Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate Review

I’ve been a diehard fan of the for as long as I can ☂remember. I’ve near-unconditionally loved them across comics, TV shows, action figures, and even awful holiday specials, but it’s the TMNT video games that have always held a special place in my heart.

Ever since Battle Nexus 2 on the PS2, I’ve been more than a little obsessed with the heroes in a half shell’s digital outings and made it my mission to play them all, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网ꦅ:from true classics like the 198🧜9 arcade game, to ones I wish I could forget like Wrꦫath of the Mutants. So you c﷽an imagine my surprise when I found out that one of the most interesting titles completely flew under my radar for more than🉐 a year - .

Miyamoto Usagi in TMNT: Shredder's Revenge's Dimension Shellshock DLC.

S🔴hredder’s Revenge’s Dimension Shellshock DLC Makes The🍎 Best TMNT Game Even Better

💛Who knew Shredder’s Revenge would make such a great roguelite?

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Originally released in 2023 for (which explains why I had no idea it e🌞xisted), the first TMNT roguelite is finally shedding its iPhone exclusivity with a Switch port this year. Splintered Fate is what you’d get if you masဣhed together everyone’s favourite reptile warriors with Supergiant’s roguelite masterpiece .

While it doesn’t quite reach those lofty heights and sticks too closely to that known formula, its satisfying combat and lov🐭ing portrayal of the Turtles make it one of the best modern TMNT games out there, and 💫I’m kicking myself for having missed out on for so long.

Finally Moving Away From The '80s

Donatello fighting Mousers in TMNT: Splintered Fate.

Splintered Fate takes place in an original universe that’s not linked to any of th🎀e TV shows, and instead seems to be inspired by the IDW comics. In this fantastically developed world, the Turtles are more experienced heroes at the top of their game until a mysterious enemy kidnaps Splinter and forces them through twisted trials to try and get him back.

Although the Turtles having to ♍rescue Splinter by going toe-to-toe against Shredder isn’t exactly breaking new ground for TMNT, Splintered Fate’s already-est𝐆ablished world and use of deep-cut characters like Nobody and Slash is a breath of fresh air for a long-time fan like myself who needs no introduction to the core four and their allies. But for all its lore trawling and fan service, the Turtles themselves have memorable new layers added to the tried-and-true formula.

It’s still the Turtles you know and love, but Splintered Fate has some interesting twists that I’ve not really seen in other adaptations. Mikey&⛄rsquo;s still the ‘funny one’, but his position as the youngest brother is made clearer than ever as he struggles the most with Splinter’s abduction. Raph is just as hot-headed and rude as ever but he’s als🥂o portrayed as being the least intelligent Turtle, which gives a bit of an explanation for his infamous attitude.

Raph is also voic🌃ed by Roger Craig Smith, so I hope you like being reminded of Sonic the Hedgehog whenever you play as him.

Combine that with wonderful performances from the voice cast, and Splintered Fate becomes one of my favourite iterations of the characters in recent memory, something I wasn’t expecting from such generic visual designs. Even if the story being told here isn’t the most unique, it🐽 still manages to hit hard thanks to its clear love and undeꦐrstanding of the source material.

Hades, But Make It TMNT

Leonardo fighting Foot Ninja in TMNT: Splintered Fate.

Splintered Fate’s unique interpretation of the Turtles makes it stand out from other TMNT adaptations, but the gameplay is what really makes it shine. Instead of going for a 2D side-scrolling beat-’em-up experience like just✤ about every other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, Splintered Fate switches things up significantly 💎by positioning itself as a roguelite.

We’ve talked a lot about turtles so far, but it’s time to address the mutant elephant in the sewer - Splintered Fate is un𒁃ashamedly a Hades clone. From its character progression and perk-granting artefacts to its buffs and boss encounters, if you’ve played even a little bit of Superg🔥iant’s masterpiece, then Splintered Fate’s cycle of repeating challenging runs, slowly getting stronger with permanent upgrades, and getting drip-fed new story scenes is going to feel very familiar to you.

The only thing that really sets Splintered Fate apart (aside from its TMNT coat of paint) is that it features multiple playable characters. You canඣ only play as one of the Turtles during a run, and each of them has unique starting abilities, special abilities, and stats - Donnie regaining health when he enters a room, Raph has a higher critical hit chance, and so on.

The Switch version of Splintered Fate also adds in couch co-op, so while it's a bit weird seeing the Turtles fight on their own in single-player, that can be remedied if you have some friends.

It’s a nice touch that plays to TMNT’s strength, but it’s still not enough to ignore the massive feeling of deja vu that anyone familiar with Hades is going to get. Splintered Fate doesn’t have more to set it apart from its inspiration, it does do a good job of capturing at least some of its magic. And really, if you're going to crib notes from any roguelite, why not Hades?

Not Quite On Zagreus' Level

The Turtles fighting Leatherhead in TMNT: Splintered Fate.

The best example of this is the combat, which is crunchy, fast-paced, and satisfying, but nowhere near as complex as in Hades. Each Turtle has a relatively simplistic moveset focused on basic attacks, dodging, tools, and a unique special move, but there’s not much depth to them even when you’ve got a ton of buffs and modifiers equipped. Compare this to every Hades run feeling unique, as you build strategies around your ꦜchosen weapon and the boons you find.

The comparatively slim selection of combat options and minimal changes between runs means that Splintered Fate suffers far more from repetition. I went for the perfect ending and beat more than ten runs after levelling up my characters a bunch, but by the end, I was running out of new things to see and do aside from occasional boss variants. That didn't stop me from going again and again, but it's a shame that the runs are structured so formulaically.

Boss encounters offe♔r the most variety𒈔 during runs as some of them have a few unique forms, such as Leatherhead being joined by the Punk Frogs and Karai having a rage-fuelled shadow mode.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate might not manage to reach the same heights as the game it so clearly takes inspiration from, but ‘being as good as Hades’ is perhaps an unrealistic goal for any game and it's a wonder that it comes even close. It still provides a satisfying roguelite experience with one of the best interpretations of the TMNT universe I’ve seen in some time. It won’t be replacing Shredder🌞’s Revenge as the franchise’s best modern game, but it’s sitting nicely in second place.