Although it should be no surprise by this point, the addition of Raiden to Mortal Kombat X is still shocking news to us.

Ed Boon and the team at NetherRealm Studios have announced that Earthrealm's protector and god of thunder, Raiden, is making a triumphant return in Mortal Kombat X, IGN reports. NetherRealm unveiled Raiden's gameplay trailer during the Injustice: Gods Among Us grand finals at Evo 2014. Series co-creator and fatality advocate Ed Boon showed off Raiden's distinct gameplay changes for the crowds at Evo.

Mortal Kombat X features three distinct combat styles for each of its characters. For Raiden, his Displacer style is about utility and trickery as the thunder god's teleports are now his bread and butter, with less of a focus on his lightning attacks. Raiden's Thunder God style focuses on some very flashy combos that get additional hits from his spark-filled limbs. Storm Lord Raiden can send out multiple thunder grenades that explode on impact. Once two or more have been placed, a chain of lightning will link together each bomb, making Storm Lord perfect for those who want area control and wish to play keep-away.

We also get some of Raiden's background with this unveiling. Raiden is back but won't be as prevalent in the Mortal Kombat X story as he was throughout the campaign mode of Mortal Kombat 9, where he tried to unify Earth's forces against Outworld and ultimately had to kill Liu Kang and fight Shao Kahn himself. The story mode of Mortal Kombat X will arc across multiple time frames, depicting events as early as five years after MK9 and the subsequent years until we reach Mortal Kombat X's plot. MKX main temporal setting is 25 years after the events of MK9. We also get a bit of clue as to Kotal Kahn's powers since he references being a sun god in comparison to Raiden's powers during the trailer.

Of course, it wouldn't be Mortal Kombat unless we get to see a fatality. As expected, Raiden's new fatality is both shocking and eye-popping, if you catch our drift. We also get to see both Raiden and Kotal Kahn's X-ray attacks.

Mortal Kombat X is due out sometime in 2015 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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