Common Sense Media Review
By Chad Sapieha
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Incredibly violent fighting game has buckets of blood, gore.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 18+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Mortal Kombat X
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 30 parent reviews
Parents say the game is known for its extreme violence and graphic gore, with many reviewers expressing concern about its appropriateness for children, suggesting it should only be played by mature teens or adults. While some parents and players appreciate the gameplay and find it enjoyable, they emphasize the importance of maturity in handling the violent content, recommending that parents set strict guidelines if allowing their children to play.
- extreme violence
- mature teens
- gameplay enjoyment
- parental guidelines
- inappropriate for kids
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 100 kid reviews
What's It About?
MORTAL KOMBAT X -- the first of NetherRealm's popular fighting games to be released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (plus Windows PC) -- sticks to its immediate predecessor's format by rendering environments and characters in lush three-dimensional graphics but restricting movement to a two-dimensional plane. Fighters can move left and right and jump but can't move into the foreground or background. As usual, players must learn complex button combinations to make characters carry out intricate attacks and execution moves. Though it has a short story covered by context-oriented fights with several characters, most players will spend the bulk of their time in other modes, including online matches against human players and classic tower challenges against computer-controlled foes. There's also a persistent meta-game where gamers join and earn points for one of five factions over the course of a week, as well as a Krypt mode where players spend virtual coins earned through fights on extra bits of content and special features, such as easier button combinations for fatalities.
Is It Any Good?
Mortal Kombat X is clearly not intended for young players. Its extraordinarily violent attacks and fatalities -- which somehow manage to trump even those of its 2011 predecessor, Mortal Kombat, in their imaginative gore -- could prove difficult even for some grown-up gamers to stomach. But beyond the blood and viscera is a very well-made fighting game that's accessible to casual players and simultaneously rewarding for more dedicated gamers who invest time in learning each character's seemingly endless array of attacks.
New character variants, which grant special themed styles and moves to specific fighters, allow players to experiment in fun new ways. Plus, there's no shortage of side modes and challenges -- the faction-based meta-game is especially clever -- to provide brief distractions, should players grow tired of butting heads against other humans on the couch or online. Plus, it's easily the most graphically sophisticated fighting game yet made, featuring deeply detailed character models and silky smooth animations. For older fighter fans mature enough to tolerate the cringe-inducing violence, Mortal Kombat X could be a real treat.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the impact of violence in media. Is the violence in Mortal Kombat X tolerable because it's so completely over the top? Should games never go as over the top as this game does?
Discuss the depiction of different genders, races, and apparent sexual orientations. Does it matter that one of the characters, Kung Jin, is rumored to be gay? Do you think he conforms to or runs against homosexual stereotypes? Do the other characters fit stereotypes of their races or genders?
Game Details
- Platforms : Xbox One , PlayStation 4 , Windows
- Pricing structure : Paid
- Available online? : Available online
- Publisher : Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- Release date : April 14, 2015
- Genre : Fighting
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic )
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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