The fighting game I play daily is discounted on Xbox and PC for Cyber Monday — but act fast, that deal ends TODAY

Test your might. Those three words have defined generations of games, and it's certainly arguable that no fighting game franchise on the planet has the same recognition as Mortal Kombat.

If you're an Xbox player that has been itching to get some fatalities going and try out some new combos, then you're in luck, as Mortal Kombat 1 is just $39.99 at Target right now, a great discount from the $70 launch price. Windows PC players can also snag the game at a similar discount from GreenManGaming, which provides a Steam code.

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Why should you buy Mortal Kombat 1?

Mortal Kombat 1 Johnny Cage phone — He's just Cage. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Cyber Monday 2023

Cyber Monday deals at Windows Central — (Image credit: Windows Central)

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• Convertible 2-in-1 laptops
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Between Mortal Kombat 1, Capcom's Street Fighter 6, and the upcoming 10th Anniversary patch for Killer Instinct, 2023 is a phenomenal year into fighting games. While I've definitely played them before, this is the year I really jumped in and got serious about learning combos and understanding inputs. The game that has guided that the most is Mortal Kombat 1.

Mortal Kombat 1 is absolutely gorgeous, pushing the latest consoles and PC hardware to their limit with incredible visual fidelity. You can't go wrong on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5, or an appropriate PC. That visual detail doesn't complicate how good the core game is, with easy-to-learn but hard-to-master combos and strategies available for the whole growing roster. Plus, there's plenty of accessibility options and training options to help you feel comfortable no matter your skill level.

Not only do I play Mortal Kombat 1 practically every single day now, I even play it frequently with my brothers — I'm alternating Liu Kang and Raiden for my main right now, but I'm also really trying to learn Sindel — and it's been an awesome experience for all of us.

Now, that doesn't mean the game doesn't have faults. The microtransactions are awful, and as with any fighting game, you can expect to shell out extra money for the myriad DLC characters, of whom Omni-Man (go watch Invincible) is only the first.

Still, if you're only spending $40 on the game instead of $70, that changes the pricing dynamic, and it might be less egregious for you to then go buy the new characters after grabbing the game. But you don't have long to decide: At the time it was written, the deal was only going to be up for a couple of hours longer at GreenManGaming, and there's no telling when Target will run out of stock.

In my review of Mortal Kombat 1, I wrote that "It's a great time, with a gorgeously-detailed story mode that lives up to NetherRealm's prior entries. The gameplay is fun and easy to learn, with additions like the Kameo system shaking things up."

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Why should you buy Mortal Kombat 1?

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