How NetherRealm makes Ghostface work in the world of Mortal Kombat 1

Ghostface is coming to Mortal Kombat 1 starting November 19, and for as long as guest characters from other worlds have been a feature in our games, Woodsboro’s own serial killer has been in the mix as a dream inclusion. Horror villains have always been great fits for the severe, macabre, over-the-top universe of Mortal Kombat, and it was just a matter of time for Scream’s anonymous assailant, Ghostface.

That time is here, and in the process of designing Ghostface for Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns, we had to answer a bunch of questions. How does this horror-movie villain translate into a fighting game? And how will Ghostface look, sound, and play like?

The overall look is familiar of course: classic mask, robe, and knife. Although, this presented surprising challenges in a fast-paced videogame. Most costumes have physics-based cloth portions, but no other costume is entirely cloth. And aside from the robe being soft material from head to toe, there are long strings of ghostly cloth fringe trailing off it. These are just the kinds of things that can easily perform unexpectedly and get twisted up upon themselves in the heat of kombat, unless proper care is taken. Our technical artists and animators worked back and forth to iron everything out, so to speak, ensuring Ghostface’s iconic duds look their best.

Although Mortal Kombat is famous for masked ninjas, our kombatants have elaborate facial animations that accentuate the action. Even among our masked characters, there are usually skin or gear options to reveal the full-face during gameplay, if you desire. But not so here, since the rigid, unfeeling mask is the outfit’s signature detail. In the absence of facial expressions, we took care to capture extra character movements during the motion capture performance and in-game animating so that, just like in the films, a lot can come across with the slightest head tilt or gesture—malice or humor, frustration or elation, rage or reservation.

And the sound is just as important as the movement. Roger L. Jackson returns to reprise his recurring role as Ghostface’s voice from the films, arguably the most memorable recurring thread through the franchise. Thanks to the easily accessible voice mod devices in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, many different psychos over the years have disguised their own voices using Roger’s modulated one, and our killers are no different.

And we do know who’s under there. Scream franchise fans know that Ghostface is an identity assumed by different unhinged people in every movie, so there are many surprising and iconic portrayals to choose from. While the character’s face is covered up by the mask during fights, the killer underneath is revealed occasionally during climactic moments. For the films, this usually occurs with a dramatic flourish as the identities of the killers are finally exposed. For Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns, it’s during high-resolution cinematic Fatal Blows and finishing moves. And our ‘canon’ Ghostface for these moments is none other than Billy Loomis, one of the Ghostface killers from the original Scream film.

And he’s not the only blast from the past lurking under that mask, behind that voice, in the shadows. In the films, there usually isn’t just one Ghostface, and that’s true here too. There are a few surprises for long-time fans of Mortal Kombat with a keen eye to discover, including who’s joined in to assist an OG, Woodsboro Ghostface. Afterall, this isn’t the first time a Ghostface sought a little hired serial killer help!

Ghostface’s moveset in Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns is also one to die for. Of course, the character is brimming with bloody finishers in the form of all-new Fatalities, an Animality, and Brutalities that winners can dole out after victories. Revisiting the classic films themselves for scenes to pay homage to, deciding what kinds of attacks to have, and how they’d lead into various attacks, was a grim delight. Scream fans may have their guesses of most surprising and (pardon me) gutting take downs of beloved characters they’d expect to see referenced, and while I wouldn’t dare spoil them here, we did make sure to include a few fun twists that you might not expect. 

We hope you enjoy when Ghostface joins the roster on November 19 as part of the early access period for Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Expansion owners on PlayStation 5, followed by wide availability for purchase on November 26.