The heroes in a half-shell try the roguelite genre on for size in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate. Super Evil Megacorp's new port features enough smart ideas and frisky combat to go toe-to-toe with TMNT's best games, even while its unimaginative permanent upgrades and currency-grinding endgame could have used a post-mobile facelift. PC players have been walled off from TMNT: Splintered Fate until now, but the game is ultimately worth the wait, especially for longtime Turtles fans.

Originally releasing as an Apple Arcade exclusive (and eventually appearing on Nintendo Switch earlier this year), action roguelite TMNT: Splintered Fate finds the foursome fighting their way through the periodic table of street brawler environments - sewers, docks, streets, rooftops - to rescue Splinter from a mysterious unearthly threat. Some excellent comic art, dialogue, and recognizable voices help bring the game's characters to life, delivering a genuine-feeling TMNT experience that never comes off as a simple cash-in.

Super Evil Megacorp has developed isometric action-oriented titles for years, like the acclaimed MOBA Vainglory and the Rebel Moon game adaptation. The studio has particularly thrived in the mobile space, which may speak to some of the bugs I found clearing through TMNT: Splintered Fate’s campaign on PC. I remain hopeful that a few patches should clear away those loose ends, especially when considering the announced roap of what’s to come post-launch, including new levels and playable characters.

4-Player Hades-Inspired Roguelite Action

Splintered Fate's Fundamental Gameplay Is Simple But Satisfying

Supergiant's Hades is the most common reference point for TMNT: Splintered Fate, as both games feature proc-gen, permadeath, a range of different currencies, upgrades, and unlockables, all with that familiar fixed isometric perspective. Each also integrates a looping narrative concept to match the repeat playthroughs inherent to the genre.

Up to four players select a Turtle and fight through four biomes packed with randomized enemies, elites, bosses, and bonuses (and pizza), building up to a final fight that rolls you back to square one with some collectibles in tow. Runs are always structurally the same, but the game uniquely integrates its ascension system, presented as optional "shimmering portals" that make a given run much harder.

After vanquishing Shredder for the first time, portals appear after completing most encounters. Portals ramp up Splintered Fate's challenge, empowering enemies, decreasing damage reduction, or even making shops more expensive, all while increasing the amount and types of currency earned on a run. These modifiers stack, and special "gauntlet portals" offer tweaked miniboss/boss fights for greater rewards.

At the start, though, the game is considerably gentle, with rooms full of cartoon cannon fodder that go down quickly. As for the many bits of banter and corny one-liners, the gang's all here and sound terrific: Raphael's grumpy, Michelangelo's surf-y, Leonardo's the noble rock, and Donatello does machines. The Turtles sport some unique abilities to accompany their standard weaponry, and swapping characters at the start of each run during a marathon single-player session makes the standard loop feel a little more dynamic and interesting.

All The Turtle Powers You Need, Right Off The Bat

Offering Players Full Access To Turtle Powers & Upgrades Enriches The Early Game

TMNT: Splintered Fate’s combat is immediately clean and readable, sticking to the dodge/attack basics of the genre, reliable but straightforward. Each Turtle is equipped with a rechargeable skill attack and a sidearm tool, with the latter swappable and the former fixed to the character. There are elemental shuriken, fireballs, magical dashes, exploding ooze canisters, and many more, all of which fill the screen with various colors and effects.

Survive a room of respawning enemies and receive your choice of boon, which could be currency, a maximum health increase, a new tool or skill upgrade, a temporary buff, or a Turtle Power. These many options are surprisingly intricate and frequently synergize; for instance, elemental properties can be added to attacks and tools, and Turtle Powers can affect how they trigger or add a percentile damage boost. Elements don't interact, which is a shame, so don't expect to add bonus damage with lightning shuriken on a foe doused in water damage. You can also cash in scrap at a mysterious merchant for yet more rewards.

Surprisingly, all Turtle Powers and tools are unlocked from the get-go. This front-loads TMNT: Splintered Fate’s diverse synergies and tools, and the plentiful upgrade opportunities found in each run provide a strong hook for the game's early hours.

Dragon Coins Rule Everything Around Me

Grinding Out Currency Can Drag Out Some of Splintered Fate's Late-Game

It’s unfortunate, then, that TMNT: Splintered Fate’s unlockables are essentially uninspired. Every run starts off in the Turtles’ sewer hideout, where three different stations fuel nearly every gameplay function by leveraging a trickle of slow-accruing trophies and currencies. Virtually all of these upgrades aren’t compelling in the least, with such bonuses as a 2% boost to dodge-chance or a 5% boost to crit rate. In fact, there are two entire pages of expensive upgrades purely devoted to increasing currency rewards, a weirdly recursive prospect, useful as it may be.

This puts into perspective what it means to have every skill and tool unlocked by default. While there remain vital buffs and artifacts that increase DPS and survivability, the lack of any other weapons, tools, or skills to unlock a dozen hours deep does drain some of the game's initial shine.

Splintered Fate soon becomes a game about hoarding mountains of currency and taking greater risks in each level just to juice the DPS and make the bullet-spongiest bosses actually tenable on the next go-round. On that note, DPS balance would benefit from some additional tweaks, and fighting Leatherhead at the end of the first level with limited upgrades can be a momentum-killing drag.

Co-Op Conflicts And A Few Bad Bugs

Here's Hoping These Bugs Are Quickly Resolved

There are mos, Foot clan ninjas, rascally Punk Frogs, and a few other surprise faces who pop up throughout TMNT: Splintered Fate to help or hinder the Turtles. The game's bestiary is a decent mix of TMNT foes, even if the bulk are pallet-swapped ninjas. Some of its toughest encounters fill the screen with colorful AOE callouts and projectiles, made all the more hazardous and fun with a few players alongside you.

I was not able to test out the online co-op functionality for this review, only the couch co-op and Steam Remote Play.

Unfortunately, some messy UI problems and other bugs interfered with my few multiplayer attempts. Menus sometimes lose focus at random, you can’t always inspect your build when choosing a new upgrade, and odd glitches saw other teammates temporarily lose control of their character. While this would only last a few seconds, that's enough to get killed by a deadlier enemy, which cast an uncertain shadow over future co-op sessions.

Some of the game's visual interference can also hamper the experience. The camera also never zooms out, so be mindful of any players running offscreen. Damage and effect markers look to be in a font best described as "placeholder," though the character models feature a nice level of detail that yet retains a cartoon feel.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

8/10: Worth Playing, Despite Some Flaws

I hope that these simpler bugs are cleaned up quickly, and note that I was still able to smoothly trounce Shredder a few times unhindered. Even with the smorgasbord of low-rent permanent upgrades, it still felt good to trample robots faster, then ramp up the difficulty through shimmering portals when ready. TMNT: Splintered Fate’s fundamentals are simple but compelling in action, and the relatively short length of a successful playthrough prompts that sweet just-one-more feel.

It's also a much more robust and proper Turtles roguelite than last year’s well-received Dimension Shellshock DLC for TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. The mix of upgrades and tools on offer adds just enough variety that four individual players will rarely lean into the same build on the same run.

All in all, TMNT: Splintered Fate stands as one of the better games seen in the franchise, delivering a busy and accessible action roguelite ed by a tone-perfect narrative. All we need now is for Super Evil Megacorp to make good on that roap and beef up the content, but any Turtles fans and roguelite aficionados should find enough here already to spur their next grind session.

A PC code for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.