Are you a fan of violent video games? If so, no game is more appropriate for you than the upcoming "Mortal Kombat X."

The game is being built for the latest and greatest consoles, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, as well as Windows PC, and the Mortal Kombat series has never looked so nasty. The new game will also be available for previous-generation consoles, but the fatalities and X-Ray moves you can unleash on your opponents won't look nearly as good.

So what's behind this violent orgy of blood, guts and knockouts? Kotaku Australia wanted to find out, so it got with NetherRealm Studios art director Steve Beran at E3 2014 in Los Angeles to find out what had inspired all the violent imagery.

"It's almost like a really weird artform, seeing the musculature of the characters," Beran said. "It's kind of this gruesome beauty to it, like, 'Oh my God, that was really nasty, but it was really cool seeing the guy's skin peel away and seeing the muscles in his face and a spike going through his head.'"

That beauty may not appeal to everyone, particularly overprotective parents and people who think violent video games turn gamers into real-world miscreants, but "Mortal Kombat X" is all tongue-in-cheek.

"It's obviously very dark and gory, but at the same time, there's always a sense of humor to Mortal Kombat that it's almost unavoidable," Beran said. "Because obviously you don't want to make a snuff film or anything, but at the same time, it's all tongue-in-cheek, and I think at the beginning, people are kind of like 'eeeeh' and cringe, but eventually they're laughing and applauding when they see it for the first time. That's something I'm really proud of, that we found that good balance. Showing it at E3 for the first time and having it explode and getting so much attention is more than flattering."

Still, while some of the characters' outlandish moves and "Finish Him" lines will cause many a gamer to chuckle, "MK10" isn't meant to be a complete farce.

"It could get silly real fast," Beran added. "You always have to put a filter on. I think [Mortal Kombat series co-creator and NetherRealm Studios creative director] Ed Boon is kind of the filter for that. We'll take in a lot of ideas from the whole team, but there is a line where [we say], 'OK, that's getting goofy' and ... "

Kotaku's Tina Amini asked how NetherRealm determines where that line is.

"It's hard to draw the line," Beran said. "You obviously want a reaction, but if something seems too easy, or it seems like a cheap shot or not terribly creative, that's usually the line we draw where it's like, 'That's not worth doing.' But luckily, we have enough voices at the studio that people feel free enough to bring up ideas and they're thick-skinned enough, too, if their idea gets shot down."

Preorder the 10th iteration of Mortal Kombat here.

Check out "MK10" in action courtesy of GameSpot:

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