I'm really disappointed by what they chose to do to Sindel in the new Mortal Kombat game. Baffled is another word. Sometimes outright pissed, though right now too tired for that. It just genuinely baffles me in a game that has otherwise humanized and deepened most characters it's reworked, giving Kitana and Scorpion complete narrative arcs in MK11, and adding extra nuance to the well-trod dynamic of Raiden and Liu Kang, they've just made her a cardboard cutout of a 'gold digger' villain.

They strip away Sindel's complexity, her backstory, her heroism and her choices, and make her a 2D cartoon villain with less personality than classic Disney enemies. She has no motivation at all. She has vague goals that they can use as an excuse, but they're...bad. 'She uh...she wants to date someone powerful. She wants people to kiss her feet.' Is the kind of answer a student that hasn't thought about their writing assignment at ALL offers when put on the spot. It's a Rob Liefield level answer.

It's also really confusing because their argument is that this is not a retcon, it's a 'reveal.' That's obviously nonsensical because of how clear the previous text was on Sindel being a good person under mind control who breaks free, but it's even nonsensical in the reboot. If the argument is 'she only pretended to be under duress to lull people into complacency' then why...why did she sacrifice herself to save Earth? Was it important to her to have people lulled into complacency while she was dead? Because now that she's been resurrected she's loud and proud about being evil and manipulative.

They argue that it 'didn't make sense' for her to be a good guy based on her looks and gameplay. Keep in mind that they have no such trouble with the literal flaming skull demon from hell. They also argue that they're giving her 'agency.' By...erasing her victimhood but also erasing her personality, motivations and complexity and smirkingly telling us 'no she wanted it all along, I promise.' It's a bad look in a game where Shao Kahn gets a ton of story weight and complexity. That story weight makes no bones about who he is and how he's a monster, but in the context of Sindel's character butchery it leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

I have to assume that certain devs/writers and various social media personnel were given a party line to trot out. I don't understand why any writer would make these choices, but I enjoyed and respected a lot of the writing in MK11 and I know this is a peril of a large writing staff. But not gonna lie, I wouldn't have bought this game if I knew this about it.