Despite a tumultuous first year, NetherRealm Studios is aiming up with an explosive second season for Mortal Kombat 1. Developers released the launch trailer for the nearing Khaos Reigns update on Wednesday, the ending of which included a sneak Fatality peek at one of the coming guest characters: Ghostface of Scream fame.
As one would expect, said Fatality was a brutal, reference-filled ender that simultaneously made us wince and smile. However, there’s a fairly obvious error in the animation that admittedly does take us out of the magic. NetherRealm’s senior animator, Brad Faucheux, has already responded to the Fatality faux pax.
Ghostface’s first kill sequence sees him plunge his knife into his foe’s stomach, wrench, and then remove it as appropriate Scream sound effects enhance the action. The victim stumbles away from their attacker only to run into an accomplice Ghostface who proceeds to strike the infamous Norman Bates knife pose before going for an even more devastating stab.
The pair finish their foe and then turn to the camera for yet another awesome Scream member berry as they simultaneously wipe their blades and slightly cock their heads. Herein lies the issue, though, as the Ghostface on our left has a totally clean knife, is holding it in the wrong hand, and yet still we see blood fly out of nowhere when he whiffs through the air with his blade cleaning swipe.
I can finally share my FIRST Fatality, I got to animate Mom would be so proud. You ready for GHOSTFACE? this time there are two! Get ready for the next kill #MortalKombat1 #Ghostface #mk1 pic.twitter.com/J5JWPEwrBP
— Brad Faucheux (@BradFaucheux) September 18, 2024
With as well-animated and creative a sequence as this is, the slight goof at the end is wholly forgivable, especially when you consider that this is Faucheux’s first Fatality. (We’re definitely looking forward to seeing his future work in this department.)
The Khaos Reigns update includes three new characters (Cyrax, Sektor, and Noob Saibot), a major addition to the game’s story mode, Animalities for all characters, and will eventually bring in the three guest DLC fighters (Ghostface, Conan the Barbarian, and the T-1000) so it’s more than safe to assume developers at NRS are swamped with to-do lists.
The clean and wrong hand knife animation was quickly pointed out (this is the internet, after all) and Faucheux quickly admitted it’s just one of those things that slips through the cracks:
Yes, Unfortunately this is one of the errors with rushing and marketing trailers that somehow got overlooked I Konfirm that he is and will be swiping the blade correctly in game!
— Brad Faucheux (@BradFaucheux) September 18, 2024
We don’t yet have a release date for Ghostface and so developers will surely have some time to correct the mistake before he launches into the game. One does have to wonder about one other facet of the Fatality, however, as there’s a scene in which we see Ghostface’s reflection in a close up of the character’s eye.
This works great for characters whose eyes we can see, but what will animators do when it comes to the likes of Kenshi, who wears a blindfold? Ghostface himself has hollow, black holes for eyes, and the cyborgs have glowing green eye coverings (not to mention they wear plenty of stomach armor that one would think would make this particular sequence widely ineffective).
We look forward to seeing how exactly NRS handles the answers to these questions, but with how good Season 2 is already looking we’re sure the obvious hiccup will be remedied and Kenshi and the cyborgs will have no problem being satisfactorily stabbed. Let us know what you think of Ghostface and the incoming update thus far in the comments below.
Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns is set for launch on September 24. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.