I remember that a few months before MKX was being teased, Boon made a tweet with a pic of the Shaolin Monks strat guide on his desk saying "Who left this on my desk? Do they think we're doing an HD remake or something"
Then nothing else on it was followed up. NRS usually says it works on other projects during the end of their current one. Wouldn't surprise me if SMHD was on the way to gauge interest in a sequel
why does it have to be one of the other? why not both? why cant MK11 be primarily a fighting game but have a more engaging in depth story mode where you can roam around vast 3d landscapes then when it comes to a conflict the camera pans back into 2D mode so you can fight like a normal MK game