In the middle of a forest coated in snow, two ninjas – one garbed in blue, the other in yellow – are engaged in brutal combat. Finally, the yellow ninja stuns his opponent. The victor shoots a kunai attached to a chain from his wrist into the blue ninja’s head. A forceful tug and an echoing “Get over here” mark the bloody demise of his opponent.

For a little over twenty years, Mortal Kombat has held the title of one of the bloodiest, most grotesque fighting games in existence and rightfully so too. It is the series that lead to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESBR) that gives games age and content ratings. With the newest installment,  Mortal Kombat X, the brutality has been reinvented.

Probably the most significant change to fighting is the said new “character variations.” Each character gets three different styles with their own unique special attacks and combos. For example, Scorpion, the yellow ninja and series mascot can utilize either two swords for quick combos, engulf his opponent in fire, or summon a demon to help him fight.

Combat is as fluid as the blood in the game. Burning, slicing, and freezing enemies killing the opponent is almost effortless, assuming they are not strategizing your death as well.

The fatalities, grisly finishing moves that outright kill the loser, caused even myself to wonder what was going through the developer’s’ mind when they were coming up with these gorey killing moves. One finisher in particular had me mentally saying “You blew out his chest with a fire ball, don’t you think literally slicing his face off is excessive?”

The heart of the series remains unchanged and still as exciting as it has been for the past two decades. While the NextGen console version has already been released, the game will be  released for Xbox 360 and PS3 in the summer quarter of 2015. From pixelated 2D-sprites to almost life-like fighters, Mortal Kombat has achieved a greatness that very few fighting games have earned after so long.