The Last Ronin Brings the Ninja Turtles to the World of Blockbuster Games

Throughout the decades, there’ve plenty of video games based on or featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While each of them have their own fans, one thing they all share in common is that they exist pretty comfortably in a space for young kids and maybe a nostalgic fan. After all, when the whole property is meant for kids while also sometimes courting longtime fans, why wouldn’t the games stay in that corner?

But if there’s one thing the last several years have taught us, it’s that the Ninja Turtles have a lot of creative range and that should be taken advantage of more often. Hence, Black Forest Games’ TMNT: The Last Ronin, which was revealed during THQ Nordic’s recent showcase. Based on a 2020 miniseries from original TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird (and joined by Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop, and Isaac and Esau Escorza), the game stars Michelangelo as the sole survivor of his mutant family. Armed with the weapons of his brothers, Mikey makes his way through a post-apocalyptic New York to finally bring an end to the Foot Clan, who’ve controlled the city for years.

The Last Ronin’s game adaptation is intended as a way for the Turtles to break into the triple-A gaming leagues, and was first revealed back in March over at Polygon. At the time, Paramount’s senior VP for games Doug Rosen described the title as a third-person action-RPG in the vein of Sony’s recent God of War games. And if that weren’t triple-A enough, it’s also said to be aiming for an older audience—whether that means it’ll be M-rated or a hard T for Teen remains to be seen, as The Last Ronin won’t be out for another couple of years, assuming things go to plan. What is known is that it’s expected to be fairly faithful to the source material, which itself is continuing later this year with a sequel comic.

Console-wise, TMNT: The Last Ronin is currently slated to release on PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S.

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