Would I need to have seen the first one to follow it?
I’m not sure how serious this question is, but no, not really. There are a few characters that return from that movie and a bit of backstory but it’s all recapped in this one.
There wasn’t even a fighting tournament in the first one – that happens in this one – so in retrospect the whole first movie feels like a glorified prologue for this one.
It does mean though that there isn’t much of Scorpion and Sub-Zero in this sequel as they were the focus of the first movie.