Konquest

Konquest is a special one-player mode featured in the latest Mortal Kombat games. Konquest Mode debuted in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and later returned in Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon''.

Konquest is one of the major gameplay modes of each of the games it is a part of. Gameplay varies between games, but the consistent factors remain that it is a way to master the moves and combinations of various characters and unlock secrets of the game.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
In Deadly Alliance, Konquest consisted of a series of missions to complete with every character in the game. In between each sequence, a video of a monk moving between various locations on the path of Konquest is shown, but this has no actual bearing on the gameplay itself other than to simulate the sense of a journey.

In the beginning, the player must finish 8 tutorials with Sub-Zero. Upon completing them, the player is instructed to complete a specific set of tasks with each character, which vary from pulling off difficult combos to defeating opponents. Upon completing each mission (of a starting difficulty for each character that increases per mission), the player is rewarded with a number of Koins that can be utilized to open coffins in the Krypt and unlock secrets in the game.

Unlockables
Upon completing all the missions with each character, the player is congratulated and informed that he/she has been granted the use of an Elemental known as Blaze, as a graphic of the fighter is shown going through a meditative routine in the middle of the Lava Shrine arena. Once this is completed, the player can then select Blaze and Mokap from the character selection screen, provided that they have opened the character's respective chests in the Krypt. Blaze and Mokap have no Konquest missions to complete in the game. These two characters are the only ones with three hand-to-hand martial arts styles, therefore they cannot use any weapons.

Mortal Kombat: Deception
In Deception, Konquest has been drastically changed from being a mission-based mode into an RPG-style mode. It has been also expanded into a full fledged storyline focusing on the life of the new character in the game, Shujinko. Shujinko is initially trained by Bo' Rai Cho in a village in Earthrealm before being summoned by an apparition who claims to be an emissary of the Elder Gods known as Damashi. He gives Shujinko the gift to absorb the powers of any fighter he comes into contact with, which leads Shujinko to train with many fighters along the way in order to become a better fighter himself.

Story
Shujinko begins that quest as soon as possible, traveling to the Nexus, a special navigation zone created by the Elder Gods to aid their Champion in his quest. Through this navigation zone, Shujinko ventures into all six of the Mortal Kombat Realms (Earthrealm, Netherrealm, Chaosrealm, Outworld, Orderrealm and Edenia) to retrieve the mystical Kamidogu, special priceless weapons placed in their respective realms by the Elder Gods. After retrieving each Kamidogu, a new realm is opened that Shujinko can access, and Damashi appears to help guide Shujinko in his quest.

After completing his task (which takes the vast majority of Shujinko's lifetime), the Dragon King resumes his physical form and appears to Shujinko in the Nexus. He reveals Damashi to be nothing more than a deceptive illusion, then reveals his true intention of collecting the Kamidogu for himself before stealing them. He threatens to attack Shujinko, who escapes out the portal to Earthrealm, at which point he discovers that the Dragon King doesn't pursue him.

Deception's opening cinematic is set directly after both Deadly Alliance and the events at the end of Deception's Konquest mode.

Unlockables
Upon completing Konquest Mode, the player is congratulated and rewarded with the ability to play as Shujinko in Arcade and Versus Mode, as well as Chess Kombat.

Side Quests
In addition, side quests are available throughout the game that can be completed between missions or after all of them have been completed. Completion of these quests, which vary from delivering a letter to competing against a fellow Kombatant at a severe handicap, will result in the rewarding of a number of coins to the player. All of these quests are meaningless with regards to the completion of the Konquest Node, but several of them (including the retrieval of Shinnok's amulet and returning it to Shinnok) allude to important points in the history of Mortal Kombat.

Also, there are various chests, floating objects, and approachable characters in the various realms. Upon opening the chests, Koins or a special key will be unlocked to be used at the Krypt. Collecting floating objects (such as movie cameras and musical notes) as well as defeating specific characters will result in special keys being unlocked, while defeating other characters will result in Koin rewards. The keys retrieved in Konquest mode unlock special chests that include secret characters, alternative outfits, secret arenas, character biographies, arena soundtracks, and more.

The only fightable/trainable characters in this game are characters who are fully installed for Arcade Mode and Versus Mode. All other characters, while present, have no significant bearing other than conversation or perhaps a side mission. The notable exceptions are Jax, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Quan Chi, Shang Tsung and Sonya Blade, all of whom you can compete against despite them not being accessible in the game.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
In Armageddon, Konquest has been changed from being an RPG-style mode into an adventure game-like mode, once again following the new character, Taven, on a quest to defeat Blaze. Unlike Deadly Alliance and Deception, Armageddon's Konquest follows Taven's journey concurrent to the actual Arcade Mode of the game.

Konquest begins with the backstory of Argus, protector god of Edenia and father of Taven and Daegon, and his wife Delia. Delia foresees Armageddon in the future, prompting the Elder Gods to commission Argus to build a pyramid to safeguard against Armageddon. In return, Argus will receive a position as an Elder God. Argus has each of his sons encased in a monolith with a dragon to watch over them. Taven is paired with Orin, a gold dragon, while Daegon is paired with Caro, a red dragon.

Story
The action begins with Taven being awakened at the signal from Blaze. He travels through Earthrealm in an attempt to retrieve the gifts left behind for him by his father and mother. During this time he begins to discover much of what has gone on while he has slumbered in the monolith, including the fact that Daegon was accidentally awakened significantly prior to Taven and has already begun his quest.

First, Taven travels through the Botan Jungle, where his father's temple is located. After defeating Kobra and his Black Dragon clan, he goes into the temple. After finding no gift from his father (due to his brother taking both), Taven is kidnapped by the Tekunin clan of cyborg ninjas. Sektor, the leader of the Tekunin, demands Taven to give him informations about the message he received from the temple. Taven refuses, but Sektor ordered his cyborgs to increase power and harming Taven to force him into revealing the message. However, thanks to the Special Forces, who were attacking the Tekunin Warship at the same time, Taven was able to fend off his opponents, defeat Sektor and escape from the warship.

After escaping from the warship, Taven lands on an icy island known as Arctika. In his way, he encounters a group of monks. They demand him to rescue their abbot who was kidnapped by the Tengu clan, a rival of the Lin Kuei clan. Taven agrees and rescues the abbot in exchange of revealing the location of his mother's temple. The mysterious abbot reveals to Taven the location of the temple, and Taven leaves and encounters the leader of the Tengu, Wu Lae. Taven defeats him and continues his journey. After that, Taven goes to his mother's temple, only to find it occupied by the Lin Kuei.

Taven enters the temple and fights various Lin Kuei warriors. After entering a room, he finds an ice coffin and accidentally breaks it, awakening Frost, who was sealed in the coffin. Frost quickly attacks Taven, but is defeated and she leaves the chamber. Taven continues, but is confronted by Sub-Zero. Taven defeats Sub-Zero, but the two fighters eventually teams up. After the fight, Sub-Zero informs about a sealed door within the temple which is impossible to open. Taven, however, tries to open the door and succeeds, receiving the armor from his mother. Later, the temple is attacked by an army of demonic ninjas, led by Noob Saibot and Smoke. Taven and Sub-Zero defeat Noob Saibot and Smoke. After Noob's defeat, Sub-Zero tells Taven that Noob is actually his older brother, who was corrupted in the Netherrealm after his death. Sub-Zero also informs Taven about a mysterious clan known as the Red Dragon that is located in Charred Mountain.

Taven returns to his cavern and demands Orin to send him to the Charred Mountain. After Taven is transported to the mountain, he is confronted by some of the Red Dragon's agents. After defeating them, Taven enters the Red Dragon's caverns. After clearing the caverns, Taven encounters his brother Daegon. Daegon reveals to Taven that he was the one who formed the Red Dragon clan, as well as creating hybrid mutants using Caro's DNA. Daegon leaves, ordering Mavado to stop Taven at all costs. Taven defeats Mavado and encounters countless mutant fighters. He also faces Reptile, who was trying to seize Caro. Taven stops Reptile and frees Caro, who reveals the history of the Red Dragon clan to him. He also tells Taven that Daegon was the one who murdered their parents. Enraged, Taven demands Caro to send him to the Netherrealm in order to seek out Daegon.

In the Netherrealm, Taven is confronted by several inhabitants of the corrupted realm. He then witnesses Shinnok being severely attacked by Li Mei. Believing that Shinnok is still an Elder God, he decides to rescue Shinnok and defeats Li Mei. Shinnok tells Taven that his spire is attacked by demons and wraiths. Taven enters the spire and defeats various enemies, including Havik, Sheeva and finally Kintaro. After reaching the top, Shinnok transports Taven to Earthrealm. Once Taven is transported, Daegon suddenly appears in the spire. It is later revealed that Shinnok and Daegon are working together. Shinnok also reveals that everything was a test for Taven and the attackers are nothing more than illusions.

Once Taven is transported to Earthrealm, he discovers that Orin was mortally wounded by Quan Chi. Orin reveals that Quan Chi headed to Outworld and immediately transports Taven to Outworld before dying. In Outworld, Taven makes his way to Shao Kahn's fortress, defeating many of Kahn's finest fighters, like Mileena and Goro. After defeating Kahn's general Reiko, Taven spies on Kahn's throne room, discovering that he forms an alliance with Onaga, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. They later depart for Edenia. However, Taven is confronted by the corrupted Elder God, Raiden. Raiden reveals that he struck a deal with Shao Kahn to ensure Earthrealm's independence. After defeating Raiden, Taven makes his way to Edenia.

After reaching his home at Edenia, Taven is confronted by Scorpion's undead clan. Taven defeats them before being attacked by Scorpion, who transports him to his lair at the Netherrealm. Taven defeats Scorpion. However, Daegon appears in the same place. Before Taven could attack his brother Daegon, Blaze (In his Deadly Alliance form) appears, preventing the confrontation between them and explaining that the final battle is not supposed to take place here. He transports them back to the crater of Armageddon, where they fiercely fight. Taven gains the upper hand and kills his brother. Afterwards, Blaze appears again, telling Taven that the two brothers were not supposed to fight each other. Blaze finally teleports himself atop the pyramid and transforms into his larger form. Thus, Taven takes the Drakeswords from Daegon and uses them to defeat Blaze. After a long battle, Taven emerges victorious.

In the ending, Taven reveals that his victory did not do what was planned. Instead of his armor either killing all of the kombatants or stripping them of their powers, it does nothing to upset the path to Armageddon. Taven then resolves to use his new status as Protector God of Edenia to prevent Armageddon long enough for a solution to be reached.

Unlockables
Mmusic icons and chests are scattered throughout the course of Konquest in Armageddon. There is only one type of Kurrency in this game. The music icons unlock the soundtrack of course music, and the chests mostly contain alternate costumes and hidden arenas. In addition, over the course of playing the game, Taven unlocks several special moves (similar to those in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks that he can use exclusively in Konquest).

Also, there is a set of sixty special items commonly known as "Relics", one for each character in the game (with the exception of Taven, Chameleon and Khameleon). For each increment of 10 items collected, a special item is collected:


 * 10 Relics: Unlocking Meat.
 * 20 Relics: Obtaining 20,000 Koins.
 * 30 Relics: Unlocking Daegon.
 * 40 Relics: Unlocking the Pyramid of Argus arena.
 * 50 Relics: Unlocking Blaze.
 * 60 Relics: Unlocking everything in the Krypt.

In addition, completing Konquest mode once unlocks Taven for playing in Arcade Kombat and Versus Kombat.