Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has always been such a malleable franchise. You could take it in any direction, apply it to any genre or tone, and millions around the world would still click with it. Whether its the bloody revenge story of The Last Ronin comic or the wonderfully charming Mutant Mayhem film, both manage to go in drastically different directions while still feeling at home in the broader series. In fact, the franchise started out as a comic book parody of Daredevil from Marvel Comics before becoming the media titan we know of today, with the latest release being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate.
The idea that the Ninja Turtles franchise can adapt to any genre without difficulty also applies to its numerous video game adaptations. There have been fighting games, beat-em-ups, platformers, and soon, even an RPG that features the titular characters. While these games all have varying levels of quality, they are constantly able bring to the Turtles to new audiences, regardless of their demographic. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is an example of that continued endeavor.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a roguelite where you can play as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and even Casey Jones as they attempt to save Splinter from Shredder and a new mysterious ally of his. The game initially released in 2023 before getting ports on Nintendo Switch, PC, and now PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Why has this game received so much love? How does Super Evil Megacorp manage to combine a challenging genre with a franchise designed mainly for kids? I’m thrilled to say that, despite some minor issues, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a fantastic time, whether you’re a newcomer to the franchise and roguelite genre or not.
Stop Shredder, Save Splinter, Save the Day
Unlike the most recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, Mutants Unleashed, the story of Splintered Fate isn’t limited by the content of a specific film adaptation. The narrative begins with Leonardo being ambushed by the villainous Shredder while on patrol, only to discover that his mentor and surrogate father, Splinter, has been captured and trapped in another dimension. The turtles must band together to defeat Shredder, save Splinter, and uncover the mystery of his disappearance.
The narrative is fairly compelling despite its simplicity. The story of the Turtles having to work together to fight the Shredder isn’t particularly new, but the added layers that Splintered Fate introduces are enough to keep you hooked across its entire playtime. By its very nature, a roguelite is designed to be constantly replayed. While death is punishing, its a necessary piece of the puzzle that allows the story to continue. Every time I was sent back to the Turtle Headquarters, I always enjoyed taking a bit of time to talk to the game’s supporting characters.
Speaking of characters, the cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is one of its biggest strengths story-wise. Of course there are the mainstays: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, Casey Jones, April O’Neil, Splinter, and Shredder. If you’re familiar with the franchise, you’ll likely recognize lesser known characters such as the villainous Karai, the apprentice of Shredder. For the die-hard fans, there are even some extremely obscure NPCs like Leatherhead, Genghis Frog, or Nobody.
The visuals and style really helps to bring these characters to life. There’s a nice cel-shaded comic book-esque look to the designs that feels right at home for the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I also liked that all of the characters are voiced. A lot of games in the series only have select scenes that are voiced, but here, every line of dialogue has been brought to life by a cast of iconic voice talent. I was extremely surprised to see Roger Craig Smith and Yuri Lowenthal provide the voices of Raphael and Michelangelo in particular.
I think my only real problem with the narrative of Splintered Fate is the writing. There are several lines that will likely make you cringe at a few points, such as “Donnie’s big-brain energy is awesome!” However, this isn’t really new for the Ninja Turtles franchise and is something I quickly moved past as the story continued. The voice acting delivery certainly helps to curb these issues.
Overall, I think the story of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is very well done. While it isn’t the most complicated or filled with gripping character development and writing, you have to remember that the franchise is, at its core, designed for kids. This applies to both the narrative, but also the gameplay. The roguelite structure is very well adapted if you’re a newcomer who is picking up the game as a fan of the Ninja Turtles. That said, if you’re a veteran of the genre, you may find its mechanics severely lacking compared to other games.
A Dumbed Down Roguelite That Still Has Depth
For those unaware, the premise of a roguelite is that you are meant to run through a series of wave-based combat encounters without being able to regenerate your health or respawn after death. Once you die, you have to restart the run all over again and all upgrades and unique currency you acquired in that run disappear. However, unlike a roguelike, a roguelite allows you to unlock permanent upgrades that you can keep between runs.
The most popular entry in the genre is undoubtedly Hades, but if you’ve somehow never heard of either Hades or the broader roguelite genre, Splintered Fate is a great introduction for newcomers. All things considered, the game does a great job of adapting the roguelite genre to one more easily digestible for younger audiences, while still managing to implement its own unique flavor compared to other entries in the genre.
In Splintered Fate, you pick from a cast of five characters. There’s Leonardo, the stoic leader of the group, Raphael, the hard-headed blunt instrument who punches his way through problems, Michelangelo, the life of the party and the heart of the team, and Donatello, the smartest Turtle who believes that science is the solution to any predicament. There’s also Casey Jones, available via DLC, whose an aggressive sports-loving vigilante that serves as the honorary fifth turtles.
Each character plays completely different and offers their own unique gameplay loop. For instance, Casey is more focused on projectiles that weaken enemies so he can quickly go in for the kill. On the flipside, Leonardo is more damage-focused at the cost of less health compared to the likes of Donatello. This, in of itself, is a unique layer of strategy offered by Splintered Fate, as most other roguelites don’t have multiple playable characters.
Another unique dimension to the gameplay is the addition of a co-op feature. While I never had a chance to try it out personally, it’s a fantastic option for players who want to play with family or friends. In general, the accessibility options of Splintered Fate are fantastic, and I especially liked that you can adjust your difficulty to be easier via options in the settings or to be harder after you beat your first run.
The choice of characters to select isn’t the only form of strategy that players must employ in a run. After an encounter, you can pick from a selection of different rewards. These include specific currency, one of which you can use during a run and the other you can only use death, upgrades, and new abilities that have various elemental bonuses.
Once your run ends, you also must pick and choose the permanent upgrades you want to purchase. The most vital of which can raise your health, your attack, and even offer a free revive after you die. These upgrades are instrumental, especially against the harder bosses, but where Splintered Fate shines is that you can pick upgrades at your own whim and choose what kind of playstyle you want to employ.
If you want to focus on damage, you can pick your upgrades entirely around raising your attack power and critical hit chance. If you instead want to maximize your defensive capabilities, you can focus entirely on healing and raising health points. Each playstyle has merits and allows for experimentation, making each playthrough completely unique per person.
This level of freedom, combined with the aforementioned accessibility, made Splintered Fate a great time for someone like me whose still relatively new to the genre. I had a blast playing the game and experimenting with the combat potential of characters such as Leonardo and Casey Jones. I started with the latter, due to my level for the character, but something just wasn’t clicking.
I then switched to Leonardo, and his higher damage, greater speed, and far-reaching attacks immediately felt more natural for my playstyle. I highly recommend players play around with the different characters and upgrades in order to find one that feels more fun to control. Splintered Fate truly comes alive when you’re constantly taking advantage of the game’s systems, simple though they may be.
Unfortunately, there are a few issues that keep Splintered Fate from reaching its full potential. For one, I didn’t really enjoy the game’s soundtrack. The soundtrack of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series features several extremely recognizable melodies, composed by mainstream legends such as Nine Inch Nails or beloved composers like Tee Lopes.
At its best, Splintered Fate‘s OST is very forgettable and lacks any melodies that players can latch onto. At its worst, its repetitive and will almost become grating as you are forced to listen to the same tracks over and over again, with no new songs being introduced even after several hours of playtime. It’s a huge shame for a franchise with such a recognizable music identity.
I also really wish there were more playable characters. There are numerous friendly NPCs that you encounter that feel like they’d be perfect additions to the gameplay formula. April O’Neil and Nobody especially would be especially fun to play as and would further add to the replayability and experimentation of Splintered Fate. While only having four characters to play as (five if you count DLC) is fine enough, with how many beloved characters are spread throughout the Ninja Turtles franchise, it feels like a major case of wasted potential.
Another issue I noticed is the abundance of bugs and glitches. Some of them are fairly minor, like frame drops and enemies that don’t despawn after the end of an encounter. The most egregious one I encountered was one where I was being an attacked by an enemy mid-cutscene, putting my run at a severe deficit as I was stuck at half health right as it was starting. Issues like these were extremely frustrating and have the potential to be game-breaking if they aren’t fixed.
The biggest issue though is that, despite Splintered Fate being a great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, I don’t think it’s a very good roguelite. Compared to the dozens of other games in the genre, all of which feature unique and exciting aesthetics and gameplay loops, Splintered Fate doesn’t really do anything that would make it worth purchasing if you’re a long-time fan of the genre.
Every gameplay feature I’ve just described is one that most roguelites also utilize. Even the addition of co-op and multiple playable characters is something you can find in other games, such as Risk of Rain. While Risk of Rain 2 is priced at $24.99, Splintered Fate costs $29.99. If you’re looking for an introduction to the genre, there are other titles that likely do the job better. The centerpiece of Splintered Fate truly is the focus on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aesthetic.
That said, the aesthetic in question adds so much charm and life to the entire game. The playable characters, the fun boss fights, the recognizable locations and NPCs from the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all a great treat for those fond of the franchise. Even if this may not be the most exciting roguelite available today, it is still a fantastic Ninja Turtles game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is Worthy of the Iconic Heroes in a Half-Shell
Over the last few years, I’ve found myself falling back into my love for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Whether its with the recent movies, TV shows, or comics, I adore how the series is able to tell so many different stories with drastically different tones while still feeling like they belong in the broader series.
This particularly applies to the medium of video games. The Turtles have had such a storied history in video games for the last thirty years, so the idea of a roguelite based on the series, in theory, is a match made in heaven. Thankfully, its a great match in execution as well.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a fantastic addition to the franchise’s expanded universe. The story is simple but still manages to tell a compelling story, filled with twists and turns and charming characters from throughout the series’ history. The gameplay is quite fun and offers both a perfect degree of experimentation and accessibility for those getting into the genre for the first time.
Yes, there are several issues with the game. There are several bugs and glitches, the soundtrack isn’t particularly memorable, and the fact there are only four playable characters feels like a missed opportunity considering how important different playstyles are to the entire experience. The main issue with Splintered Fate is that it doesn’t really do anything interesting compared to other roguelites and if you’re specifically looking for a great entry in the genre, whether you’re a veteran or newcomer, there are countless other options that do the job better.
With all that being said, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a great Ninja Turtles game, even if its a less than stellar roguelite game. I had a fantastic time with the game from beginning to end and had a blast seeing the world of mutant-filled world of New York in a new light. I would love to see Super Evil Megacorp build on its mix of the roguelite genre and the beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in future titles.
Disclaimer: Super Evil Megacorp provided Final Weapon with a PlayStation 5 copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate for review purposes.
