Two years after the defeat of Outworld's ruler, Shao Kahn, Shinnok attacks Earthrealm with his army of Netherrealm demons, as well as Earthrealm warriors who were killed during Kahn's invasion and are now resurrected as revenants under Quan Chi's control. After fighting their fallen comrades, a strike team led by Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Kenshi open a portal to Raiden's Sky Temple and head to the Jinsei Chamber, the source of Earthrealm's life force, where Raiden and Fujin are seen battling Shinnok and his Netherrealm forces. When Shinnok tries to kill Sonya, Johnny rushes to defend her, inadvertently awakening ancient superhuman powers within himself. Using his newfound powers, Johnny holds Shinnok at bay long enough for Raiden to steal Shinnok's amulet and imprison him inside it, but Quan Chi escapes. Johnny, Raiden, and Sonya track him to his lair in the Netherrealm and defeat him, successfully restoring Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Jax to human form in the process after Quan Chi's failed attempt to turn Cage into a revenant, though the former escapes again. In the years that follow, Johnny and Sonya marry and have a daughter, Cassie, though they later divorced. Scorpion, now using his original name, Hanzo Hasashi, rebuilds his Shirai Ryu clan while mentoring Kenshi's son Takeda, and Sub-Zero becomes the new Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei after killing Sektor. Sub-Zero uses the data from Sektor's memory banks detailing Quan Chi's various manipulations of the Lin Kuei, including the truth about the deaths of Hasashi's wife and son, to help end his feud with Hasashi.

Twenty years after Shinnok's defeat, Johnny assembles a new team of young fighters composed of Cassie, Takeda, Jax's daughter Jacqui, and Kung Lao's younger cousin (later retconned as his nephew) Kung Jin. After undergoing a training exercise with Sub-Zero, they are deployed to Outworld to resolve a civil war between former empress Mileena, who has obtained Shinnok's amulet from Kano, and Outworld's current emperor Kotal Kahn, with whom Earthrealm has a fragile peace treaty. Meanwhile, in an Outworld refugee camp in Earthrealm, Sonya captures Kano and forces him to reveal Mileena's location. Using this information, Cassie's team aids Kotal in recovering Shinnok's amulet and capturing Mileena, who is subsequently executed on Kotal's orders. No longer believing Earthrealm capable of keeping the amulet safe, Kotal decides to keep it in Outworld's hands and takes Cassie and her friends hostage as leverage against Raiden. Kotal's insectoid second-in-command D'Vorah, who had killed Baraka when Kotal started his rule, is revealed as a double agent for Quan Chi and steals the amulet. Cassie and her team escape captivity and inform Earthrealm of D'Vorah's intentions.

Hoping to stop Quan Chi from getting the amulet, Jax and Kenshi, aided by a Netherrealm local named Sareena, lead an assault on the Netherrealm. After fighting his way through the revenants of his former allies, Jax captures a weakened Quan Chi, who is brought to Earthrealm and held at an Outworld refugee camp. Hasashi infiltrates the refugee camp alongside his clan with the intent of assassinating Quan Chi as revenge for ruining his life, defeating Kenshi, Johnny, and Sonya in the process. As Hasashi prepares to kill Quan Chi, D'Vorah arrives with the amulet. Quan Chi manages to finish his spell moments before being beheaded by Hasashi, releasing Shinnok from captivity. Weakened by the Shirai Ryu's previous attack, Johnny is taken hostage by Shinnok and D'Vorah. With the aid of Quan Chi's revenants, Shinnok and D'Vorah assault the Sky Temple, and subdue Raiden and Bo' Rai Cho in the process. Shinnok then enters the Jinsei and corrupts it, transforming himself into a powerful demon in the process.

Cassie's team pursues Shinnok, only to be intercepted by Kotal Kahn and his army. They inform him of Shinnok's return and Kotal decides to kill them, hoping to appease Shinnok and buy time to bolster Outworld's defenses, but Sub-Zero and his Lin Kuei warriors appear just in time to repel the Outworld forces. At the Sky Temple, Jacqui and Takeda occupy the revenants, while Cassie and Jin enter the Jinsei chamber. When D'Vorah begins torturing Johnny, Cassie manifests powers similar to her father's, which she uses to defeat Shinnok. A grievously wounded Raiden then purifies the Jinsei, stripping Shinnok of his powers and forcing the revenants to withdraw. Sonya and her soldiers arrive to take Shinnok and D'Vorah away, and the Cage family reunites.

Sometime later, Raiden, now in possession of Shinnok's amulet and corrupted in the process of purifying the Jinsei, issues a warning to the revenants Liu Kang and Kitana, now rulers of the Netherrealm, that they will face "fates worse than death" if they threaten Earthrealm. Raiden leaves behind Shinnok's severed, but still living head as a final warning before departing.

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Overall the story was good, the matches were fun, and the story mode kind of forces you to play with all the main characters - so you get to experiment a bit with different fighting styles.  I did spend some time in the "regular" MK tower fighting mode playing their Alien, Predator, and Jason Voorhees - which was a lot of fun but made me wonder what these kinds of cameos are about.  Since I had MK XI sitting in the wings, and I wanted to get going with the main story, I didn't stick around to play more of this game's fighting modes,  but it's something to pick up every so often and play a random match. My overall grade for this is a 7/10

Some Stats:

Matches Completed: 94

Matches won: 61

Story Completion: 100%

Towers completed: 1

Fatalities Performed: 3

Total Experience Points: 75,970

Total Faction Points: 34,803

Toral War Points: 1,000

Achievements: 10

GamerPoints: 105/1500 (7%)