Go ninja, go ninja, go! If you ever wished Hades‘ Zagreus had been green, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate might be your slice of pizza. Hades, a groundbreaking game as a niche roguelike, was surprisingly a supergiant success, so it’s no surprise there would be attempts to emulate its distinctive experience. It was even less expected that everyone’s favorite heroes in a half-shell would get that treatment. While Splintered Fate was previously only available on Apple Arcade-compatible devices, it’s now on the Switch, with Steam support coming later in 2024.
Strange things are afoot in New York City. This rainstorm is heavy, and this night seems to go on forever. The Turtles’ beloved master Splinter has mysteriously gone missing. It’s a safe guess that their forever rival, The Shredder, is somehow involved, but there seems to be something stranger at play. Portals are popping up across the city, and whenever one of the Turtles feels faint, they’re whisked away back to their home in the sewers. Gathering up all the determination they can muster, they decide it’s time to train, get Splinter back, and figure out what the shell is going on.
It’s impossible not to compare Splintered Fate to Hades; it’s just a matter of whether you’d rather feast on ambrosia or pizza. The stories are similarly fragmented and drip-fed by random bits at a time, and somewhat surprisingly, the overall strangeness of TMNT fits comfortably into that format. If you’re familiar with TMNT, part of the draw is the anticipation of not knowing when your favorite characters (and some obscure ones) will turn up but knowing they eventually will. As a fan of the ’80s–’90s cartoon when I was growing up and lightly of the comic books from several eras, I felt pretty at home. However, if you aren’t well-versed, I’m not sure Splintered Fate makes much effort to catch you up to turtle speed.
There was never a ton of depth in TMNT stories, though they were always grounded by a sentimentality that ran through the spectacular tales of battles between humanoid mutant beasts. Splintered Fate is comfortable in not trying to reinvent anything, telling a light story that could fit into any iteration of this world. There are some touching moments where the Turtles (being teenagers, after all) experience self-doubt about their ability to survive this predicament as their father figure, Splinter, seeks to encourage them from afar. This offers you some motivation to help them succeed beyond just wanting to know when Casey Jones will show up.
Gameplay is fast-paced and dynamic, as you fight waves upon waves of Foot Clan and Mousers in action-based combat. Fights consist of attacking, dashing away from enemy attacks, and tactically placing your special moves. It’s a tried-and-true formula, and Super Evil Megacorp‘s version is a delightful challenge most of the time. If there’s one thing I wasn’t keen on, it’s that attacks didn’t have much weight when landing. When you take damage, the only indication you have is the screen flashing red rather than your Turtle recoiling in some way. That can easily get lost with how many elements are flying across the screen when Splintered Fate is at its most chaotic.
This is a roguelike, so not only is failure an option, but it’s also expected, at least at first. Thankfully, Splintered Fate found ways to keep me on my turtle toes for a while, showing me something new on most runs, whether it was a new miniboss or a high-powered variant of a boss I’d already beaten many times before. Each run is its own journey, as you stack up currency and abilities in each room you clear to hopefully pack you into a hard enough snowball to take down every challenge Splintered Fate throws at you. Thankfully, when you get turned into turtle soup, you wind up back at home, where you can permanently boost your skills with a surprisingly expansive spread of options. Even when I struggled, I knew that on the next run, I would start out a little bit stronger, and I might make it to the end.
Learning the precise timing for every motion is essential, as your instincts become reflexive. When you discover the right combination of abilities that take you through to the end, it will be at an intersection of personal skill and improvements that are different for everyone. Part of the customizability is deciding which Turtle to roll with, as each has unique starting abilities. Michaelangelo has better reach and strength than his bros, but Donatello excels in more defensive-minded skills. There are extra incentives for accomplishing achievements with each Turtle to encourage you to give each one a shot.
As to how Splintered Fate fares as a roguelike experience, my opinion is mixed. It’s impressive how much is packed into the game, but it’s still oddly disappointing in its limitations. The variety of enemies in each run is nice, and there’s a ton to play around with when you pick your abilities as you progress through each run. At the same time, however, you fight the same bosses every time. The Turtles begin to make wisecracks about how many times they’ve beaten Leatherhead. Though the mix of enemies you get in each room varies, you’re still tromping through the same rooms every time. The variety only holds up to a point. It’s possible I was just bad at the game, but I eventually got to a point where I wasn’t discovering anything new long before I finished the main story. Either that or the new wrinkles became so subtle that they didn’t make any noticeable difference. Though the variations between each Turtle’s default playstyle are well-articulated, they also don’t feel vastly different from each other.
While the story is fun, it also feels incomplete and much simpler than it had set itself up for. It’s apparent that Super Evil Megacorp is or was intent on adding more, but there are too many references to aspects of the narrative and the gameplay that don’t materialize. There are so many mysteries left unresolved. Though the main thread of the story is fulfilled, questions about what’s happening and why are the real source of intrigue that could have set Splintered Fate apart from other TMNT stories. In the end, there’s a lingering feeling that the experience is only half finished.
It’s becoming standard that any game ported to the Switch has technical issues, and Splintered Fate is no exception; the game struggles on the Switch. Thankfully, though framerate drops occur, they are rare even with so much happening on-screen. Unfortunately, the console has trouble with overheating. During some runs, the game would bug out during ability selections before eventually crashing. This doesn’t happen so frequently to make the game unplayable, but some may want to wait for the Steam release for a hopefully smoother experience.
The sound is everything you’d expect from any TMNT media property. The voice actors deliver the hammy dialogue you’ve come to love, expressing the distinct personality of each Turtle and every other character. The soundtrack features some rockin’ tunes that would have felt right at home in the original arcade game (now available in The Cowabunga Collection), but the overdubbed constant quips drown out the music. Visually, Splintered Fate is sharp, from the comic book-style portraits to the intricate details of each Turtle’s personal corner of their sewer home. There’s an often overwhelming amount of projectiles and enemies on the screen at any time, but it’s never difficult to discern what’s coming at you, though that doesn’t mean responding to those threats is easy. The controls are mostly tight, though sometimes the game misses a few inputs.
It’s a little bit tough to discern where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate lands. It delivers on replicating much of the Hades experience game in the TMNT universe, to the point where it’d be surprising if Marvel? Disney? Star Wars? other huge IPs aren’t looking into producing their own. But it also feels like Splintered Fate falls short, teasing so much that it doesn’t follow through on.
