Summary
WhileMortal Kombatis famous primarily as a fighting game franchise, several of its games have offered game modes other than Multiplayer or Story Mode. Examples of these are Mortal Kombat: Deception’s Konquest Mode, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon’s Motor Kombat (which was a Mario Kart-like racing game), and Mortal Kombat 11’s The Krypt.
2023’sMortal Kombat 1introduced a new, very different game mode: Invasion Mode. This is a board game-style RPG where players progress through the Mesas to upgrade their fighters while earning currency, skins, concept art, brutalities, and fatalities, among other rewards. With the release of Invasion’s eighth (and possibly final) Season, here’s a ranking of each of Invasion Mode’s Seasons.
8Season 7 - The Soul Eater
Travelling Through Timelines With Shang Tsung
The Soul Eater’s theme was an alternate version ofShang Tsungtraveling through the timelines to sate his insatiable hunger for souls. A fine premise on its own, but MK1 already had an alternate Shang Tsung invading the current timeline in the Story Mode, making Season 7 feel a bit repetitive. That, combined with Invasion Mode’s lack of improvements to its content and Challenges made Season 7 an all-time low.
The Soul Eater’s Skins had an appropriate Revenant aesthetic, but they paled in comparison to the designs of the Revenant Skins from Mortal Kombat X. As a result, Season of the Soul Eater felt very uninspired with its theme.
7Season 5 - Storms
A Dark Raiden Is A Dark Threat
Season 5’s theme was that aDark Raidenwas threatening the timelines in his misguided attempt to protect them, and Storms was infamous for introducing some of Invasion’s most frustrating and annoying Challenges. These included Time Trials, which ranged from fun and easy to complicated and incredibly difficult, to the Survive Challenges, which just seemed to get harder and harder with each Season.
Not to mention the utterly despised addition of Major Malfunction Challenges, where players have a short amount of time to cause a certain amount of damage to a Cyborg before it blows up. Surely, nobody found those fun to do?
Storms' Skins were slightly better than the Skins of the previous Season, with a stylish lightning aesthetic, but were still pretty disappointing. Yellow and purple just didn’t feel like the right colors. Season of the Storms did not earn Invasion Mode any new players, nor did it give the old ones a good enough reason to come back.
6Season 6 - The Reptile
A Zaterran Invasion
The Reptile’s theme was an invasion by Zaterrans, who had the ability to shapeshift into reptiles and humans, and were infiltrating MK1’s timeline as part of a secret attack, led by their Emperor,Syzoth.
Season 6 didn’t really do much to improve on the previous Season, as several of the Challenges and Malfunctions were just as difficult, if not more so, - with Peacemaker’s Character Trials somehow making him not fun to play.
However, the Skins were actually really good and some of the best in Invasion Mode. With their appropriately swampy shades of green and brown and reptilian aesthetic, they were satisfying for a Reptile-based Season. Despite having a great Skin set, Season of the Reptile was held back by its difficult Challenges and repetitive Encounters.
5Season 8 - The Dark Dragon
Liu Kang Seeks Perfection
The Dark Dragon’s theme was a power-mad TitanLiu Kangwho wishes to “perfect” all timelines. It’s a rather appropriate theme for Invasion Mode’s (possibly) final Season, as MK1’s Fire God Liu Kang has been the players' guide and the timeline’s protector.
The Season itself wasn’t a lot of fun to play, but it was surprisingly short and even easy at times. This could be because of the massive player drop over time, or because NetherRealm finally listened to fans about the Challenges being too hard. In any case, Season 8 didn’t take up too much time and effort from those who were still playing it. The Dark Dragon’s Skins are also very good, with a beautiful mixture of gold and white.
Season of the Dark Dragon is an expectantly frustrating, but occasionally breezy end to a whole year of MK1’s Invasion Mode.
4Season 4 - The Huntress
Invasion Of The Clones
The Huntress’s theme was an invading army ofMileenaclones. Season 4 had some of the most frustrating Survive Challenges up to that point, along with quite possibly the worst Seasonal Skin sets in Invasion Mode.
Whereas the Skins from the other Seasons were inspired by the fighters they centered on, The Huntress’s Skins, for the most part, weren’t really based on Mileena’s aesthetic. The Skins’s ugly mix of colors had fans theorize that they were originally meant for Havik, but were repurposed for Mileena’s Season. Their prominence in MK1’sKhaos Reignsexpansion seems to support this.
Even putting the disappointing Skins aside, Season of the Huntress wasn’t very fun to play, as Invasion’s repetitive Challenges and Encounters continued to make the game mode feel like a chore rather than a fun distraction.
3Season 2 - Blood Moon
Prepare For A Vampire Invasion
Blood Moon’s theme was an invasion by Vaeternians (Vampires), led byNitara,from a timeline where they are the dominant species. Season 2 upped Invasion’s difficulty, and not in a good way, as it became more grindy and repetitive, while making it harder and slower to level up fighters. However, Blood Moon’s Skins lived up to its vampire aesthetic, with some creepy uses of black, red, and gray that would appeal to gothic-loving players.
While Season of the Blood Moon showed how repetitive and frustrating Invasion Mode would become, it was still fairly easy to play and enjoy compared to future Seasons, and it added some good-looking Skins.
2Season 3 - The Cryomancer
Cryomancer’s Amass An Army
The Cryomancer’s theme was a slightly eviler version ofSub-Zeroattacking MK1’s timeline with his army of cryomancers. Season 3 was an improvement over Blood Moon, but only in a few aspects to its gameplay, with its biggest redeeming quality being that itfinallyadded fighter intro dialogues to Invasion Mode.
Of course, it turned out it was only for boss fights, rather than all fighter Encounters, but players would take what they could get. The Cryomancer’s Skins had a “cool” look to them, with their ice-themed aesthetic and shades of blue and white. The Season also came with some Christmas-inspired red, green, and white cosmetics to get players in the mood for the holidays.
The Season of the Cryomancer wasn’t a Christmas present, but it was a bit of a refresher compared to the latter Seasons.
1Season 1 - The Spectre
Scorpion Seeks Harumi
The first Season of Invasion Mode was also its easiest, with none of the Trials or Challenges that would plague the later Seasons. Season 1’s theme was that a Scorpion (Hanzo Hasashi this time) was searching through the multiverse to find a timeline where his wife, Harumi, wasn’t dead.
He ends up in MK1’s timeline, where Harumi was marrying her Scorpion,Kuai Liang,causing him to fall into a rage. The Spectre was a really cool premise to sell Invasion Mode and its Seasonal multiversal threats. Season 1’s Scorpion-styled Skins also looked nice. Nothing too complicated, but they had a good mixture of red, yellow, and orange.
Invasion Mode peaked in its first Season, which is unfortunate because it could’ve been a very fun game mode to play if it had more variety in its content. Perhaps a sequel could bring back The Krypt or Konquest Mode, or even better, Motor Kombat.
