Some people may still recoil at the thought of a mobile game being ported to a console or PC, but there have been a number of mobile-first titles that have worked perfectly on those platforms. This is especially true of games that appeared first on Apple Arcade, such as Air Twister, Cricket Through The Ages and Spidersaurs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is another title that came from the Apple Arcade program, and after an exclusive release period both on the Switch a few months ago, the game has made its way to the PC.

In Splintered Fate, a mysterious portal has opened up in the turtles' lair. Leonardo was overwhelmed by the Foot Clan soldiers and knocked out while Splinter was kidnapped. After Leonardo woke up, he reunited with his brothers, and the group immediately went into portal hopping action to find their father. The story has a little mystery behind it with the use of portals and a shopkeeper who periodically pops up, but the real treat is that the game takes the IDW comic as a point of reference versus any of the TV show incarnations. It may not be important for the game to reference things like Baxter Stockman as the mayor, Angel Bridge as Nobody, or Slash is now an ally, but comic fans will like having their own TMNT game.

The game plays out from an isometric viewpoint, and while the turtles still rely on their signature weapons for most of the fighting, this game is far from being the typical beat-'em-up like most of the other TMNT games. For starters, the game gives each of the turtles some unique traits beyond the weapon reach commonly seen in other titles. Michelangelo gets in more hits per attack while also taunting foes to deliver more damage. Raphael can get in more critical hits and has a grappling hook to compensate for his short range. Donatello can use tools like a force field to give him a tiny bit of invincibility to complement his higher health bar. Leonardo has a dashing attack — instead of just a regular dash like his brothers have — to complement his shurikens and katanas.

The most noticeable change is that the game is a roguelike. In particular, Splintered Fate follows the roguelike blueprint set by games like Hades, which the developers have stated was a big inspiration for this title. The general hallmarks of the genre are present, such as temporary buffs, various forms of currency to get permanent upgrades, and the random nature of level and enemy layouts. The order of bosses you face are the same in every run, however, so there is at least some consistency. Everyone has a dash ability, but you will get some boons, such as elemental attacks. You'll also get access to artifacts that do things like change the likelihood of receiving certain elemental types in buffs or granting more currency for beating enemies. You can only carry one of these at a time, though.

If you're looking for anything new that the game can contribute to the roguelike genre, nothing of the sort happens in Splintered Fate. From the visible attack zones to the use of rooms as battlefields, it is all very familiar stuff for those well steeped in the roguelike genre. The kind of gameplay mostly associated with the turtles still lends itself well to this kind of genre. The genre change adds more to the button-mashing, since you need to pay more attention to positioning now. The various elemental buffs greatly expand the arsenal of attacks, while the special moves and tools make you plan out what you want to work with. Setting up for a water build when heavy rain is always in the forecast is great if you want to enhance attack buffs; lighting attacks help when the bosses are staying out of melee range. You can still get away with some button-mashing, but the move to a roguelike for the turtles fits rather well.

If you're familiar with roguelikes, you may not have expected the way this game makes itself feel more accessible to players who are new to the genre. However, it feels necessary since there's a good chance that the license will bring in players who have never played a roguelike before. Completing every fight will provide players the chance to earn bonuses, and you can always reroll for a better selection if you have the means to do so. The game is tough but not overly so, and the combination of high currency gains and initially low prices for permanent upgrades means that it takes roughly two runs before you can be a very formidable turtle. Ability cooldowns are also short, so there's plenty of incentive to do more than just dash and mash your attack button.

Splintered Fate can initially feel short since it only takes four levels before you finally face Shredder, but the game takes a page from the arcade classic Ghosts 'n Goblins by not providing a true ending after that fight. Instead, you'll be tasked with taking on challenges through Shimmering Portals that dramatically change parts of the run. Shop items can get more expensive, or enemies can get extended range with their attacks to go alongside the random environmental changes. Boss fights also undergo a similar change, such as a fight with Karai suddenly taking place with the floor on fire. The twist ensures that the game is replayable for those who want to challenge themselves or want to see what crazy combination is cooked up next.

TMNT games are almost always expected to have a multiplayer mode, and Splintered Fate doesn't disappoint in that regard. Both online and local co-op are supported, but don't expect to combine the two; online play requires one person to be on one machine each. Online performance is just as good as it was on the Switch and iOS, and local co-op still allows for people to wander off a bit instead of being restricted to the on-screen play area, but there's barely a need to do this on any level. Upgrades for each run are also handled individually, which is great even if it means sitting through multiple upgrade screens at the end of a room fight. One neat bonus is that each turtle's attacks are color coded, which makes it easier to find yourself once the action gets crowded.

With that said, there are some design decisions with the multiplayer mode that feel questionable. All of the conversations can only be initiated by the host or first player. The same limitation applies to applying permanent upgrades to the party. This might have encouraged communication, but it also introduces a bug where, after picking up the health upgrades, the first player started with a full health bar but everyone else started with a health deficit, despite also getting increases to their overall health. The most annoying issue is the inability to switch characters. It would make sense if the party were full, but if you're playing in a two- or three-player squad in local co-op, the only way to switch characters is to end the run and jump back in with different turtles selected. It's not tough to do, but it is annoying when the option is present in solo mode.

Graphically, Splintered Fate looks quite good. The character illustrations for the cut scenes are heavily inspired by the IDW incarnation. In-game character models are small but animate well. The environments sport a decent amount of detail and look fine enough, and the same can be said for the few lighting and particle effects to enhance things. It also doesn't take much to make this hit 60fps, so those with low-range rigs will still be fine running this game. The only issues you may notice is that the attack swipes are a little blurry, as if they weren't upscaled properly from the original iOS incarnation. The hint text for some items isn't properly formatted, so it tends to bleed into other text boxes. Speaking of which, the game has ultrawide monitor support but does so in a strange manner. It doesn't completely fill the width of a 21:9 monitor, but it ends up showing you more than what you'd see in a standard 16:9 aspect ratio. It also does this at the expense of some vertical information in menus being cut off, so a 16:9 aspect ratio is still the recommended way to play this title.

The audio is equally as pleasant. The music is good, and while it often gets drowned out by the sound effects and dialogue, it still fits in with the action rather well. The jingle that plays when you beat a boss is memorable because it can sound like something you'd hear in any other Saturday morning cartoon. The voice work is also very good, and the cast matches with the characters perfectly even though it is possible that this cast has never been in any of the animated incarnations of the series. The dialogue can repeat in combat, but none of the lines sound terrible — except for the intentionally bad puns.

The game has already been given a Verified rating for the Steam Deck, and it is well earned. The game hits the device's native 1280x800 resolution, and although there are no graphical options to tweak, the game can lock itself to 60fps in every environment and situation. Cloud saving is fully supported, so those planning to go between different machines won't have to worry about starting over from scratch. On the LCD version of the Deck, the game hits a little under four hours of runtime on a full battery charge.

In the end, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate takes the familiarity of Hades and gives it a more familiar skin. The gameplay differences between the brothers provides an incentive to try all four characters instead of sticking to a favorite. The slightly lower difficulty means that upgrading your crew is faster than expected. Considering the large number of roguelikes on the PC, multiplayer — even though it's imperfect — gives this title a leg up on the competition.

Score: 7.5/10