Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate (Switch 2) Review

From Apple Arcade to Switch 2

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate started life as an Apple Arcade exclusive, and you can still see that mobile DNA in its structure and presentation. On Switch 2, though, Super Evil Megacorp’s roguelite finally feels like it has the room it needed. Higher resolution visuals, stable performance, real controllers, and proper couch co-op turn what was a clever curiosity on phones into a legitimately compelling spin on modern TMNT.

This is not another side-scrolling brawler like Shredder’s Revenge. Splintered Fate lifts its framework straight from Hades. You clear small combat arenas, pick one of several room rewards, and slowly snowball a build out of temporary boons and persistent upgrades. It is a tight, repeatable loop, and on Switch 2 it finally has the responsiveness and clarity it was missing on touch screens.

Roguelite Structure: Hades with a Turtle Shell

Runs are built around short, punchy stages set across four New York City zones, plus the obligatory weirder spaces. Every room is a self-contained brawl, with pickups and portals appearing once the last Foot Soldier goes down. Between rooms you choose rewards: new shell upgrades, elemental ninja arts, health, or currency for the hub’s permanent skill trees.

The roguelite structure fits the Turtles better than it has any right to. Leonardo leans toward balanced swordplay and survivability, Raph dives into crowd control and aggression, Donnie emphasizes range and gadgets, and Mikey skates around with dodges and multi-hit combos. The Switch 2 edition benefits from expanded progression trees and more relic variety than the original Apple release, which makes experimentation feel worthwhile instead of grindy.

Where Splintered Fate falls a little short is in how quickly runs start to blur together. Enemy compositions and room layouts shuffle, but visually and mechanically you are often doing the same dance: dash in, juggle, trigger a special, repeat. Hades constantly surprised you with new narrative wrinkles and synergies. Splintered Fate settles into a comfortable groove and mostly stays there.

Combat: Snappy, Satisfying, but a Bit Simple

On Switch 2, combat finally feels like it was meant to. The analog stick movement and face-button attacks give you the precision that the mobile original never quite delivered. Attacks chain cleanly, dashes cancel animations, and defensive reads are actually possible when you are not obscuring the screen with your thumbs.

Each Turtle has a light and heavy combo, a special move, and a super ability tied to a meter. On-paper variety is solid, and elemental modifiers from power-ups can dramatically warp a run. A lightning-infused Donatello that stuns whole packs from afar plays very differently from a fire-boosted Raphael who melts bosses in seconds.

The ceiling is not as high as the best roguelites, though. There is less nuance in hit-stun, enemy behavior, and risk-reward positioning than genre standouts, so once you learn a safe pattern it carries you very far. On higher difficulties the game leans too often on raw damage sponges instead of more interesting attack patterns, which exposes how straightforward the core move sets really are.

That said, the feel of smashing Rocksteady into a wall or juggling Mousers while your buddy launches them with a ground pound is consistently fun. Splintered Fate nails chunky feedback and clear visual effects in a way that makes even simpler encounters enjoyable.

Co-op on Switch 2: The Proper Way to Play

The biggest upgrade this console version enjoys is co-op that actually makes sense. The Apple Arcade version supported multiplayer, but the Switch 2 release is built around sitting on a couch and trashing Foot Soldiers together. Up to four players can jump in, each as a different Turtle, and the game scales enemy density accordingly.

In co-op, Splintered Fate blossoms. The revive system lets teammates bail each other out, so the natural chaos of roguelite combat becomes more forgiving and more dramatic. A solo run can feel punishing when a late hit ends forty minutes of progress. With friends, that same moment becomes a scramble to drag a downed Raph out of a laser grid while Leo desperately kites a boss.

Build variety also becomes more interesting. One player might spec into support relics and crowd control, while another focuses on raw single-target damage. The game does not go as far as true class roles, but there is enough differentiation that a coordinated team feels stronger than the sum of its parts.

The downside is that readability starts to suffer with four players on screen. Visual effects stack, enemy telegraphs get buried under a sea of green and purple, and those mobile-rooted arenas sometimes feel cramped for a full party. The Switch 2 hardware handles the chaos without performance hitches, but a cleaner UI and clearer outlines for each Turtle would have gone a long way.

From Mobile Roots to Console Comfort

Despite being enhanced, you can still see Splintered Fate’s mobile origins. The hub structure, bite-sized rooms, and relatively short run length all make sense for quick sessions. On Switch 2 that actually works in the game’s favor. This is a perfect 20 to 30 minute handheld run kind of title, the sort of thing you fire up between bigger epics.

Presentation lands somewhere between premium and budget. Character models are expressive, and the comic book color palette pops nicely in docked and handheld modes. Animations are good enough to sell the action, though not as fluid as dedicated console-first projects. Cutscenes lean heavily on static panels and brief voice stingers instead of full sequences, and narrative beats are mostly an excuse to move you to the next environment.

Audio fares better. The soundtrack has that modern TMNT energy, mixing crunchy rock with hip-hop inflections without becoming grating. The sound of a well-timed parry or a screen-clearing ultimate detonating a pile of robots carries real weight, and spatial audio on headphones helps track the chaos in busier arenas.

How It Stacks Up to Shredder’s Revenge

Comparisons to Shredder’s Revenge are inevitable. Tribute Games’ love letter is still the gold standard for modern Turtles, with immaculate pixel art, pitch-perfect combat depth for a brawler, and an almost obnoxious amount of reverence for the license.

Splintered Fate is not better than Shredder’s Revenge, but it is different enough to earn a spot beside it. Shredder’s Revenge is a curated, finite experience that you replay for mastery and vibes. Splintered Fate is about the run, the roll of the dice, and the ridiculous build that should not work but somehow does.

Where it falls short in that comparison is personality. Shredder’s Revenge drips character from every frame. Splintered Fate feels more like a very good TMNT themed spin on someone else’s roguelite ideas. It rarely surprises you with story moments or references beyond the expected roster and villains, and it does not have the same sense of celebration for the broader TMNT universe.

Still, in terms of pure playability, it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. If Shredder’s Revenge is the definitive co-op brawler for fans, Splintered Fate is their gateway to roguelites: approachable, rewarding, and tuned just enough toward Turtles flavor to stand apart from its inspirations.

Verdict

On Switch 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate finally feels like it has found the right home. The sharper controls, robust local co-op, and expanded progression edit the rough edges of its mobile beginnings into something genuinely engaging.

It never fully escapes the shadow of its influences and it cannot match the sheer style and confidence of Shredder’s Revenge, but as a fast-paced, replayable roguelite with strong co-op support, it more than earns a slice of shelf space alongside the best modern TMNT games.

If you come in expecting Hades with a half shell you will notice the gaps in depth and storytelling. If you are happy with a punchy, highly replayable Turtles adventure that respects your time and shines brightest with friends, Splintered Fate on Switch 2 is absolutely worth your pizza money.