If visceral is an over-used marketing term (and it is), it’s only because people apply it so readily to games a lot less brutal than Mortal Kombat X . Like in the nine MKs before it, blows land with beefy, truck-like force. Bones shatter under the sheer impact of the returning X-Ray moves, and of course, no organ is off-limits to the series-defining fatalities. But I knew all that before I sat down to play it. I just didn’t expect to find so much potential and possibility in its new systems and characters.

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There were six playable characters in the build at E3, and only two of them – Scorpion and Sub-Zero – were return entrants. The other four, Cassie Cage, Kotal Kahn, Ferra, and D’vorah, are entirely new, and each of them had hooks that made me want to further explore what they were capable of. Cassie and Kotal have inherited a couple of tricks from their ancestors (MK X is set 25 years after the events of MK 9), but they’re a far cry from being palette swaps for them.The ability to choose from three different styles for every character has a lot to do with that. These aren’t stances that can be changed on the fly, but rather three distinct versions you choose between during character select. Some styles change the properties of a character’s existing moves, like how D’vorah can opt to have a poison effect added to some of her attacks. Others, like Cassie’s “Hollywood” style grant her a mid-air double gun attack, and a sweet pair of shades. The variations are significant, replacing several of a fighter’s special moves, and altering what chain combos are available to them.Even without that added layer of choice, these new characters have twists to them – ones that make them a fair bit more interesting than the traditional MK rank and file. The hulking Ferra, for instance, fights with his partner Torr riding piggy back. He can utilize her for team-up attacks, or choose a style that doesn’t include her in exchange for a stronger grappling game. Kotal Khan on the other hand, has a style that allows him to summon totems that buff him for as long as they remain on screen. He can even summon a persistent beam of sunlight that deals damage when an enemy passes through it, but heals him if he stands under it. I’ve rarely found MK character designs to be as interesting as they are here.Of course, it helps that Mortal Kombat X looks gorgeous on current-gen hardware, and runs at a silky 60 frames per second. It’s also hands-down the best-animated Mortal Kombat ever. Transitional animations are much smoother, all but eliminating the awkward, flailing mannequin look of MKs past. That, along with the return of running, and some of the more evasive environmental interactions (back from Injustice) makes MKX the most fluid entry in the series by a comfortable margin.There’s no solid info on the size of the roster, but the character select screen in my demo had a total of 24 slots, for a potential total of 72 characters when accounting for the three distinct styles of each.More interesting tidbits I found by scouring the interface: full move lists, including frame data, are available in game just like Injustice had, and more interestingly, there were five move slots listed under the “Finishing Moves” tab. There were four in MK9 – Two fatalities, a stage fatality, and a Babality. So what’s the fifth one? Brutality? Animality? Friendship? Hopefully we get the answer to that question, and more in the not-too-distant future.

Vincent Ingenito is IGN's third newest recruit, and third biggest MOBA fan. He also doesn't suck at fighting games. To hear him nerd out about them and other games, follow him on Twitter.