Mortal Kombat: Onslaught isn’t MK 12, but it is a mobile RPG spinoff coming next year

The next Mortal Kombat game might not be the flagship experience you wanted on console and PC, but for those who need to fill the time until MK 12 arrives, a mobile spinoff ought to do the trick. It’s called Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, and it’s coming next year.

NetherRealm has just announced Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, which will be “the first mobile-exclusive cinematic story experience for the franchise.” You might think Onslaught would be a fighting game, falling in line with the overall franchise, but that’s not the case. Onslaught is an RPG in which “players must build a team of fighters from a vast roster of characters and unleash them in massive real-time group battles to stop a dark and dangerous threat from wreaking havoc across the realms.”

That’s obviously a big change for the series, but the big names behind the game stand behind it. “We are pushing the boundaries of Mortal Kombat to allow players to experience the franchise in new ways, while still staying true to its core visceral nature,” says MK co-creator Ed Boon. “We re-imagined Mortal Kombat into a strategic team-based collection RPG with fast-paced group melee combat that both new and existing fans can enjoy.” While there’s nothing in the announcement that states the game will have gacha elements, the concept of ‘collecting’ characters does align with that style of design. Onslaught’s key art features some of the best characters in the series like Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Raiden.

Onslaught has no release date beyond the 2023 window, but you can sign up for updates on the game’s official website. Platforms haven’t been named either, but “mobile” usually means both Android and iOS. Mortal Kombat Mobile is already available on those devices.

Onslaught is just one of the current Mortal Kombat projects in the works. Mortal Kombat 12 has been more or less confirmed, though that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Ed Boon previously said that NetherRealm’s next game would “make a lot more sense.” That was most likely not a reference to this new spinoff, even if a mobile Mortal Kombat game also makes business sense for the studio.