History YMMV / MortalKombat11

** This game marks the return of ''Mortal Kombat'' to Nintendo systems more than a decade after ''Armageddon'' was ported to the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}. Naturally, given how relatively close the game launched after the release of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', fan speculation about whether or not the likes of Sub-Zero or Scorpion will make it into ''Smash'' as part of the Fighters Pass has become even more common.
** Considering that [[DistaffCounterpart Khameleon]] was an exclusive character for both ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 Mortal Kombat Trilogy]]'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 and ''Armageddon'' for the Wii, many people are expecting that she would do an appearance in this game as well.

* PolishedPort: Some longer loading times and a significant graphical downgrade aside, the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch version of the game actually functions really well gameplay-wise despite the less powerful hardware, and has the added benefit of portability going for it.

** Kano's default opening for a fight is peeing on the stage. It can get very monotonous when playing his Tower Challenge.

** Sindel. While some fans were looking forward to playing as her with a revamped moveset, those who ardently follow the canon of the games were ''very'' annoyed at her being retconned into being EvilAllAlong. However, there's also a camp that actually likes the new Sindel, some saying that it makes her seem less of a damsel, to which those who dislike the retcon respond that the fact she rose above being a damsel to in turn save her daughter from Onaga in the original timeline was why they liked her character, while some simply like it for EvilIsSexy reasons or her chemistry with Shao Kahn. There's also a middle-road camp that evil Sindel is good on paper and theory or as a different character, but dislikes the fact that the writer puts that characterization on a character like Sindel, which heavily contrasted her character and disrespectful of the old lore.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Shao Kahn was made far uglier in this game, what with a hideous face and numerous spikes protruding out of his arms, not to mention his pathetic showing in the Story Mode, but he's still extremely ripped, loves not wearing a shirt, is very blunt about his wants, and still hits like a truck. In fact, there are many thirsty fans (both men and women) who consider his monstrous features and his determination to make Cassie his sex slave to make him ''more'' desirable than previous games.
** Sindel, for those not repulsed by the blatant retcon. Anyone who already has a dominatrix fetish would already be into her new personality, but her lust over the Earthrealm men and sultry voice put her over the top. Her chemistry with Shao Kahn as they lay waste to the good guys in ''Aftermath'' added a lot to it.
** Kano, as always. Being a brutish snarker who is strong in his own right, loves not wearing a shirt, and having a sexy accent attracted a lot of people. His arcade ending showing him forcing Cassie and Sonya to fight each other in skimpy outfits (with the heavy implication that he's had his way with both of them) became a fan-favorite for the more perverted parts of the fanbase.
** Shang Tsung. Given he's modeled after his voice actor, Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa, and has a similar personality to the first movie's Shang that he played, this is not surprising at all. Many people fell for his portrayal so hard that they wished the BadEnding of ''Aftermath'' had been the canon ending.

* MagnificentBastard: Shang Tsung. With [[Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa his]] ominous charms and wicked charisma, he steals the show in every scene he appears. He's essentially the VillainProtagonist of ''Aftermath'' and the fans love him for it.

* Takeda and Kung Jin disappear from the roster despite the previous game setting them up to be as important as both Cassie and Jaqui in terms of importance. While Kung Jin was a BaseBreakingCharacter, Takeda was one of the more popular characters introduced in ''X''.

** Taven, the protagonist of ''Armageddon'', is freed in Takeda's ''MKX'' arcade ending, leading many to believe that he would play a role in the next game. However, he's never mentioned in the game and neither the prophecy of Armageddon or Blaze play a part in the story outside of a flashback [[spoiler:where [[KnightTemplar Dark Raiden]] and [[CameBackWrong Zombie Liu Kang]] [[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon fight each other in the Pyramid of Argus]]]].ros despite the previous game setting them up as much as both Cassie and Jaqui in terms of importance. While Kung Jin was a BaseBreakingCharacter, Takeda was one of the more popular characters introduced in ''X''.

* MagnificentBastard: Shang Tsung. With [[Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa his]] ominous charms and wicked charisma, he completely steals the show in every scene he appears. He's essentially the VillainProtagonist of ''Aftermath'' and the fans love him for it.

* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The reaction many had to [[RoleReprise the triumphant returns]] of Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa as [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie Shang Tsung]], Creator/KeithDavid as ComicBook/{{Spawn}}, Creator/PeterWeller as Franchise/RoboCop, and Creator/SylvesterStallone as Franchise/{{Rambo}}, all bringing their badass voices to their iconic characters, resulting in their lines sounding much cooler than they already were. A [=RoboCop=] announcer pack was even released for those who never knew they wanted to hear Peter Weller announce their Fatalities!

* SpoiledByTheFormat: In ''Aftermath'', Sindel is revealed to be EvilAllAlong. Under normal circumstances, this plot twist would be shocking. However, Sindel's true nature had already been revealed via promotional material and her release as a playable character prior to ''Aftermath''[='=]s release, which sucked out the shock of said twist.

** Hsu Hao, being a character who's not well-liked by fans and ''despised by [[CreatorsPest the creators]], has a few of these.

* MagnificentBastard: Shang Tsung is effectively this trope incarnate. With [[Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa his]] ominous charms and wicked charisma, he completely steals the show in every scene he appears. He's essentially the VillainProtagonist of ''Aftermath'' and the fans love him for it.

* The Kollector, while he does have his fans for his interesting design and chaotic gameplay. Many others consider him to be a ‘wasted character slot’ due to his characterization coming off as a one-note ‘greedy merchant/thief’ archetype and his role in the story proving to be minuscule even when compared to other villains, which only cemented views that he shouldn’t have been on the roster. Then there’s a third camp, who believes He’s an okay character, but would have worked better as a NPC rather than a fighter.

** Just like with Freddy in ''[=MK9=]'' and Jason, Leatherface, Alien, and Predator in ''MKX'', you can finally [[PayEvilUntoEvil pay the Joker back for everything he's done]] both in the proper comics and in the ''Injustice'' series. Doubly so for the fans who had been waiting since [[VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse the last time]] Joker was in ''Mortal Kombat'' to perform non-watered down fatalities on him. You can also perform some of the series' most violent and painful fatalities on [[ManipulativeBastard Shang Tsung]], [[InvincibleVillain Shao Kahn]], [[AdaptationalVillainy Sindel]], and [[KarmaHoudini D'Vorah.]]

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfQNHz4_hPA The French "Christopher Lambert" ad]] starred [[Creator/ChristopherLambert the man himself]] playing as Raiden while happily admitting familiarity with him, and its been known that Raiden was a role that Lambert enjoyed playing in [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie the movie]]. Thanks to the Movie Pack, he finally gets to play the Thunder God again, and in an official game no less.

** For Shao Kahn fans, the ''Aftermath'' expansion gets this. In the main story, Kahn is reduced to a joke, easily beaten and blinded by Kitana, a rather humiliating end for one of the franchise's biggest bad guys. ''Aftermath'' lets him go on a revenge tour, obliterating the heroes without really breaking a sweat and showing just why he was as feared as he has been for the last 10,000 years.
** Seeing [[spoiler:Sindel and Shao Kahn get ''massively'' outplayed by Shang Tsung, getting their souls stolen and reduced to dried out husks after all of the terrible things that they've done in the ''Aftermath'' expansion. Can double as a TakeThatScrappy in Sindel's case for those turned-off by her retcon.]]

** Due to Website/YouTube's heavy age restriction and demonetization of videos that feature the game's realistic blood and gore, ''many'' compilation videos of Fatal Blows and fatalities show them being performed on D'Vorah, whose [[AlienBlood blue blood]] [[LoopholeAbuse seems to allow YouTubers to bypass this]]. This doubles as an unintentional TakeThatScrappy for some due to her being a BaseBreakingCharacter.

** Creator/ChrisCox, the Franchise/{{Terminator}}'s voice actor. While many don't consider him a bad voice actor and he does a decent impression of the Terminator, some still wish that Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger voiced him here instead. Cox being TheOtherDarrin to Schwarzenegger is justified given the latter was busy with ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' [[ApprovalOfGod and even helped choose the former]], but it is especially unfortunate as ''NRS'' managed to get Creator/PeterWeller for [=RoboCop=], Creator/SylvesterStallone as Rambo, and Creator/KeithDavid as Spawn, while Schwarzenegger did end up lending his own voice to another character of his, Dutch, in ''VideoGame/PredatorHuntingGrounds''.

** Kotal Kahn is more of a [[BaseBreakingCharacter base-breaker]] in this regard than full-on scrappy. While he wasn't outright hated in ''MKX'', he wasn't necessarily well-liked due to his BloodKnight and ChronicBackstabbingDisorder tendencies. The fact he was a {{Hypocrite}}, an appeaser, and someone who periodically grabbed the IdiotBall, didn't help matters either. In this game, he has some very notable CharacterDevelopment as he now recognizes his flaws as a leader, [[spoiler:gives up the throne of Outworld,]] and sets out to do better. He is also given a very heartwarming relationship with Jade. [[spoiler:''[[MoodWhiplash And]]'' then Shao Kahn kills him in ''Aftermath'', more unfortunately offscreen.]]

** Hsu Hao:
*** One of Erron's intros has him [[DecapitationPresentation present Hsu Hao's head]], a character who is widely hated by both the fans ''and'' [[CreatorsPest the creators]].

*** Hsu Hao gets hit with this again in the following exchange:
----> '''Fujin:''' There is nothing here for you. Begone.\\
'''Kano:''' Rack off, Raiden Lite.\\
'''Fujin:''' Have it your way, Hsu Hao.

** An tower consumable named Kobra's Gloves has a description that says your blows will suck. In context it means that each hit will force an opponent to come closer to you but the wording made it clear that this is a jab at Kobra.

** Despite the new Shirai Ryu received much shilling from Hanzo and a major driving force behind Scorpion's HeelFaceTurn none of them -not even [[EnsembleDarkhorse Takeda]]- appeared.
** The older Erron Black fights for Kotal's forces, but has no lines whatsoever and less than 30 seconds of screentime. All the focus is on his villainous younger self. This is fixed in the ''Aftermath'' expansion where the older Erron gets more to do, but he still disappears after his fight with Sheeva.

** Shinnok is reduced to just a head, but he's still around on an altar in the Bone Temple. For that matter, his amulet is still in Raiden's possession. However, once the intro ends Shinnok plays no role in the unfolding story, and the corruption of Shinnok's amulet means Raiden avoids using it for most of the story [[spoiler:and when he eventually does, it's very briefly.]]
** Ermac is an unusual case, less to do with plot and more of implementation in the game itself. Unlike other characters who were revealed to have [[KilledOffscreen died offscreen]] in the Krypt, Ermac is not only shown dying ''on''screen, he's also sporting a new and significantly different design to any previous version of his character. When compared to the likes of Reptile (who shares [[TheCameo the same amount of screentime]] in the Krypt to confirm that he's ''alive'', but still recycling his ''MKX'' model), it makes you wonder what happened that led to NRS going through the work of redesigning and modelling Ermac, only for him to not even be part of the roster.

** Kabal and Noob Saibot make a return as an angry Revenant that does nothing memorable and a wraith who says a bunch of evil stuff then disappears respectively. Considering both were, like Liu Kang and the others, very different in life, the fact that they just show up as jobbers disappointed quite a few fans. Kabal gets a past counterpart, but it's a younger one that still serves the Black Dragon rather than the reformed cop from ''9'', while Noob gets no Bi-Han to contrast with. Noob only has one story scene with his old enemy and little brother and it does nothing but establish he mutually hates them both. Many fans also believed that Noob should've been the one to kill Hanzo instead of D'Vorah as it would've been a more poetic end for Hanzo's character being killed by someone he wrongfully killed rather than being killed by somebody he has little-to-no personal connection to.
** While Mileena was eventually added to the game as a DLC character, plenty of fans wish she was part of the roster from the beginning so she could be part of the story. Since time travel is a major element of this game, many fans think she could have been redeemed(whether as a hero or AntiVillain), especially since it's shown that [[IJustWantToBeLoved she just wants to be loved]] (as shown in her Arcade Ending, where she spares everyone other than Kitana). In ''[=MK9=]'', Kitana displays FantasticRacism when she calls Mileena an abomination and refuses to acknowledge her as family even when she hasn't done anything yet; Kitana could have gone back in time to rectify this and bring her to her side.

** Taven, the protagonist of ''Armageddon'', is freed in Takeda's ''MKX'' arcade ending, leading many to believe that he would play a role in the next game. However, he's never mentioned in the game and neither the prophecy of Armageddon or Blaze play a part in the story outside of a flashback [[spoiler:where [[KnightTemplar Dark Raiden]] and [[CameBackWrong Zombie Liu Kang]] [[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon fight each other in the Pyramid of Argus]]]].
** The rivalry between Scorpion and Noob Saibot is not mentioned at all, even with their interaction in story mode. Many have pointed out that [[spoiler:Noob could have appeared during Scorpion's solo chapter and be the one to kill Hanzo, serving as the embodiment of the latter's biggest mistake coming back to bite him. Having seen where his path of vengeance could end, which would add more motivation for his HeelFaceTurn, the revenant Scorpion avenges his future counterpart, thus starting his path to redemption.]]
** Takeda and Kung Jin never once appear and are only mentioned in pre-match dialogue intros despite the previous game setting them up as much as both Cassie and Jaqui in terms of importance. While Kung Jin was a BaseBreakingCharacter, Takeda was one of the more popular characters introduced in ''X''.
** A major plot point of ''Mortal Kombat X'' is the heroes' attempts to restore the revenants of Liu Kang, Kitana, Kung Lao, etc. back to life after Raiden accidentally restored Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Jax. While Quan Chi's [[KilledOffForReal death]] and Shinnok's [[OffWithHisHead decapitation]] at the hands of Dark Raiden seemingly made this impossible ''without'' the time merger, it still would have been interesting to the see the older characters try to find a new way to restore the souls of the revenants. In particular, this easily would have given all the Revenants a motive for following Kronika rather than the game's vague reasons for them doing so, but it never gets addressed.

** Creator/ChrisCox, the Franchise/{{Terminator}}'s voice actor. While many don't consider him a bad voice actor and he does a decent impression of the Terminator, some still wish that Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger voiced him here instead. Cox being TheOtherDarrin to Schwarzenegger is justified given the latter was busy with ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', but it is especially unfortunate as ''NRS'' managed to get Creator/PeterWeller for [=RoboCop=], Creator/SylvesterStallone as Rambo, and Creator/KeithDavid as Spawn, while Schwarzenegger did end up lending his own voice to another character of his, Dutch, in ''VideoGame/PredatorHuntingGrounds''.

* ThatOneAttack: The Terminator's 'I'm Back' Fatality need the character to be extremely close to the opponent. The input however can make the Terminator back away ever so slightly and it's enought to botch the Fatality entirely. At that point it's definitely easier to use the koin for the simplified input.

** Fatal Blows make their debut in this game as a ComebackMechanic (as well as a cinematic quasi-LimitBreak to supplant X-Ray Moves), but they've been criticized for a few reasons: while they're [[ItOnlyWorksOnce only able to be pulled off per game]] and can technically be whiffed or blocked by the opponent -- with the balance hinging them around requiring [[DifficultButAwesome a calculated risk for potentially high reward]] -- their startup is ''fast'' and grants armor during most of it, making it very difficult for the opponent to actually punish someone using a Fatal Blow. Additionally, even if a Fatal Blow is unsuccessful, all the player has to do is wait between 5-10 seconds and try again, and considering it costs no meter, it will almost always be an option that their opponent must account for at all times once it's available. Combined with the oft-criticized {{Overly Long Fighting Animation}}s, Fatal Blows ultimately [[PaddedSumoGameplay slow down the pace of gameplay pretty dramatically]].

** Fatal Blows make their debut in this game as a ComebackMechanic (as well as a cinematic quasi-LimitBreak to supplant X-Ray Moves), but they've been criticized for a few reasons: while they're [[ItOnlyWorksOnce only able to be pulled off per game]] and can technically be whiffed or blocked by the opponent -- with the balance hinging them around requiring [[DifficultButAwesome a calculated risk for potentially high reward]] -- their startup is ''fast'' and grants armor during most of it, making it very difficult for the opponent to actually punish someone using a Fatal Blow. Additionally, even if a Fatal Blow is unsuccessful, all the player has to do is wait between 5-10 seconds and try again, and considering it costs no meter, it will almost always be an option that their opponent must be accounted for at all times once it's available. Combined with the oft-criticized {{Overly Long Fighting Animation}}s, Fatal Blows ultimately [[PaddedSumoGameplay slow down the pace of gameplay pretty dramatically]].

** Fatal Blows make their debut in this game as a ComebackMechanic (as well as a cinematic quasi-LimitBreak to supplant X-Ray Moves), but they've been criticized for a few reasons: while they're [[ItOnlyWorksOnce only able to be pulled off per game]] and can technically be whiffed or blocked by the opponent -- with the balance hinging them around requiring [[DifficultButAwesome a calculated risk for potentially high reward]] -- their startup is ''fast'' and grants armor during most of it, making it very difficult for the opponent to actually punish someone using a Fatal Blow. Additionally, even if a Fatal Blow is unsuccessful, all the player has to do is wait between 5-10 seconds and try again, and considering it costs no meter, it will almost always be an option that their opponent must be accounted for at all times once it's available. Combined with the oft-criticized {{Overly Long Fighting Animation}}s, Fatal Blows ultimately [[SumoPaddedGameplay slow down the pace of gameplay pretty dramatically]].

** [[ComboBreaker Breakaway]] has been a point of contention since launch, with the main complaint being that the mechanic is too powerful of a reversal, especially if the attacker is stuck in a combo string when the breakaway happens. Even if the attacker anticipates a breakaway, the most they could hope for is a down+2 (or other similarly damaging single hit) or the situational Fatal Blow, which [[ArmorPiercingAttack breaks armor]]. This is in contrast to other fighting games with a similar mechanic (e.g. ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' and its Burst system, or even some of the older ''MK'' games) which knocks the attacker a fair distance away and resets the neutral game, keeping it fair for both sides. The developers added universal armor breaking moves in ''Aftermath'' to address these criticisms, an idea they first tested with Spawn. Not all of these moves do the same thing -- Scorpion, for example, gets a launcher with his while Sub-Zero's is a damaging Krushing Blow with hard knockdown and corner carry -- but they're generally designed to be an easier and more effective response to breakaways. Over time, criticism also began to extend to its usage as a defensive move, as activating it requires the character to be in the air. This ends up making Breakaway a significantly less consistent defensive option as some characters can pull off meaty combos without letting the opponent's feet leave the floor while others can't even get their bread and butter combos started without a popup. Fighters like Jaqui and Johnny Cage end up having more-or-less unbreakable ground combos for days while characters like Skarlet and Sindel are left in the cold. A lot of players were left longing for the [[BoringButPractical old fashioned Breaker.]]
** Fatal Blow in itself is an example as arguably one of the worst [[ComebackMechanic Comeback Mechanics]] ever conceived in a fighting game. Presumably the dev team was disappointed that their big cinematic supers were almost never seen in high-level competitive play due to needing meter for enhanced specials / breakers so they reworked the X-Ray Moves of previous games to make them a bigger part of the experience. The solution was that at 30% of your health or less, you get access to a super move which:
*** Starts up very fast and is armored during most of it (with only later updates added a small window during start-up which isn't armored to somewhat mitigate its use as a panic button);
*** Deals at least 30% of unbreakable damage to the opponent if done raw and generally leads to your max damage combo (more so if you broke your opponent's armor during Breakaway as doing so partially resets the scaling);
*** Is only consumed on hit, with a 10 second cooldown on block / whiff so you can conceivably attempt it again if you can hold out long enough;
*** Otherwise it costs no meter to perform meaning you always have this as a Hail Mary option even if your opponent has a meter advantage;
*** Was barely punishable for a fair amount of the game's lifetime, with an updating adding extra advantage and less pushback on Flawless Block;
*** Leads to an extended cinematic that interrupts the match, making for a repetitive playing / viewing experience owing to how much of a presence they become in every match;
*** Includes an "interactive" mini-game where timed button presses can add or mitigate damage on either side, which can add additional volatility to a match if the damage suddenly becomes too little or just barely enough to end a round, and just results in mindless mashing since there's no penalty to mistiming it;
*** Generally changes how you have to approach opponents at low health, particularly against the few characters full-screen or tracking Fatal Blows which still retain the armor, or cancellable Fatal Blows like the Joker's or Johnny Cage's, which give them special combos or powerful mix-up situations.

** The game's story in general is often criticized for how depressing it comes off feeling with deaths for popular characters around every corner, incomprehensible twists that come out of left field and a BigBad that pushes the omnipresent EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce aspect of the series so harshly into the forefront that it ends up making the whole effort feel a lot more tiring than it intends to be.

** The TamerAndChaster costumes for the female characters. Either they are step up from the {{Stripperiffic}} nature of previous games, most notably ''[=MK9=]'', and look more interesting, distinct and practical (the women have distinct design elements as opposed to being pallette swaps, Cassie Cage dresses practically) or they are bland, take away from the character and are way too covered up (the primary outfits for Jade, Skarlet and Cassie being the worst offenders). Arguing for one opinion or the other is a pretty much a guarantee for a long debate. Then there's those in the [[TakeTheThirdOption middle of both extremes]] who don't mind the default costumes, but prefer some of the skimpier alternative outfits. There are also some who find the default costumes sexy in their own way (most notably Kitana's) and argue that while the costumes cover up more, the game itself has many, many more sexual innuendos, most notably via Shao Kahn and Sindel wanting to turn the entire Earthrealm cast into their sex slaves.

** Kabal and Noob Saibot make a return as an angry Revenant that does nothing memorable and a wraith who says a bunch of evil stuff then disappears respectively. Considering both were, like Liu Kang and the others, very different in life, the fact that they just show up as jobbers disappointed quite a few fans. Kabal gets a past counterpart, but it's a younger one that still serves the Black Dragon rather than the reformed cop from ''9'', while Noob gets no Bi-Han to contrast with. Noob only has one story scene with his old enemy and little brother and it does nothing but establish he mutually hates them both.

* SignatureScene: [[spoiler:Raiden realising that he and Liu Kang have been manipulated into fighting against each other, not just here but in conceivable version of events, all set to ominous organ music and a rolling montage of their battles in previous games and erased timelines.]]

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Creator/RondaRousey as Sonya is a questionable choice for many. The general consensus is that her performance is very wooden and she stands out compared to the other voice actors, who all have either great performances, or, if new, give a good performance as the characters. It's very clear that she's not used to voice work.
** The Dimitri Vegas costume for Sub-Zero. The costume itself isn't bad, but the voice acting [[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-08-16-warner-bros-got-a-dj-to-do-voice-acting-for-a-mortal-kombat-11-sub-zero-skin-and-it-is-truly-awful is considered to be absolutely horrendous]], so much so that many fans no longer consider Ronda Rousey to be the worst member of the voice cast. His "It's like looking in a mirror" line stands out as being the best example, especially compared to Sub-Zero's usual voice actor, Creator/SteveBlum.
** Creator/ChrisCox, the Franchise/{{Terminator}}'s voice actor. While many don't consider him a bad voice actor and he does a decent impression of the Terminator, some still wish that Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger voiced him here instead. Cox being TheOtherDarrin to Schwarzenegger is justified given the latter was busy with ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', but it is especially unfortunate as ''NRS'' managed to get Creator/PeterWeller for [=RoboCop=], Creator/SylvesterStallone as Rambo, and Creator/KeithDavid as Spawn, while Schwarzenegger did end up lending his own voice to another character of his, Dutch, in ''VideoGame/PredatorHuntingGrounds''.