Paramount Global has confirmed a very different kind of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is in development, based on the popular 2020 comic mini-series: The Last Ronin. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has had a large fan base for many decades but has seen another boom in popularity recently, with retro game releases, Shredder's appearance in Call of Duty, and a new animated movie TMNT: Mutant Mayhem due to release in August this year. It's therefore the perfect time for a new AAA game adaptation of one of the franchise's more popular recent comic runs.
Recent leaks had hinted at a new AAA TMNT title, and Paramount Global's Senior Vice President for Games and Emerging Media, Doug Rosen confirmed that work had begun on the title by an unnamed studio in a recent interview. The title is "a few years" away from its release, but Rosen's comments confirmed that it will be a different TMNT experience for the gaming world, being a darker, more comic-accurate title inspired by recent AAA titles, rather than the retro style that the series has become synonymous with in recent years.
The Last Ronin's Gameplay Is Compared To God Of War's
According to Rosen's Polygon interview, The Last Ronin's combat is inspired by the God of War series, which marks a departure from the TMNT games of recent years. Recent TMNT releases have been mostly side-scrolling beat-’em-ups, with the acclaimed TMNT: Shredder's Revenge offering a retro experience across its 16 levels that still felt surprisingly modern and smooth in its gameplay. The Cowabunga Collection was released mere months later and offered remasters of 13 retro games that included Konami’s classic arcade games, as well as the original NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy entries, which all provided similar core gameplay.
Despite the high praise and success of Shredder's Revenge and the Cowabunga Collection, TMNT: The Last Ronin looks to be stepping away from this nostalgic type of gameplay, and is aiming to be a new AAA experience in the vein of cinematic, story-driven hack-and-slash adventure games like the recent God of War titles. Given the weapon types that the turtles traditionally use, the violent nature of the comics, and the emotional storytelling of The Last Ronin comics, which centered around themes such as loss, honor, and revenge, this seems like a natural fit for the upcoming game, and the best way to faithfully adapt its source material.
TMNT: The Last Ronin Will Stay True To The Comics' Dark Tone
The Last Ronin introduced readers to a bleaker alternative future in which Splinter and all but one of the Ninja Turtles were killed by the Foot Clan. The surviving turtle, whose identity was initially kept secret in the comics, donned black attire and sought revenge, resulting in a blood feud with Shredder's grandson.
Like the comic, The Last Ronin video game adaptation will be a darker, more mature take than general audiences are used to, but will be a welcome return to form for long-term TMNT comic fans. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles originated in 1984 and its comics were loaded with swearing and extreme violence, mirroring the darker comics being produced by other major publishers of the era, with the turtles' origins and the name for their main antagonistic faction, the Foot Clan parodying Marvel's Daredevil and the Hand Clan he faces. It was only later, with the various family-friendly adaptations for movies and TV, that the more colorful, comedic turtles ultimately became what the general audience would associate with the franchise.
The comics, however, retained their darker tone, and this was evident with the 2020s The Last Ronin and its 2022 follow-up Lost Years, which its writer Kevin Eastman first conceived in the late 1980s alongside TMNT co-creator Peter Laird. The miniseries was always unlikely to be adapted into movies or TV, as those markets tend to be very kid-friendly in their approach, but a game is a perfect place to tell its story to a wider audience.
Rosen is clearly aware of the huge difference in TMNT media - and the different fan bases - as he stated that there are opportunities for multiple TMNT games aimed at both young and more mature age groups and that Paramount will be focusing on each project at hand and won't be "[dialing] back to make the game something it shouldn’t be” when adapting the more mature storylines.
TMNT: The Last Ronin Will Be A Single-Player Title
Recent co-op titles such as Gotham Knights were already being compared to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the characterization of its four younger protagonists and Batman's protégés: Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin resembling Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo respectively. These characters also each had their own special set of skills that could be implemented in gameplay, with players having the option to switch between them to approach situations differently. This led to many hoping that the turtles would get a similar title due to each character's distinct combat style offering replayability as players could choose to control a different turtle for new playthroughs of the campaign, or team up with other gamers to take on the story together.
The last new TMNT title, Shredder's Revenge had multiple playable heroes; however, TMNT: The Last Ronin will be a single-player affair. Although initially, it would seem like a missed opportunity to not adapt each turtle's fighting techniques into gameplay, in the Last Ronin comics, the titular turtle wielded the signature nunchaku, sai, bo staff, and dual katanas of his fallen brothers, which should allow players to experience each turtle's combat style while only focusing on a single character. Rosen did hint that players could take control of other characters in flashback sequences similar to those of the comics, so fans should still be able to spend some time with their favorite turtle.
Unfortunately, given Rosen's comments, it seems like the title is in the early stages of development. Therefore, it will probably be a while before players get to see any gameplay footage of the title and witness The Last Ronin in action to see how it compares to the likes of God of War and the other AAA titles its developers will be drawing inspiration from. From what has been revealed so far, it does sound like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic fans have a lot to be excited about, and fans of the turtles' more light-hearted antics in other media have a very new kind of experience and story to look forward to when it does eventually launch.
Source: Polygon