Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate – A Comprehensive Review
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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) have captured the hearts of fans for decades, from their humble beginnings as comic book characters to becoming cultural icons through animated series, movies, and merchandise. Among the many adaptations, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate emerges as an exciting video game that brings the turtles back into action. This detailed review explores every aspect of the game, from gameplay mechanics and narrative to graphics and replayability, ensuring you get a complete understanding of what this title offers.
Gameplay: A Masterclass in Cooperative Action
One of the standout features of Splintered Fate is its cooperative gameplay. Players can embody Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, or Raphael, each bringing unique abilities and fighting styles to the battlefield. Whether you prefer Leonardo’s balanced approach, Raphael’s raw power, Donatello’s technical finesse, or Michelangelo’s agility, there is a character to suit every playstyle.
Core Mechanics
Combat: The game features a fluid combat system that blends button-mashing with tactical maneuvers. Players can chain combos, dodge incoming attacks, and execute powerful special moves unique to each turtle. The responsive controls ensure that every move feels impactful, with combat animations adding a sense of weight and intensity to every punch, kick, and special move.
Exploration: Levels are designed with a mix of linear progression and open areas for exploration. Hidden secrets, collectibles, and bonus missions encourage players to thoroughly search each environment. Environmental puzzles add a layer of complexity, requiring players to think strategically to unlock certain areas or gain extra rewards.
Co-op Multiplayer: The game truly shines in its cooperative multiplayer mode, allowing up to four players to team up. The synergy between turtles creates dynamic combat scenarios, making every battle feel fresh and engaging. Cooperative mechanics, like assisting a downed ally or combining special moves for devastating effects, add depth to the multiplayer experience.
Character Progression
As players progress, they can unlock upgrades and abilities, enhancing the turtles’ effectiveness in battle. The skill tree system allows for customization, ensuring no two playthroughs feel identical. Each turtle’s progression path offers a mix of passive buffs, such as increased health or attack power, and active abilities, like area-of-effect attacks or defensive shields.
Story: A Rescue Mission with High Stakes
The narrative of Splintered Fate centers on the abduction of Master Splinter. The turtles must navigate the seedy underbelly of New York City, facing off against the Foot Clan, mutants, and other iconic villains like Bebop and Rocksteady. The stakes are high, and the storytelling delivers a balance of humor, heart, and action that fans of the series have come to expect.
Key Highlights
Cinematic Cutscenes: The game incorporates beautifully animated cutscenes that advance the story while immersing players in the TMNT universe. These scenes are filled with dynamic camera angles, expressive character animations, and intense action sequences.
Engaging Dialogue: The witty banter between the turtles keeps the tone light-hearted, even during intense moments. The humor feels authentic, capturing the essence of the characters while balancing the darker aspects of the narrative.
Twists and Turns: The narrative includes unexpected plot twists that keep players engaged and eager to see how the story unfolds. The emotional stakes are heightened by moments of vulnerability, as the turtles grapple with their sense of duty and personal fears.
Visuals and Sound Design: A Feast for the Senses
Graphics
The art style of Splintered Fate pays homage to the TMNT’s comic book roots while incorporating modern visual effects. Vibrant colors, detailed character models, and dynamic environments make the game visually stunning. Each turtle’s design is faithful to their iconic look, with subtle updates that enhance their individuality. Enemies and bosses are equally well-designed, showcasing creative interpretations of classic characters.
Level Design
From the dark alleys of New York to underground lairs and high-tech facilities, the game’s environments are diverse and packed with detail. Each level feels alive, with interactive elements and background animations that add depth. Dynamic lighting effects and weather conditions, such as rain-soaked streets or dimly lit corridors, heighten the immersion.
Soundtrack and Voice Acting
Soundtrack: The soundtrack perfectly complements the action, blending upbeat tracks with intense battle music. Each level features a unique musical theme, reflecting its tone and setting.
Voice Acting: Voice acting deserves special mention, with each turtle’s personality shining through their dialogue. The voice actors deliver energetic and heartfelt performances, bringing the characters to life. Even the villains have memorable voice work, adding gravitas to their roles.
Features and Replayability
Core Features
Customizable Difficulty Levels: Players can choose difficulty settings that match their skill level, from casual gamers to hardcore action enthusiasts. Each difficulty level adjusts enemy behavior and resource availability, ensuring a tailored experience.
Unlockable Skins and Easter Eggs: Dedicated fans will appreciate the numerous nods to TMNT lore, including unlockable costumes and hidden references. These rewards incentivize exploration and replayability.
Boss Fights: Each boss encounter is uniquely designed, requiring players to adapt their strategies and use the turtles’ abilities to their fullest. Boss battles often incorporate environmental hazards, making them more challenging and dynamic.
Replayability
The game’s replay value is bolstered by:
Multiple Difficulty Settings: Replay the game on harder difficulties for a greater challenge.
Hidden Collectibles and Achievements: Completionists will enjoy tracking down every secret and earning all achievements.
Experimenting with Different Turtles: Each turtle offers a distinct playstyle, encouraging multiple playthroughs to fully appreciate their abilities.
Post-Game Content: Additional challenges, such as time trials and survival modes, extend the game’s lifespan.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Engaging Cooperative Gameplay: Perfect for friends or family looking for a fun gaming session.
Authentic TMNT Experience: Captures the spirit of the franchise with its humor, action, and storytelling.
High-Quality Visuals and Sound: Immersive environments and stellar voice acting enhance the experience.
Replayability: Offers plenty of content to keep players coming back.
Diverse Boss Battles: Unique and challenging encounters keep players on their toes.
Cons
Limited Solo Appeal: While the game can be played solo, it’s clearly designed with multiplayer in mind.
Repetitive Combat: Despite the fluid mechanics, combat can feel repetitive during extended play sessions. A wider variety of enemy types or more complex AI could alleviate this issue.
Short Campaign: The main story might feel too brief for players expecting a longer adventure. However, the additional content helps mitigate this concern.
Why Splintered Fate Deserves Your Attention
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Final Verdict
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a must-play for TMNT fans and cooperative game enthusiasts. Its engaging gameplay, charming story, and polished presentation make it a standout title. While it has a few minor drawbacks, such as its short campaign and repetitive combat, the overall experience more than compensates. Whether you’re a long-time fan or a newcomer to the TMNT universe, this game offers an enjoyable journey that’s worth your time.
Customer reviews for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate
As a hater of roguelikes, roguelites and other roguesque games, I really like this one. It's simple, fun and engaging.
There is a bit of junkiness in menu navigating, but otherwise it's really good game for TMNT fans.
Also it's perfect for Steam Deck, so yeah, I recommend it.
First things first: if you haven't played [b]Hades,[/b] you should probably play that before this game... [b]unless you are a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan.[/b] That's the one major exception.Now, let's get to the point:This is a TMNT roguelike with [b]some seriously impressive art[/b] that reminds me of the old [b]Mirage Studios[/b] comics, mixed with the style of the newer [b]IDW[/b] series. [b]In my opinion, the visual design is just sublime.[/b]Originally, [b]the game was meant to be a single-player experience[/b] (like [i]Hades[/i]), but it eventually evolved into a [b]co-op game,[/b] which makes it way more appealing if you like playing with others.[b]The story[/b] draws inspiration from [b]different TMNT generations and series,[/b] but [b]it is not tied to any specific version you might know.[/b] You will run into some [b]iconic characters,[/b] all brought to life with that [b]amazing art style[/b] I mentioned earlier.As for [b]gameplay,[/b] everything [b]feels smooth[/b] (though there are a few minor bugs here and there), and there is a [b]good variety of abilities to mess around with.[/b] I highly recommend playing with a [b]controller.[/b][b]One of the strongest aspects of this game is the dev team.[/b] If you hop into the [b]official Discord,[/b] it won't take long to notice:[b] these devs love TMNT, and they clearly love their own game.[/b] [u]They are constantly updating it[/u], [b]listening to the community[/b], and best of all, [b]if an ingame build is OP, they don't nerf it[/b], they just buff the others to make everything more fun!That said, [b]not everything is perfect.[/b] Some things just didn't land for me, even if they are [b]subjective:[/b][h3]Difficulty[/h3]
The game starts off pretty tough, but once you have unlocked everything, it barely offers a challenge. [b]I think an Endless Mode would help fix this.[/b][h3]Enemy variety[/h3]
You will be fighting the [b]same enemies over and over.[/b] Even with the Casey DLC, [b]they are basically the same mobs with punk wigs.[/b] Not bad, but [b]I wish there were more enemy types and bosses too.[/b][h3]Bugs[/h3]
There are some annoying bugs (like super long load times), though [b]most of them[/b] affect co-op mode specifically.[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
Do I recommend the game?
[b]Yes, I do, mainly because it is still evolving.[/b] Just don't go in expecting to be blown away if you have already played [i]Hades.[/i] [b]Think of this as a solid co-op roguelike set in the TMNT universe, and you will have a good time![/b]
Pretty decent. Very buggy. Wants more than I am willing to give to get to the end (Beat the game 8 times, little tedious.). solid 6/10. Also play with friends not sure if this would have been good if I played on my own.
Iam always looking for good split screen games though I wish id looked at the title clearly before I grabbed this, nickalodeon is not a company I buy mainly cause they are a bunch of thieving bastards who steal cartoonists IP, I guess the clue is in the title Nick A load of em! Still turns out on the day I purchased this they where being bought out my skydance, but i should say that it is NOT there fault hopefully these franchise games will now improve! nick as a co always sucked anyway!If this was a drinking game it would be so diluted that youd be burping washing up liquid bubbles! at the v least maybe worth getting 90% off!For me this game is lacking pretty much everything that a scrolling beat em up, a TMNT story and even just a interesting game should have as standard!
So the game has abandoned the interaction n progressive of more rewarding less dullard play in favor of giving us the runs, all the "extra" moves are just cheap effects over your very limited button spam combo and moves, basicaly about 3 moves each (inc) combo, that makes for a ..SPAMSPAMSPAMSPAM LOVELY SPAM ..WONDERFULL SPAM.. experience, this combined with the runs that seem to go on forever reusing the same areas and bosses you could do 15-20 minuets spam then die and have to start again, get sweet FA for your troubles. Basically with the combo of boring moves and metal scraped progression of 0 squared this quickly becomes tedious and I cant help wonder why the hell anyone would bother making this for any other reason that a callous lifeless money grab. the Turtles themselves are not voiced well mainly cause of the really really bad dialog ..yeah I know and iam not claiming that TMNT has ever been the poetry of comedy but this is a box of nothing instead of a creative gift. couldnt have been much less if every word was 'dude!' so for gameplay 0 for nostalgia 0 for entertainment 0!that said good luck to the new company now maybe we can see some good shit again!
As of 26th April 2025,Works perfectly on the deckIt’s a great roguelite. It’s actually better than I expected. It can be a bit harsh a first but then it goes a bit more smoothly. Once you beat Shredder first time you can adjust the difficulty by going through the portal and adjusting it to your liking.
Combat, music, gameplay, more or less everything is very good.
Not going to lie, the Raphaelo crit shuriken built is busted. Give it a try and enjoy the game !
Overall: Surprisingly fun. Probably needs more DLC and mission modes to have a more interesting endgame. Missions are repetitive as far as the rooms/environment are concerned but there is a lot of variety in RNG skills and boss variants to keep the game interesting for awhile. It takes about 30 minutes to do a run. 4 player Multiplayer adds to the fun.That said, the characters feel unique as far as attacks/special abilities. The RNG abilities earned after every room make each run unique and interesting. As a roguelite, you gain currencies each run that can be used at home base to make permanent enhancements to your characters. After you "beat the game"/successfully complete the run for the first time, there are additional RNG difficulty modifiers that can be selected within the runs to add challenge and increase rewards.I still have several enhancements to buy at the base with about 30 hours in (I'm guessing another 20 hours to max out the characters) but the best enhancements are tied to successful completion of runs using the difficulty modifiers mentioned previously.The main con for the game is the loading times are inconsistent (sometimes excessively long) on a high end rig with game installed on an SSD.I got it on sale for about $17 with DLC. it's a no brainer...pick it up!
i have a hard time not getting annoyed by leatherhead so the replay value for me when i finally beat it will drop like an anchor.i play alone but id imagine playing with friends would snuff out some of that frustration.its a grinder for sure.but fun.if you came to kill time then youll leave an assassin.its more good than bad i guess.send me a friend request if you want to play
This game has so much potential. The combat is super fun but there are seemingly a ton of bugs. Like your selected turtle power will grant you an additional dash but you won't actually get an additional dash. And the game crashes at the loading screen as often as it lets you into the game. It'll drop halfway through the game as well. The nail in the coffin for me was the ending. I won't spoil it here but if you complete the stated objectives of the game it's ... disappointing. Probably should have worked on the game a little longer before release.
Hit 2_3 times then dodge.... Over and over and over again. Boring game. No content. Shame as I'm a huge top down, and turtles fan. Wish hadn't of paid for this. Rubbish
Teenage Mutant Hades Turtles or Bastion if your old.9 out of 5! I'll give it a 10 out of five if there was an option to make my character swing his sword where i have the mouse instead of being where the character is moving. No point using a mouse atm. I hope they add that feature!
i cant wait for more updates, more more more i need more. shout out to super mega evil corp. shout out to vainglory. i look forward to more content and games by them
As a kid, all I ever wanted was the ability to play the NES TMNT Trilogy with a full squad of friends; each of us playing as the respective Turtles that we associated ourselves with. While that experience [i]could[/i] be had in the arcades with TMNT The Arcade Game and Turtles in Time, those experiences were limited to those lucky enough to grow up in an area with an actual arcade. But I did grow up replaying TMNT89, TMNT2, and TMNT3 over and over as a kid for a good portion of the 90s. And that's a feeling that Splintered Fate is able to invoke in the modern day with it's Roguelite mechanics.Something we've no doubt noticed in the recent decade is that TMNT are the key to making [i]any[/i] crossover work. Batman, Ghostbusters, Transformers, Power Rangers, Stranger Things, and even Call of Duty; TMNT do not feel out of place in any of those. So adapting them into a Roguelite was the perfect choice given the [b]plethora[/b] of Side-Scrolling Beat 'em Up games that fills the catalog of TMNT video game adaptions.I still hope that we get an open world TMNT game someday, but as long as we get gems like Splinter Fate along the way, I don't mind waiting.
Got this game to play with my kids and love it. Its easy enough for my kids to play but still super challenging. This is a great spin on teenage mutant ninja turtles. The upgrades feel good, the boss fights get challenging. The mechanics start scaling up quickly. The death mechanics are punishing without being crazy.
This is a neat game, especially for a life long TMNT fan. It's the Hades formula, so don't expect anything new here for the roguelike game category.However, this takes the formula and plugs in fan nods. Each turtle shows their own personalities with vocal quips and fighting styles. I've only beaten Shredder once at the time of this review but, like Hades or any other roguelike, there is continued playability to both the story and adventure.If you are a fan of both TMNT and roguelikes, then pick this up. If you aren't a fan of either, you probably want to skip it. However, I had a lot of fun playing this one.One big thing that I never tried - this game has co-op. That might expand this into a 'fresh' category but since I don't have anyone to play with, the co-op feature wasn't critical for the success and fun feeling the game brings.I recommend picking it up and playing through at least once. Definitely worth it on sale.
A great idea, but missing some very basic ideas and QoL features that leave it feeling quite lacking.On the good side, I thought the visuals and the voice acting were great. I grew up with the turtles, so have a lot of fond childhood memories of the shows and original games and toys, and I think they did justice to the legacy here. Kudos for that. But so much more is needed to make a good game.They did a good job with feedback on hits, and also the action and movement feels great. So credit where credit is due.But now for what I feel is wrong or missing:- Need a way to remap gamepad keys. The game even recommends using a gamepad, but has no functionality to remap gamepad keys, only keyboard keys.
As a side note to this... they already released DLC. How do you have DLC created and released before you even finish the base game functionality? Honestly inexcusable.- Multiplayer functionality is extraordinarily buggy. Not going to delve into details here, but at present it is hit or miss if it works.
- Dash fest with dash cooldowns. The enemies primarily use straight line AoE or circular AoE. There is a ton of that in every room, so you are constantly dashing. But they added a lengthy dash cooldown for a game like this... so sometimes it just feels a bit more unfair than you are used to in this type of game. Your mileage may vary here, but I felt the dash cooldown was a bit much considering how overtuned enemy AoE is. That should be testing your reflexes, but that kind of goes out the window when both the enemy attacks and your reflexes are a lot faster than the cooldowns.
- Spongy enemies are spongy. They don't really quite get how to create tactical difficulty, so the enemies have kind of just been sponged to create artificial difficulty.
- Or, and more commonly, they just throw more at you.
The obvious comparison to this game is Hades. In Hades, there were a number of enemy types and each one you had to have a strategy for. Sometimes rooms got crowded, but generally it was something you planned for and learned how to handle each enemy type. Here, there's less of that and just more... enemies. You did well in that last room? How about more of the same at once. Not enough? Toss in some more. It's a bit... low budget as far as difficulty goes. And when all of them are doing AoE or throwing stars, it just gets a bit crowded and feels more button mashy than it feels like a tactics game. I mean it isn't horrible, but it also sometimes just isn't really what you were looking for. There's not really strategy, there's just... lots of dashing and crowds.- Meta progression works... dragon coins function just fine. There are some powerful upgrades. Doesn't seem to be a ton of them, but there's enough to keep you busy for a while.- Runs tend to feel really samey. There isn't enough variety in the terrain, obstacles, enemies, etc to keep you on your toes.
