Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection review (PS5)

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection on PS5 is a compelling homage to the blood-soaked origins of the franchise, but it wears its reverence and its flaws in nearly equal measure. Developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari, this compilation isn’t just a way to replay classic MK games – it’s a curated archive complete with a deep interactive documentary, rare versions of titles, and thoughtful emulation tools and tweaks. For anyone who remembers tucking quarters into arcade cabinets, it feels like returning to a long-lost arena and a cultural phenomenon. Yet for competitive or modern fighting-game players, small issues muddy the nostalgia a bit.

At its core, the Kollection delivers a rich historical narrative. Players gain access to interviews with series co-creators such as Ed Boon and John Tobias, along with archival footage, concept art, and a structured timeline. This documentary is broken into bite-sized segments that make exploration feel dynamic and meaningful, rather than a passive “making-of.” The anthology also includes detailed character portraits, story histories, and marketing ephemera – an emotional and educational tribute to how and where Mortal Kombat began.

On the gameplay side, the Kollection impresses with breadth and flexibility: it includes more than 20 versions of classic Mortal Kombat games – spanning arcade, console, and handheld variants. That’s impressive, because the Kollection only covers the games up to Mortal Kombat 4. Features like save states, rewind, on-screen move lists, and even a dedicated Fatality training mode bring modern conveniences without compromising the feel of the originals, letting newcomers and veterans alike tailor their experience. The UI is slick, too: games can be filtered by type (arcade, console, handheld), and the overall menu design emphasizes speed and accessibility.

Online features feel a bit undercooked. At launch, the Kollection only supports quick-match matchmaking. There’s no friend lobbies yet – a detail many hoped would be there given the rollback netcode. The rollback netcode itself appears to work, but without full online infrastructure, the experience feels incomplete. More online features are planned, but for now, competitive or social play is more limited than fans might expect.

In terms of visuals and audio, the Kollection straddles nostalgia and preservation gracefully. The emulation largely retains the look of the original games, and there are filter options (CRT-style lines, aspect ratio choices) that let you lean into or tone down retro aesthetics. Mortal Kombat 4 benefits from a thoughtful upscale rendering mode, making its early-3D models cleaner without altering gameplay. On the audio side, a dedicated music player lets you curate original soundtracks, and developer interviews are well mixed – although there are some small audio mix issues in certain games.

One of the Kollection’s greatest strengths is that it fully embraces preservation. It not only resurrects the games, but it contextualizes them. The combination of the documentary, promotional material, and lore-filled character histories transforms this package into more than a throwback: it’s a digital museum, where you can play with all the exhibits as well. For many, that alone justifies the purchase – it’s not just about playing fights, but understanding the cultural footprint of Mortal Kombat.

Yet, whether it’s “worth it now” depends heavily on what you value. If you’re drawn by nostalgia, lore, and the legacy of the franchise, Legacy Kollection is a deeply rewarding experience – one that feels lovingly crafted. But if you’re a PS5 player looking for tight, competitive gameplay, some early online limitations may be frustrating until more patches arrive.

In the end, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection stands as a passion project from Digital Eclipse and Atari – a sprawling archive of Mortal Kombat’s early years, brimming with history, but still grappling with modern technical realities on PS5. It’s a celebration first and a fighting-game compilation second, and as such, will resonate most with those who want to remember as much as they want to fight.

Score: 8.0/10