Liu Kang
Upon his death in "Deadly Alliance", IGN's Jeremy Dunham noted that Liu Kang was killed as the series needed "'starting over' mentality", as he regarded Liu Kang as the series' strongest character. "Complex" remarked that the "Mortal Kombat" developers "finally found their groove again with "Deadly Alliance", which began by snapping Liu Kang's neck." "Game Informer" listed his death in their article about "characters that died under our watch" calling it a "shock" as Liu Kang was stated to be one of the "most loved" characters from the series.