Mortal Kombat X: Ermac Joins the Fight

Earlier today, NetherRealm Studios did their second Kombat Kast video, where the developers mess around with the upcoming Mortal Kombat X, show you what’s what and reveal a thing or two. In this installment, they revealed a new character in the form of Ermac, the mystic ninja made of thousands of warrior souls. The telekinetic fighter is given a pretty great redesign that reveals more of his face than we’ve ever seen (not counting the cartoon) and makes him look more ghost-like in the way he casually floats around.

You can watch the full replay of the stream here. You should probably just skip nine minutes in:

Ermac has three variations. “Master of Souls” allows him to charge up one of his projectiles so that it can stun his opponent while also giving him the ability to vanish from the fight for several seconds at a time. “Mystic” enhances his telekinetic attacks, such as the Tele-Lift and the Tele-Punch. Then last – and seemingly least – is “Spectral,” where he can fly around in the air.

The stream features plenty of pre-fight dialogue and considering the amount of times they did Ermac vs. Sub-Zero, it appears as though every single fight combination comes with at least three verbal exchanges. That’s pretty cool. We also find out that among Ermac’s souls is that of Shao Kahn, which would explain why he seems to be on the side of evil here.

We also got a good look at Kung Lao’s variations. “Tempest” allows him to have his hat orbit around him like Saturn’s ring, very similar to Rose’s Soul Satellite in the Street Fighter series. It can either let you get a second hit in or, if you time it right, it can block projectiles. “Buzzsaw” gives him more variations of his projectile, where he can slow down or speed up the move while throwing it in different directions, thereby pressuring his opponent. Then there’s “Hat Trick” where he can throw his hat into the background, ready to pull it back into play like a boomerang whenever he chooses. It can really mess with your opponent’s head, but it does restrict some of your attacks while it’s happening.

They briefly discussed Goro, the pre-order exclusive, by hyping something only known as “The Punch Walk.” We’ll find out what that even means in due time.

A couple new stages were shown, including the destroyed rubble of a major city and a refugee camp outside of another city where survivors are brought in through a portal. The destroyed city stage had some neat things in there, like how you can pick up a muffler and smash the other dude in the face with it. All the while, you see a guy rummaging for supplies in the background and trying to fight off a pack of rabid dogs. He does not succeed.

Through the initial Ermac trailer, we see parts of a Fatality, but we get to see a second one in full later on. We also see Kung Lao’s Fatality and it is downright gnarly. Cripes.

In future installments of the Kombat Kast, we’ll see stuff from story mode, gameplay of Kitana and Reptile, and a brand new type of “-ality.” Let your speculation run wild.

In other news, Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show will feature a good deal of Mortal Kombat X game footage in tonight’s episode. In a new edition of Clueless Gamer, where non-gamer Conan plays random new video games, he’ll be joined by none other than Rob Gronkowski and Mashawn Lynch. Here’s a quick clip that features little about Mortal Kombat and quite a bit about Lipitor.

For more of our coverage on Mortal Kombat X, including history lessons on announced characters, check out our coverage hub.

Gavin Jasper is pretty sure Ermac is probably somewhere in the five smelliest Mortal Kombat characters. Follow him on Twitter!