Climbing Mortal Kombat’s New Challenge Tower Is A Bloody Good Time

The new Mortal Kombat, as revealed last week, will feature a 300 mission long mode dubbed the “Challenge Tower.” We played a handful of levels of the mode that lives up to its name with demanding while teaching players the finer points of this year’s Mortal Kombat.

Those 300 missions feature no lack of variety. They start off simply, asking the player to refrain from being hit for an entire match in some or defeat an opponent with only a handful of special moves, like throwing Sonya Blade‘s energy attack, or using only kicks. Occasionally, the Challenge Tower will ask players to fight with special match requirements. In one, Johnny Cage must battle an uppity stuntman (named Stunt Man) with double strength attacks. The next match, Cage attacks with half his normal strength.

In one situation, I was asked to defeat a very hard Baraka, then perform Sonya Blade’s fatality. Again and again and again, I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know the (unforgiving) range of Sonya’s fatality and could not progress.

Fortunately, Mortal Kombat addresses this particular problem. Players are awarded coins during missions, which can be cashed in to buy one’s way out of a challenge when stuck, easing the mode’s frustration. The new MK also has a Fatality Trainer, letting players get to the good stuff, NetherRealm Studios‘ gory, glorious finishing moves.

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Challenge Tower comes with a few other variations, including the return of the brick-smashing, button-mashing Test Your Might mini-game and a Three Card Monte game called Test Your Sight that hides a plucked eyeball underneath a table full of human heads. Fail Test Your Sight and Nighthawk’s trademark glowing green axe will punish you.

Test Your Luck, as seen in the announcement video, throws a ton of crazy variables into the mix, from headless battles to inverted gravity to vicious environmental dangers.

Part tutorial, part hardcore mission mode, Challenge Tower looks like a hefty stack of highly addictive tasks, ideal for Mortal Kombat players stuck playing the game solo.

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