Gaming: New Power Rangers brawler; big reveals for Mortal Kombat 11; an Assassins Creed Odyssey apology

If you’re gonna save the Grid, you’ve gotta fight, and that’s exactly what Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid aims to bring to the table when the newly announced fighting game arrives this spring.

According to the game’s website, Battle for the Grid will draw on the Rangers’ deep history to bring characters both old and new into the arena for team-based matches. Developer nWay is promising an “easy to learn but hard to master” challenge scale aimed at appealing to newbies and fighting game veterans alike.

Making the game accessible regardless of platform is a key goal, with cross-platform matchmaking that’ll allow gamers on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC all to compete against (or alongside) one another. Character progression also will be portable. “Swap platforms and your unlocked characters and mission progressions come with you,” nWay promises.

The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions of the game are slated to arrive sometime in April, with the PC release to follow later this year. Power up! 

Mortal Kombat 11 unloaded a trove of new details about its upcoming next-gen game during a livestream event this week, revealing new looks for classic characters and announcing that pro wrestler Ronda Rousey will provide the voice for fan favorite Sonya.

Developer NetherRealm also showed off a pair of new trailers for the game, including a story prologue clip as well as a fatalities trailer that boasts “the most gruesome, over-the-top fatalities in franchise history.” Check them out below, but bear in mind the usual “not for the squeamish” caveats that, as always, apply when it comes to anything Mortal Kombat:

NetherRealm and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment also revealed an all-new character, Geras, who boards the franchise with the ability to manipulate time. Also confirmed during the livestream are returning all-stars Scorpion, Raiden, Sonya Blade, Baraka, Sub-Zero, and Skarlet — though even more are sure to appear in the final game.

Pre-orders are already live and entitle players to acquire Shao Kahn as a playable character, as incentive for getting on board early. Mortal Kombat 11 releases on April 23 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Finally, the makers of Assassin's Creed Odyssey are finding themselves in an awkward position with some fans, following a social media outcry over an unskippable romantic scenario in Shadow Heritage, the latest installment in Legacy of the First Blade, the game’s episodic, post-release DLC content.

**SPOILER WARNING: There are spoilers for Assassin's Creed Odyssey’s Legacy of the First Blade DLC story below. If you plan to journey through the DLC with Alexios or Kassandra and don’t want to be spoiled, turn back now.**

After playing through the DLC, some fans pointed out that the heterosexual romance forced upon characters in Shadow Heritage betrays Ubisoft’s initial promise to allow players free rein in making all their role-playing decisions in the main game.

In a post to the Ubisoft-managed community forum for the game, Creative Director Jonathan Dumont told fans the creative team had “missed the mark” and apologized for forcing players to enter into a heterosexual romance — and have a child — with the daughter/son (depending on whether you’re playing as Alexios or Kassandra) of Persian proto-Assassin Darius.

“[W]e want to extend an apology to players disappointed by a relationship your character partakes in,” wrote Dumont. “The intention of this story was to explain how your character’s bloodline has a lasting impact on the Assassins, but looking through your responses it is clear that we missed the mark… We’ll work to do better and make sure the element of player choice in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey carries through our DLC content so you can stay true to the character you have embodied throughout.”

Kotaku reports that the current DLC won’t be changed to incorporate more choices, but that the next installment will “make the character development and choice much more clear to players,” allowing them to choose “how they want to handle their relationship now that they have ensured that their bloodline will continue.”

Two episodes into its ongoing DLC release schedule, Assassin's Creed Odyssey remains available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.