulet to try and turn the tides. Liu Kang has seen enough, and decides to smack some sense into Raiden. The two battle, and Raiden comes out the victor.
Raiden, close to killing Liu Kang has a realization. Time and time again, Raiden has been pitted against Liu Kang which leads to more pain for both of them, but especially Liu Kang. Raiden realizes that in order to do something that Kronika would not expect, he needs to let Liu Kang live and for him to take a back seat.
They accept Scorpion’s help and all of the heroes set sail across the Sea of Blood to meet Kronika.
First they encounter present-Jax, and Raiden is able to convince Jax to rejoin the team, revealing to Jax that Kronika has been only telling him half-truths, and leaving out a lot of important details such as her being the mother of Shinnok, the entity responsible for Revenant enslavement.
Raiden is then confronted by Geras, this time for the final time. Raiden beats Geras, binds him to an anchor, and pushes him into the bottomless depths of the Sea of Blood.
Finally, Raiden is forced into battle by Revenant Liu Kang, who has captured past-Liu Kang and absorbed his life. Kang tries to convince Raiden to kill or be killed, but instead, Raiden realizing that this is exactly what Kronika would expect/want him to do, uses his power to unify himself, Revenant Liu Kang, and past-Liu Kang all into one powerful new god: Fire God Liu Kang.
Mortal Kombat 11 Story Summary – Chapter 12: End Of An Era
The combined might of the Outworld and Earthrealm forces are enough to hold off and overpower Kronika’s Netherrealm army and allies.
Fire God Liu Kang is able to infiltrate the heart of her stronghold, and confront her. One by one he dispatches his former Revenant allies, leaving only himself and Kronika.
He is too late though as Kronika has already started the process and everyone is starting to rewind back to the beginning of time. However, with his new god-like powers, Liu Kang is immune to Kronika’s time-bending and the two begin their epic fight for the fate of the Mortal Kombat universe.
The two have an epic battle that stretches across eras. With the combined power of Raiden and Liu Kang, the new Fire God is able to defeat Kronika and shatters her into little pieces, ending her and the scheming once and for all.
A now mortal Raiden emerges. Earthrealm no longer needs him as its guardian and the new Fire God Liu Kang will serve as Earthrealm’s protector now.
Liu Kang is unsure of what to do, considering Kronika’s plan is already in motion. Raiden encourages him to reset time as Kronika was going to do, but to allow for freedom for all of the realms and its inhabitants to do as they please. There will be good and bad times, but at least it won’t be corrupted by Kronika’s manipulations any longer.
It’s a lot to handle, so Raiden also suggests that he brings someone along with him that he trusts. He chooses Kitana, who is his lover but also a trusted ally, to rebuild the world with. Raiden departs and the two promise to see each other in the new era.
Kitana appears and helps to convince Liu Kang that he is doing the right thing. The two embrace as the world begins to restart, and the current era comes to an end.
That was quite the story! For a more detailed explanation of the ending and a look at what could be next for the franchise, you can check that out here. Be sure to check out our wiki guide for more information on Mortal Kombat 11 and read our review for our full thoughts and final score.
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