Summary
Mortal Kombat 1has a robust cast of characters, engaging gameplay, and many modes to keep you busy as you try climbing the ranked leaderboards or unlocking the best-looking gear for your favorite characters. While the gruesomeness and systems deserve praise, so do the visuals and stages, especially considering how varied and beautiful they are.
There are 24 stages total in Mortal Kombat 1, all offering a unique flair that helps keep things feeling fresh no matter how much you play. From snowy battlefields to gorgeous gardens to grotesque pits of flesh, there is something for everyone,making this one of the most varied stage selections in the genre.
Updated Jun 21, 2025, by Seth Parmer:The Khaos Reigns expansion has been popping off in Mortal Kombat 1, adding many excellent fighters into the ever-expanding roster, along with many new stages for you to execute unspeakable acts of violence in front of, giving us the perfect opportunity to revisit this list and add all the new arenas into the rankings, including the super-secret Field stage!
Khaoseum
Kicking off the list is Khaoseum, a stage that was added as part of the Khaos Reigns expansion, featuring an onlooking Titan Havik and a sea of death and destruction. It’s an immensely cool arena from a lore perspective, but the green aura that surrounds everything can detract from its otherwise stellar aspects, plummeting it to the bottom.
Khaoseum, overall, is an excellent stage, but it is not on par with some of the game’s best. We certainly won’t be disappointed if this arena comes up in the rotation, but we just wish it had a bit less green, as it drowns out everything else at a glance. Something the Night variant deals with quite well!
The Gateway
While The Gateway is another fascinating stage from a lore standpoint, it lacks the visual flair the majority of the other arenas have, making it take a dive in this list. That’s not to say it looks terrible or anything of the sort. It’s just a bit too plain in comparison to the rest.
Both the Dusk and Dawn variants of The Gateway seem to lack that special ‘something’ that’s present in all other arenas. However, it is oddly calming and still gorgeous, thanks to the overall art direction and raw graphical fidelity of Mortal Kombat 1!
The Maze
Another stage added during the Khaos Reigns expansion was The Maze, a dark dungeon filled with deadly traps that you can see going off in the background as you fight for your life in the foreground. Overall, this arena is very good. It’s just a tad too dark for us.
The swaying axe pendulums and the barrage of fire in the background pair nicely with the piles of bones and ash scattered throughout, showcasing the environmental storytelling we all know and love that NRS does so well with their arenas. It’s a solid stage overall!
Treasure Chamber
Next up is the Treasure Chamber stage, another arena that is incredibly beautiful but oddly lacking in some areas that make it place near the bottom of the list. Whether you’re on the arena’s Smelter On or Off variant, you will notice that there’s simply not a whole lot going on here.
Treasure Chamber is at least slightly more unique and interesting than The Gateway, but it is still very basic compared to most of the other stages in the game. Still, it’s a Mortal Kombat 1 stage, so it will at least be stunning from a visual perspective!
Living Forest
Following that is the Living Forest arena, where things get exciting, thanks to the trees with faces that span as far as the eye can see. Like most stages in Mortal Kombat 1, there are two variants for the Living Forest stage, with the Day and Storm being your options.
The Day and Storm variants of the Living Forest are incredible, with the Day version having bright, vibrant colors splashed throughout the forest as beams of light pierce through the trees. On the other hand, the Storm variant has a more muted color palette with a foggy atmosphere and harsh winds, making it an excellent contrast!
Corrupted Forest
Much like the Living Forest, the Corrupted Forest occurs in the same forested region, except Dark Magic has ambushed it, leaving a toxic hue of deep green fire behind. While the Morning variant of the Living Forest is exceptional, both the Day and Night versions of the Corrupted Forest give it a slight edge.
you’re able to see the dim green eyes of the faces on the trees glowing, which makes the bright green flames spreading throughout the forest in the background stand out much brighter in contrast. The green embers dancing up the screen are also an excellent touch, making this haunted and desolate forest variant feel oddly alive.
The Flesh Pits
Speaking of haunted and desolate areas, next up is The Flesh Pits, a remarkably gruesome stage in Mortal Kombat 1 that features horrendous experiments done by Shang Tsung that can either be animated or not, depending on which variant of the arena you choose.
The Flesh Pits harkens back to the early stages of Mortal Kombat, featuring a sinister and demonic presence and atmosphere, making it one of the best offerings in the game. Unfortunately, the game has much better arenas, making this one fall short of the top.
Ying Fortress
Ying Fortress can either be experienced at the crack of Dawn or when it’s Snowing, and we much prefer the variant with Snow blowing through the gates on the long bridge leading to a tall temple in the background.
This stage is beautiful and showcases just how breathtaking Mortal Kombat 1 can be when you focus on anything but the over-the-top gore and dismemberment of bodies. How the flames contrast against the snow-covered environments makes it a solid experience overall!
The Fire Temple
Directly opposite the snowy Ying Forest is The Fire Temple, serving as the home of the great Liu Kang. This stage has a Night and Early Dawn variant, both being remarkably stunning, offering some of the best visuals you can get in Mortal Kombat 1.
While there are better-looking stages, the piece of serenity offered by this arena is truly one of a kind, making it one of our favorites of the staggering 19 stages in the game. While there isn’t much going on in this stage, it absolutely has that special ‘something’ that some of the previous entries are missing.
Cage Mansion
Cage Mansion is the next in line, offering a view of the California skyline at either Sunrise or Night, depending on the version you decide to pick. Both are striking and have slight differences, with the Sunrise variant having a sizeable pink flamingo floatie in the pool, which is replaced by a rubber duckie in the Night version.
As expected from a hilltop mansion in Malibu, California, this arena is gorgeous and deserves this placement on the list. While some maps do it much better, you cannot deny that Johnny Cage has one of the nicest-looking places in the world of Mortal Kombat.
