Long-standing character Mileena’s guest appearance in Mortal Kombat 11’s resurrection of “friendship” finishers has generated friction among fans.
Earlier this week, NetherRealm Studios broke news of the return of “friendships“—a pacifist alternative to Mortal Kombat 11’s brutal fatalities.
The announcement came with a new Aftermath downloadable content (DLC) trailer that showed off Kabal playing a xylophone, Geras building a sandcastle, Noob Saibot playing jump rope with himself, and many more.
Surprising cameo of a non-playable character
One friendship in particular, however, caught the eye of Mortal Kombat (MK) fans around the globe. Kitana’s non-violent finisher features a cameo of her sister Mileena as they play patty cake with one another.
Under normal circumstances, this would be pretty adorable. But since Mileena is notably absent from Mortal Kombat 11 as a playable character, fans have been sending out mixed reactions to an otherwise great “friendship”.
Yes, Mileena is in Kitana's Friendship.
No, Mileena is not playable. #MKAftermath pic.twitter.com/HrWr2mQGRc— Warner Bros. Games UK & Ireland (@WB_Games_UK) May 21, 2020
Mixed reactions on Twitter
Some fans took the guest’s appearance in stride, appreciating NetherRealm Studios’ gesture in bringing back the beloved character in some shape or form.
One Twitter user even posted: “We just asked for Mileena. We got her. We won. We’re satisfied.”
https://twitter.com/VenusMultiMuse/status/1262491202215124993
Others were also delighted at seeing the two sisters being friendly towards each other, which is a first for the franchise.
Unfortunately, not everyone was happy with the Mileena cameo, as fans of the character felt the developers were “trolling” them.
One Twitter user named Aileen_Gamer seemed particularly bothered by WB Games’ tweet, stating that Mileena is not playable. Aileen_Gamer replied to said tweet by posting: “The last thing they want to do is prank fans and rub it in their faces and getting their Hopes up.”
"No, Mileena is not Playable", they probably Joking Guys, she will be because thats the Last Thing they want to do is Prank Fans and Rub it in their Faces and getting their Hopes up
— 𝔄𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔢 – 𝔈𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔖𝔲𝔫𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔢 (@Aileean_Gamer) May 18, 2020
Another user echoed the sentiment by saying that if they had to go one more Mortal Kombat game without Mileena, they would lose it.
Mileena’s history
Mileena is a clone of Princess Kitana who was created using Shang Tsung’s magic. Since he used Tarkatan blood, Mileena’s facial features are a cross between Kitana and Baraka.
She made her first appearance in Mortal Kombat 2 back in 1993 and has since reappeared in various mainline installments and spin-offs including MK: Deception, MK: Armageddon, and the 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot.
So mileena is probably gonna look just like this in mk12 or the next pack in mk11 I’m just excited for mk12🌚 @NetherRealm @MortalKombat pic.twitter.com/rIQpCOS0NT
— JANECEJADE (@JANECEJADE) May 20, 2020
The last gamers saw Mileena was in Mortal Kombat X where she met a grisly end at the hands of insect fighter D’Vorah.
NetherRealm Studios has yet to make a follow-up statement regarding Mileena’s status as a non-playable character. It seems, for now, Kitana’s “friendship” is as close as fans are going to get in having Mileena as part of the Mortal Kombat 11 roster.
Mortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath DLC is all set for its May 26 release on PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One, and PC.
Image courtesy of Colony of Gamers/Flickr