Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate

Genre: Action / Roguelike

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local / Online)

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

Those who follow my reviews regularly know that I often review games a long while after they first release. This often means I’m not “striking while the iron is hot”, but it does have some significant advantages. One noteworthy advantage is that for games released in a buggy state, I get the benefit of my first impression of the game coming after post-launch patches have been put out to address the problems, so I can judge the game based on its best, intended, most complete version, rather than the sloppy mess it was at launch.

As such, I’m reviewing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate two years after its original release in 2024 on PC and Nintendo Switch, with 2025 ports to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch 2, and not having followed the game’s original release, I was shocked to see that my experience with the game differed greatly from other reviewers. After doing a little looking around, I discovered the reason why seemed to mostly be due to a horribly buggy initial release. It’s a shame too, because Splintered Fate is an absolutely fantastic game.

The premise here is simple, but absolutely brilliant in a way that it’s hard not to see its potential: take the co-op action often associated with Ninja Turtles games and pair it with the Roguelike Action gameplay of games like Hades, all while remembering that one of the things fans of this franchise enjoy the most are the great characters. If done right, you’d be looking at something special.

Thankfully, what’s here works quite well, with each of the four turtles offering something different in their combat style (with additional characters available via DLC), and with plenty of Roguelike upgrades and “Roguelite” permanent upgrades over the course of the game. Characters all have regular and charged attacks, a dash move, a special move, and a “tool” move, the latter two of which recharge as you use regular attacks. So there’s some decent variety to the gameplay here.

That said, I do feel like it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the Hades series. The variety of upgrades isn’t quite as wide as I’d prefer in a Roguelike, your attacks can feel a bit slow-paced, the numerous in-game currencies can be a bit confusing, and in boss fights it can sometimes be difficult to tell whether or not you’re in an attack’s projected strike zone.

The presentation here is pretty good too, with colorful 3D visuals with somewhat stylized characters that work well for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand, some nice effects, and some nice lighting and shadows. This is backed by a catchy (though original) soundtrack, and some good voicework from multiple veteran voice actors, including Dominic Catrambone reprising his role of Leonardo from the 2012 iteration of the Ninja Turtles franchise, and joined by solid performances from Roger Craig Smith as Raphael, Dale Inghram as Donatello, and Yuri Lowenthal as Michaelangelo.

In the end, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a fantastic take on the Ninja Turtles franchise, and one that does a solid job giving players a multiplayer co-op take on the Hades formula. And even if it doesn’t quite reach the same level of excellence as Hades, it’s still absolutely worth playing, and a must-have for Ninja Turtles fans.

tl;dr – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is an Action Roguelike similar to the Hades series that has players taking the role of one of the four titular Ninja Turtles and fighting through enemies with various random upgrades in each run. While this game doesn’t top Hades, it’s a solid take on that formula with great 4-player co-op that makes this an excellent entry in the genre and a must-have for fans of the Ninja Turtles franchise.

Grade: B+

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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

Genre: Action / Roguelike

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local / Online), GameShare Support

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Review:

Given the game’s rocky launch, a release of a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Splintered Fate in 2025 seems like a good idea to draw attention back to the game now that its biggest flaws had been patched out. For those who previously purchased the Nintendo Switch release of the game, this upgrade will only set you back $2.50, so it’s not too painful to upgrade. The question is then, what does that get you?

Well, it starts with a boost to framerates and resolution – the Nintendo Switch 2 version runs at 4K resolution in docked mode and 1080p in handheld mode, with both running at 60FPS. This increase is noticeable, though I will say I felt it wasn’t quite as big a boost as I’d hoped. Still, it’s definitely an improvement.

There’s also an improvement to loading times, with the time to load to the main menu dropping from the Nintendo Switch’s 19 seconds to 11 seconds on Nintendo Switch 2, and loading into the game dropping from 13 seconds to 6.

However, depending on the sort of player you are, the biggest change here may well be full support for GameShare and Game Chat integration, giving players more ways to easily connect with friends who don’t own the game. Given what a heavy focus on multiplayer this game has, that has the potential to be a massive advantage, and a nice money-saver to boot.

With the improvements to graphics, performance, and multiplayer accessibility, I think this update pushes an already-great game to be even better, and I think it’s well worth the small additional expense to upgrade. If you were on the fence regarding this Action-Roguelike, this might be the best time to buy in.

tl;dr – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is an Action Roguelike similar to the Hades series that has players taking the role of one of the four titular Ninja Turtles and fighting through enemies with various random upgrades in each run. While this game doesn’t top Hades, it’s a solid take on that formula with great 4-player co-op that makes this an excellent entry in the genre and a must-have for fans of the Ninja Turtles franchise, with Nintendo Switch 2 bringing better graphics, better performance, and even more multiplayer options.

Grade: A-

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