In recent years, Mortal Kombat has become known for its epic cinematic story modes, but each entry typically includes something a little extra to try and keep people playing long after the game’s release. It’s been a while since players engaged in Puzzle Kombat, Chess Kombat, or raced each other in ridiculous-looking karts with Motor Kombat.

Mortal Kombat 1’s Invasion mode isn’t the revived version of Konquest many envisioned, but it still has plenty to offer. A singleplayer adventure, Invasion mode takes elements from several of the minigames and alternate modes seen in past entries, according to series co-creator Ed Boon.

Invasion mode may not be a perfect amalgamation of what has come before, but it’s kept me playing Mortal Kombat 1 since launch for a few reasons.

Learn Mortal Kombat 1’s roster

Invasion mode is the perfect place to feel out an unfamiliar character with no consequences. Mortal Kombat 1 is a fighting game with a stacked roster, featuring several characters that have been revitalized by this fresh timeline and given a new lease on life in appearance, story, and moves.

I constantly find myself selecting Kombatants I used to avoid—and some I genuinely despised. Invasion mode encourages this type of character exploration with its board game setup, where each square is a new challenge. No single fighter is equipped for every task.

As a result, I’m always finding new favorites, and am genuinely surprised at how good I’ve become with characters like Havik, Reiko, Tanya, Rain, and Sindel, adding to my personal arsenal. I’ll always have my go-to mains, but even when I don’t end up liking a character in Invasion mode, I at least walk away with a better understanding of their moves and capabilities, which makes me better when I come up against them.

Mortal Kombat 1 also features Kameo fighters, which act as assists. It’s easy to find one or two that feel right and stick with them, but in Invasion mode I get to work out new pairings and find better ways to use each of these allies. I may still be learning how to use Shujinko, for example, but I’ve become much better with Darrius, Sareena, and Jax.

Now when I take on friends, I’m not just coming at them with predictable favorites, but surprising my opponents with a few new tricks.
 

New RPG elements and strategies

Ever since Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, longtime fans have been clamoring for more adventure-type scenarios with these characters. Mortal Kombat lore is full of magic, supernatural creatures, empowered items, and wild stuff like Soulnados, so why not add elements to make it feel closer to a tabletop adventure?

This RPG-like approach seems like it might suit them. Invasion mode has depth without making the mechanics too tedious or confusing, keeping it light so players can easily pick their campaign back up after a long break—or when the season resets.

Kombatants are given slots for gear like Relics and Talismans, which can be upgraded and switched out for various approaches. Each item offers limited bonuses or augments a character in some way.

And that’s on top of the stat points players spend on each character. These numbers aren’t arbitrary—attributes can change how a character plays. I’ve spent my points on making Liu Kang and Smoke into damage-dealing machines, Reptile and General Shao are my tanks, and Raiden stays as balanced as possible.

There’s also a good bit of time put into character and inventory management, for those who enjoy that sort of thing. Players will track down items that are key for progression, nab Konsumables to help with both permanent stat increases and boosts for individual fights, and visit shops to stock up for their journey.
 

More than just fighting

The core of Invasion mode may be fighting, but Ed Boon called it a “Greatest Hits” mode for a reason. Not only are there different types of fights—sometimes against multiple opponents or with extra damage sources for added difficulty—but there are also Test Your Might challenges that take players back to their button-mashing roots. Losing those can be a little embarrassing as failure means having to wait for another one to come around, but they are a welcome change from the usual fisticuffs.

There are also Survive minigames, where random balls of energy are flung at the Kombatant to test their agility—or the player can find a character that is stronger against these specific elemental attacks and simply try and outlast them with less dodging.

There are also Klues for certain challenges that usually reveal secrets or offer specific rewards. These puzzles aren’t typically too hard to figure out. Most require identifying which specific Kombatant or Kameo to use and then whether you need to use a Brutality or Fatality. But these have definitely helped me up my Brutality training and patience.

Perhaps later seasons will also re-introduce Test Your Sight, Test Your Strike, and Test Your Luck—or we’ll finally get that basketball minigame Netherrealm never finished.
 

See more of the Mortal Kombat universe

Invasion mode gives players several Mesas to explore—environments that represent specific locations from Mortal Kombat’s vast lore. They set the right tone, either bright, vibrant, and beautiful to look at or dreadful and creepy. My only regret is that we can’t see the Mesas from different angles. Giving us the ability to move the camera in and out would have been nice.

Still, several of these areas are iconic places we don’t often get to venture through for long in the campaigns. I mean, the tutorial takes us on a tour of Johnny Cage’s mansion!

Journeying to the Living Forest, Shang Tsung’s Laboratory, and even the Wu Shi Academy (to a lesser extent) was exciting, and helped me feel like I now knew these areas better when replaying the story or hearing characters casually mention other realms. Even some of the less detailed maps can be interesting. I ended up enjoying the Tarkatan Colony more than I thought I would, for instance.

Most of these landscapes are maze-like and studded with obstacles, so there’s plenty of opportunity to explore in search of alternate paths, hidden chests, and vendors. Be careful, however—not all of these destinations are tourist-friendly, and there is a risk of random portals, pop-up Towers, and ambushes.

I’m looking forward to seeing what other locales are added.
 

More to come

On that note, Netherrealm has promised from the beginning that Invasion mode wouldn’t have any sort of battle pass, instead keeping the content coming with free updates. Each scenario looks to center around a particular character and provide new boss encounters, additional maps, and different items, on top of the quality of life improvements.

Invasion mode is also the best way to unlock new skins (with a ton of palettes) and gear for the Mortal Kombat 1 roster, and it looks like there will be a continuous flow of that type of reward for a while, giving players who like to tweak the looks of their favorite fighters a reason to keep coming back every six weeks or so and grinding those in-game currencies. Even if someone doesn’t have any luck on the Invasion map, completing it helps build up a hoard of gold to spend at the Shrine.

The most recent season attempted to balance Invasion mode somewhat, cutting down on the more aggressive mechanics, and adding helpful additions to the map interface. This seems to indicate that the studio is listening to the fans and making it well worth revisiting Invasion mode, even for those players it didn’t quite grab at first or who may have thought they had seen everything it had to offer.

Mortal Kombat 1 is available now on the Epic Games Store.