Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate + Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam DLC

The Heroes in a Half-shell are back in a brand new rouge-like adventure battling a roster of their greatest foes to save their father Splinter from the clutches of Shredder and the Foot Clan, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate.

With the support of their allies, the brothers leap into action battling through waves of enemies across four main game levels and a new area in the DLC. Today I’ll be covering both the base game and the DLC but for anything DLC specific I’ll make sure to notify you. Can the bros defeat their foes? Will Splinter be ok? And just how much pizza will they eat on this crazy journey?

Splintered Fate has drawn a lot of comparisons to Hades and they aren’t entirely undeserved. As you progress through your runs you earn coins to use back in the lair for permanent upgrades and to chat with your companions. Achieving certain objectives will also unlock Artifacts for you to equip that will alter your runs, including manipulating the odds of the type of upgrades that appear or altering your healing potential. A standard rogue-like affair so far.

For me, the enjoyment comes with the fluid controls and the fully voiced interactions between the turtles and everyone else. This dialogue changes depending on the game’s progress, whether you’ve beaten a boss before, or lost to them. These dialogue sequences typically aren’t very long but help to immerse you further into the world and the story that’s being built here.

With the release of the Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam DLC, we now have five playable characters to enjoy. And enjoy them I did.

Each of the Ninja Turtles and Casey feel very unique to play and it is something you will have to get used to. Each character has strengths and weaknesses that you’ll need to adapt to, with individual specials and starting tools, though you can use another character’s tool if you find it in the lineup of rewards after beating a room. Tools and abilities can also be levelled up through a run and if you develop the right combinations you can even unlock special combo abilities such as fire and water together, which really excited me when I first found it.

As you progress through your first run, you meet a shady merchant who deals in upgrades and items for scrap. Scrap can be found in boxes or is dropped by enemies and he’s usually found before each boss fight. He always seems to know more about what’s going on than he lets on but we’ll let that slide since he’s useful.

We also eventually meet a mysterious figure who speaks directly into the crew’s minds and offers to help them on their journey, including providing a new set of upgrades and currency to collect. It isn’t until the end of your first run however that the game really opens up.

Upon defeating Shredder for the first time, the true story begins to come to light and the curtain is pulled back on a whole new dimension to the game; modifiers. Going through particular portals will grant you an extra challenge such as greater enemy health and slower recharge times, in exchange for greater rewards. You can use these to your advantage on the quest for the true ending and the secrets that lie within.

In terms of the DLC Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam specifically, we get an extra piece of side story involving Casey Jones and the Punk Frogs. Casey suggests a shortcut to reach Shredder through the Junkyard they control instead of taking the city streets. After the boss fight with Karai at the docks, you can either follow the main route through the streets or take a detour to the Junkyard.

Like all the other areas of the game, it’s very visually distinct and I enjoyed Casey’s character through the journey. His play style, however, may be the weakest of the bunch.

While his hockey puck special is fun I just didn’t enjoy playing as him as much as I did the turtles, which is a real shame because I’ve always enjoyed the character. The boss of the Junkyard is a lot of fun though, so that was great and the whole storyline of the DLC got a fair number of laughs out of me. Sorry Casey, but you’re sitting on the bench for this one.

Overall, I was incredibly pleased with Splintered Fate. It’s a great love letter to the franchise. Instead of being a mere cash grab of a popular franchise, it’s a very competent and fun game to play. Splintered Fate is a game that will appeal to both TMNT fans as well as those of the rogue-like genre who may not even know much about the turtles. While it never hits any heights of greatness the experience is so well put together and strong in all aspects that anyone could jump in to have a great time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a great game for anybody, with the Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam DLC adding to a nostalgic and engaging experience. I can’t wait to play it some more. Just… one more run…