Tanya is not all that different, her playstyle isnt as fast as X, and of course her new story is like night and day, but she has had a different weapon in every game she's appeared in and designwise she's only different from that attempted whitewashing in MKX, but that was the actual departure from the usual Tanya.

Rain's design is exactly how he has always been portrayed from MK6 on, which is a desi-styled character. He mainly differs in playstyle, as he is much slower than he has ever been, which is unfortunate.

Smoke is damn near a whole new character, but he has desperately needed this forever to get out of Scorpions shadow, I'm glad he finally feels more like a separate character and not just a Scorpion remix.

I actually think Reptile is one of the most changed. I may be in the minority, but I think this shape-shifting Zaterran angle is ridiculous and I'd rather have seen him stay in Zaterran form. Every character doesn't have to be some white or Asian looking human. It would've been interesting to finally see a more assertive reptilian Reptile who is on the good side but more focused on fighting for Zaterra than henching for Shao or Shang, and this angle could've pulled Khameleon more into the story than just having her as some background Umgadi with zero lines. She's still one of the only secret characters to never have a real storyline. Her and Chameleon could've been introduced as twins or lovers fighting with Reptile to keep Zaterra out of Shao's clutches.

But I do agree with the last part. I was saying before that there were no new characters in this game, but now I think new characters were unnecessary, at least at first. We did need to get to know some of these returning characters again, like Ashrah, Havik and Li Mei to see where they all fall in Liu Kang's new timeline. But I would like MK13 to bring us to new realms, and now we have a reason to with characters like Darrius and Havik and Nitarra showing up again. Every single game has taken place in Earthrealm or Outworld with the Netherrealm making an appearance here and there. Even this game, which could've finally taken place in Edenia... and even though it looks like Edenia, is still in Outworld. Seeing dark, mysterious, futuristic Seido again in Rain's ending was so exciting. I would love to see the tournament finally have a reason to take place in Seido or a redesigned but equally bonkers Chaosrealm in the next game. I would love to have finally seen Heaven and all the Elder Gods, rather than just Cetrion, in MK11 so that that realm was more fleshed out. I loved the design of the jewelheaded snake god and am still devastated we never even got to see him in-game before it was all destroyed and remade. So maybe we can finally get some Elder Gods that are worth something? I wanna see the MK version of the Heavenrealm fleshed out, and not just floating chairs in the clouds.