New Mortal Kombat game is an RPG for phones

The next Mortal Kombat isn’t a traditional fighting game. Developer NetherRealm Studios’ next project is a spinoff called Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, which the studio and publisher Warner Bros. Games described as a new “collection role-playing game” that’s bound for mobile devices in 2023.

According to a news release, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught will let players build a team of fighters and battle in “massive real-time group battles.” The Mortal Kombat series has a lengthy list of playable characters — and no shortage of side characters who could join them — so a spinoff in the vein of free-to-play collection games like Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Marvel Future Fight, and Pokémon Masters EX seems like a good fit to exploit that deep roster (and plenty of existing MK character variations).

WB Games and NetherRealm revealed little in the way of details about Mortal Kombat: Onslaught on Tuesday, but promised a “cinematic story experience” in addition to collection RPG mechanics.

Ed Boon, chief creative officer of NetherRealm Studios and Mortal Kombat co-creator, said Onslaught will stay “true to its core visceral nature” and offer “strategic team-based collection RPG with fast-paced, group melee combat.”

Mortal Kombat: Onslaught is a follow-up to NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat Mobile, which hews more closely to the series’ 2D fighting style. That game has more than 150 million installs on Android and iOS platforms, Warner Bros. says.

The Mortal Kombat franchise recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. The most recent core game in the series, Mortal Kombat 11, was released in 2019. NetherRealm is widely expected to reveal a follow-up to that game soon.