Mortal Kombat 11's gory sounds are created in a soundproofed bank vault where if you murdered someone no one would ever know

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Ew, but at the same time...cool

Mortal Kombat 11 is one gory game. But hey, even with those dismembered limbs flying around everywhere and heads getting impaled on pikes, it still looks damned cool. C’mon, you’ve thought the same! Unsurprisingly when it comes to creating the sounds that match those attacks the sound engineers and audio technicians work their icky magic in a soundproofed bank vault, and if that’s not the basis for a horror movie I don’t know what is. You could probably murder someone in there and no one would ever know. Not that I’ve thought about it at all… promise! 

Our own Josh West had a chat with Ed Boon, co-creator of Mortal Kombat 11 and its Creative Director, and found out about this incredibly cool detail when he was walking around the NetherRealm studio. You can read his full preview of the game and why it’s not just a prettier Mortal Kombat X right here, and as much as I’m sure that they don’t actually use real organs and dismembered limbs to make those notorious gory sounds that make you wince, by golly I want to know what they use instead. 

Obviously they don’t use actual body parts, thankfully, instead sticking a plunger in a bucket of green slime to get that icky squelching effect you get when you rip someone’s innards out (as you do), smashing a watermelon to imitate the sound of a head splitting, with other bone snaps being horrifically recreated using fruit and veg. Let’s hope afterwards the sound designers eat them and get one of their five a day. If they still have an appetite, that is. 

Can't wait for Mortal Kombat 11? Here's a list of the best fighting games you can play right now, or look below to see the best open world games to dive into if you want something completely different!

Zoe Delahunty-Light
Zoe Delahunty-Light

While here at GamesRadar, Zoe was a features writer and video presenter for us. She's since flown the coop and gone on to work at Eurogamer where she's a video producer, and also runs her own Twitch and YouTube channels. She specialises in huge open-world games, true crime, and lore deep-dives.