The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles resurgence is in full swing with the announcement of ‘The Last Ronin’ graphic novel being developed as a videogame.
I told my editors that I didn’t want to be “the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle guy”. However I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk about a new TMNT project in development. Except this time it’s not the Mutant Mayhem movie, it’s not a tv show, it’s not even an animation project—it’s a video game. This latest news broke during a recent Polygon interview with Doug Rosen, Senior Vice President of Games and Emerging Media at Paramount Global. I suspect this is the news a lot of TMNT fans have been waiting for. A turtle game that can handle the power and graphics of current gen consoles. The game will be focused on the TMNT: The Last Ronin graphic novel, a recent IDW Publishing series that features a darker, more mature take on the turtles.
TMNT: The Last Ronin is a post-apocalyptic storyline where only one turtle is left and he is haunted by the ghosts of his brothers who have passed. The Foot Clan has taken over New York City and it’s the brothers’ duty to help the lone turtle get revenge. He carries around the weapons of his fallen brothers as well as the weight of guilt. Who is the sole survivor? Well you will just have to read The Last Ronin to find out. At least until the game arrives. The story is written by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the original creators of TMNT, along with longtime TMNT scribe Tom Waltz. It’s an exciting read that stays true to the original turtles from the 80s.
Turtle power is back!
During the Polygon interview Doug Rosen stated “they’ve found the right partner to adapt The Last Ronin into an ambitious AAA video game”, which is such a great idea. Much like the graphic novel, the game’s setting will likely be a future New York City. Though I would like to play as all of the turtles, jumping around present-day New York City … I will settle for jumping around a future New York City using a roster of weapons to take out Foot Clan ninjas.
The inspiration for the gameplay (in the third-person action role-playing style), came from Rosen’s interest in the recent God of War titles, he stated during the Polygon interview. I hope that they also take inspiration from Insomniac’s Spider-Man game from 2018, specifically with the freerunning aspects. The fact that it’s 2023 and we still don’t have a big tentpole Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is a little shocking. But that is about to change.
It’s interesting to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles make another comeback. They were likely due, and we welcome them back with arms raised up high. So far, we have a feature-length animation film and a AAA video game with high-end action gameplay. It’s my hope that Paramount has found a way to lift this intellectual property to be on par with the cinematic universes we are seeing from the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix, and even Disney.
Much is still unknown about the game at this time. The game developer is still a mystery. And there is not much info on when the projected release is other than it is a “few years off”, according to Rosen. What I do know is that I am sitting in anticipation asking, “Why don’t I have it yet?!”
