Mortal Kombat 11's Thursday reveal event fully unmasked NetherRealm's upcoming fighting game. The event debuted a massive amount of gameplay, confirmed half a dozen playable characters, and also featured the announcement of Mortal Kombat 11's upcoming beta. Equally exciting was the reveal of Mortal Kombat 11's official story prologue trailer, a cinematic trailer proving to be a direct continuation of the story from Mortal Kombat X.

The cinematic story trailer for Mortal Kombat 11 does more than set the stage for the fighting game's story mode, however. It also features three exciting characters: Shinnok, Dark Raiden, and newcomer Kronika. Of these three only Raiden is confirmed to be a playable fighter at the moment, one of seven confirmed out of twenty five shown roster spots. It would be surprising if both Shinnok and Kronika don't make the roster, too. They both seem to be positioned as the game's villains, making their playability a likely priority for fans.

As for Mortal Kombat 11's actual story, there are some interesting takeaways from this trailer. Spoiler warning for Mortal Kombat X 's story. At the end of the previous fighting game, Shinnok was defeated by Cassie Cage while Raiden is forced to cleanse the Jinsei -- Earthrealm's life force -- from Shinnok's evil influence. This turns him into Dark Raiden. A special conclusion to Mortal Kombat X features an aggressive Raiden throwing Shinnok's dismembered head at the feet of Liu Kang and Kitana's undead revenants.

Mortal Kombat 11's prologue shows that some of Mortal Kombat X's story has been retconned. Raiden still decapitates Shinnok, but then just leaves the head nearby instead of taking it to the Netherrealm. And it seems that almost immediately afterward, Kronika uses her unique time powers to potentially reverse the severing of Shinnok's head. With Shinnok returned, Raiden now evil, and a powerful Kronika who may be the Elder God of Time involved, the stage is set for the most pic Mortal Kombat 11 story yet.

Mortal Kombat 11 releases April 23 on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.