With its arenas full of life and depth, and fully customizable characters: Mortal Kombat 11 is literally looking great! So much so, some fans have been fooled into thinking the game is made with the latest version of Unreal Engine 4. That isn't the case, though, as one NetherRealm Studios developer clarified!

To whoever keeps changing the Mortal Kombat 11 Wikipedia page to claim the game uses UE4... while I appreciate the intention and while we take this as a compliment, MK11 is built on NRS's custom UE3 version. And yes, our ver of UE3 is radically different from Epic's at this pt.

— Jon Greenberg (@Jontology) March 5, 2019

NetherRealm Graphics Programming Lead Jon Greenberg cleared up confusion on Twitter, clarifying that that all development is still using a heavily customized version of Unreal Engine 3!

The developer first adopted UE3 for the making of Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe [full story]. Ed Boon elaborated on updates to the engine in 2013, telling the Chicago Tribune, "We're always making advancements to our version of the Unreal Engine 3 graphics engine". Now over a decade on from their first use, Greenberg says the version they're using is "radically different from Epic's".

Mortal Kombat 11 ships for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch starting April 23rd. You can get an earlier hands-on look by signing up for the upcoming Online Beta Stress Test. Disuss graphics and more by jumping into the Mortal Kombat 11 forum!

The recent Story Mode Trailer showed how Kronika will bend time back to Mortal Kombat's past in Mortal Kombat 11, but if you thought that only meant revisiting the original trilogy - think again! Deadly Alliance is clearly on somebody's mind, adding two more references to the recent Hsu Hao watch billboard!

Sadly, the wheels of time roll on, and not every character from Mortal Kombat's recently retro past gets their chance to shine anew. When you can't have it all, it's nice to see the odd Easter egg reference. The latest 3D Kombat era nod goes to Mokap, who seems to have got into the coffee game, if one of Cassie Cage's intro animations is any indication!

"Mokap Mokha" is a nice tip of the hat to the Deadly Alliance unlockable character who originally paid homage to longtime digitzed actor, and motion capture artist, Carlos Pesina! The last time we saw the ball-covered Mokap, he was part of a playable compilation roster in Armageddon. We'd love to see him interact with Johnny Cage sometime, but in recent games Mokap seems to have lost work to the eponymous "Stuntman", and Johnny's stunt double.

The MK11 Twitter account also revisited a joke from Deadly Alliance's Krypt, recreating KanO's sugar toasted oats for National Cereal Day.

The original mock cereal box featured cartoon art, but this time it's Kano straight from the latest game who's ready to tuck-in. We're sure every boy in Australian dreams of being on a cereal box with "blood colored strawberry milk". No indications if the fun reference will appear in MK11 or its new Krypt.

Enjoying the nods to MK's slightly obscure past? Who else would you like to see referenced and how? Tell us all about on the Mortal Kombat 11 forum, or get misty for the recently retro by doing a timewarp to the 3D Kombat Klassics forum!

March 8th is International Women's Day and Mortal kombat 11 celebrated in style with a render poster spotlighting some of the kickass ladies who've been revealed for the upcoming sequel!

Shared to Twitter, the poster is comprised of previously released character art for Sonya Blade, Skarlet, Cassie Cage, and Jacqui Briggs. It also notably includes the living incarnation of Jade, seen in the recent Story Mode Trailer and previous Kombat Kast!

MK is famed for having some of the most iconic female characters in the genre. Which fighting filly is your most anticipated so far, and who do you hope to see again? Hit the Mortal Kombat 11 forum to tell us your favourite!

Jumping out of the latest Story Mode trailer and into her own spotlight! Jacqui Briggs is fighting for the future with a fresh new look in the latest Mortal Kombat 11 character render! Check it out:

From drab to fab, Jacqui has received a significant visual update, wearing the latest Special Forces light tactical armor, juiced up fighting gauntlets, and a new hairstyle that gives the heroine a fresh sense of maturity and personality. The recent story mode trailer also revealed one of Jacqui's new fatalities, showing remote-detonated tack-on bombs blowing apart a returning Erron Black - piece by piece.

Jacqui proved to be the least popular new addition coming out of Mortal Kombat X, suffering from a lack of distinguishing design, fighting gimmicks, or strong characteristics in a cast of very colourful characters. Comparisons to Jax, Cassie, and Sektor proved unflattering. An MK Online User Poll from December last year rated her 9/9, with just 3.4% of the vote.

So far all signs indicate MK11 will deliver on a much needed update to Jacqui, further differentiating her from Cassie Cage, and the other Special Forces fighters! We eagerly await more gameplay to see just how thorough the update has been! How do you like the new-look daughter of Jax? Check out Jacqui Briggs in official hi-res story mode screenshot and join the discussion on the Mortal Kombat 11 forum!

Pre-orders will get players early Beta Access to Mortal Kombat 11 at the end of the month, but a limited sign-up process is now open for a stress test of online code beginning next week! Details:

The Online Stress Test will take place on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One acros three days of kombat on Friday, March 15th to Sunday, March 17th. For practical reasons, the official sign-up is only open to players in the United States.

Were you accepted to take part in the test? Tell us all about it on the Mortal Kombat 11 forum and come back to share reports of your experience next week!