DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: Super Evil Megacorp

REVIEWED ON: PlayStation 5 from an early access code supplied by the publisher.

For my thoughts on the Nintendo Switch version, click HERE.

With hits like Dead Cells, Hades, Balatro and Blue Prince, the roguelike genre, effectively a style of game design that encourages players to replay procedurally generated scenarios, has never been bigger. In 2023, developer Super Evil Megacorp launched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate on the Apple Arcade subscription service which married this style with one of the biggest properties on the planet. From its mobile beginnings, Splintered Fate has since found its way to the Nintendo Switch and PC. This week in launches on the PlayStation family of systems before making its way to the Xbox ecosystem in June.

In my review of the Nintendo Switch versions of Splintered Fate, I wrote:

Players are not starved for choice when it comes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games, but lovers of the property would be doing themselves a disservice by passing on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate. 

If you’ve played Splintered Fate in any of its previous incarnations, the PlayStation 5 version doesn’t offer much new beyond looking sharper and bumping up the load times to mere seconds. If you’re a PlayStation die-hard, however, and have never touched Splintered Fate, it’s an excellent addition to the roguelike space and easily one of the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games ever produced. As a present to early adopters, the bonus downloadable content Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam, which offers a new playable character, biome, bosses and story beats will be free until June 3rd. So if you have the means to support Splintered Fate, get in on the ground floor while you can.

When the Turtles beloved father and sensei, Master Splinter, is taken by an unknown force, mysterious portals also being to appear in New York City. In order to get Splinter back, the Turtles must partake in a deadly game that puts them up against some of their greatest foes, including Baxter Stockman’s mechanical creations and the Foot Clan guided by the Shredder who will stop at nothing to make sure that Splinter remains a captive or worse. With each journey though, the Turtles’ resolve and fighting ability only gets stronger as they inch one step closer towards reassembling their found family.

Splintered Fate‘s story was penned by Kevin Michael Johnson and Tom Waltz, the latter of which has been steering this franchise for well over a decade in some form or another. While there’s no lengthy motion-captured cinematics to be found here, the story both organically weaves the mechanical necessities of the live-die-repeat roguelike design and captures the spirit of what has made the TMNT such a beloved property for nearly half a century.

There have been many incarnations of the Turtles since their debut in 1984, but familiar tropes, like Leonardo being the stoic leader and Raph being a hot head, remain. For those who might know a character from one iteration, like the hulking turtle Slash or the mutant alligator Leatherhead, Splintered Fate will fill you in on their backstory both during and between runs while hinting at things like Baxter Stockman winning the role of Mayor. It also doesn’t hurt that veterans actors like Roger Craig Smith, Yuri Lowenthal, Gwendoline Yeo and Fred Tatasciore are among the cast who are all bringing their A-game to Splintered Fate.

If you’ve played Hades, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate will feel quite familiar, and even if you haven’t, it’s a roguelike that’s very welcoming to new comers. Playing solo or with up to 4 friends either locally or online, you make your way through various environments located throughout New York including the sewer system, the docks, streets and rooftops where you’ll hack and slash at Mousers, Foot Ninjas, Punk Frogs, mutant rats and bosses found both at the middle and end of biomes. These include favorites like the above mentioned Leatherhead, the duo of Bebop and Rocksteady plus the Shredder, each of which will keep you on your toes as you learn when to dodge and attack while studying their patterns.

There’s a lot of systems at play in Splintered Fate, but it’s also an easy to pick-up, fast, and responsive action game. During the review period, I played locally with someone who had no experience with this title and they were able to understand it’s subtilties very quickly. The 4 Turtles plus Casey each have their own unique tools and special abilities, but there’s still an almost arcade-like sensibility to Splintered Fate where survival can boil down to how quick your reflexes are even as you power up your heroes.

Once you master its nuances and systems, you can zip your way through Shredder in well under 30 minutes, but the fun comes from the journey and how you experiment with each character to find out which build works best for them. As in all roguelikes, each room you enter and the rewards you get from completing it are randomized. This means that no 2 runs will ever be the same and you can’t rely on getting the rolls you want all the time. Adaptation is the key to keeping a run in play and understanding what upgrades to keep or pass on.

Raphael, for example, mixes superbly with fire abilities that allow him to deal punishing critical hits during the peak of a great run when paired with his special attack. Each character has a default tool, Raph for example can pull in enemies like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, but that can also be replaced with fireballs or a meteor shower that falls from the sky. Leonardo has great reach with his katanas, but you can also make is such that he can litter the screen with projectiles that ricochet about. How you choose to kit out your character might be completely different than the mentioned examples, and it’s that freedom of expression that keeps you coming back to Splintered Fate again and again.

There’s a lot of randomness at play here, but that’s not to say there’s not ways to subtly control the chaos. Like a lot of games nowadays, there’s a few currencies to keep up with in Splintered Fate, but the 3 big ones are Scrap, Dragon coins and Dreamer coins. Scrap can be used to top of your health and buy upgrades plus power-ups during runs from a shop keeper known as the Chairman, while the other 2 can be used to unlock permanent upgrades.

Dreamer coins can be spent at the Turtles’ lair to buff your base stats – like your attack, health, and movement speed among many others – and those of the Dreamer variety increase your luck that you’ll get more money to spend and a better chance at getting greater rewards. Death and defeat are inevitable as you being your Splintered Fate journey, but each gives you the power to turn into a lean, green, foot-stomping machine. To further bolster your chances, artifacts that you obtain from runs or by talking to characters in your lair up the odds of pulling the abilities you want. The loop of powering up and experimenting with different builds becomes so addictive that it won’t be uncommon for you to lose hours of your time playing without even realizing it.

For review, I wasn’t able to play online, but my experience with the Nintendo Switch version of Splintered Fate was very positive. You can matchmake easily with random players or forward a room code to meet up with friends. From your own elemental effects to lightning storm and poison pools spewed from mutants, things can get chaotic in Splintered Fate, but the room design and overhead camera placement do a great job of tracking multiple players at once. Should one player have the bonus Casey Jones DLC, they can share it provided they’re the host. The only caveat is that they will be the only one who can control Casey. If you want to go it alone, Splintered Fate is very friendly to solo players too.

The TMNT were birthed from the pages of a comic book and have adapted into just about every other form of media imaginable. Splintered Fate‘s wonderful art direction skews towards the stylized with big, boldly drawn characters used as stand in for important dialogue exchanges. In-game assets, though far smaller, translate that style superbly with wonderfully crafted bosses like the hulking Leatherhead and the nimble yet imposing Shredder. The music may not hit in the same way that the Konami TMNT titles did in the late 80s/early 90s, but it fits the action well.

Whether on the PlayStation 5 or any other platform, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a fast-paced, quick to learn yet incredibly deep roguelike that will keep you addicted for hours upon hours. From its comic inspired visuals, its player friendly control scheme and customization options, Splintered Fate is an easy recommendation whether or not you grew up with a toy box full of TMNT action figures or not. Xbox players will soon be able to join in on the fun, and for collectors as well as preservationists, physical additions are already up for pre-order.

via Super Evil Megacorp YouTube

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC and as part of the Apple Arcade subscription service. It will arrive digitally on the PlayStation family of systems on May 20th and on Xbox starting June 24th. Physical copies are dated for August 26 for all consoles.