Why The Last Ronin Is Perfect for a TMNT Game

It's been a agelong roadworthy for TMNT fans hopeful for a video crippled adaptation of the fashionable The Last Ronin comics. Back successful 2023, we learned that steadfast THQ Nordic and developer Black Forest Games were tackling an adaptation of the 2020 comic publication series. The atrocious quality is that task has been shelved. The bully quality is that TMNT: The Last Ronin is present successful improvement astatine PlatinumGames.

This is surely bully news. The Last Ronin is simply a large prime of root worldly connected which to physique a game, particularly if the task succeeds successful capturing what makes different AAA enactment titles similar God of War enactment truthful well. But if you’re unfamiliar with The Last Ronin, present is simply a bully clip to interruption down the comic and wherefore it could construe perfectly to this caller medium.

What Is TMNT: The Last Ronin?

The Last Ronin is possibly champion described arsenic the TMNT franchise’s reply to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. The archetypal comic is the archetypal collaboration successful galore years betwixt TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The duo really drew connected unused communicative plans they primitively developed successful the 1980s, during the archetypal detonation of Turtle Mania.

Like The Dark Knight Returns, The Last Ronin is acceptable successful a futuristic satellite acold darker and grimmer than astir TMNT stories. In this world, each but 1 of the 4 Turtles has been killed warring the Foot Clan, on with Master Splinter too. Only 1 Turtle remains to transportation the torch and decorativeness the combat against Shredder’s grandson, Oroku Hiroto.

We won’t spoil the individuality of the titular Last Ronin here. That uncover is simply a large portion of the archetypal contented of the series, and we presume the crippled volition marque a large woody retired of revealing which of the 4 characters survives this hellish future. But if you privation to know, we’ve got a afloat breakdown of the archetypal contented of The Last Ronin.

The Last Ronin has intelligibly struck a chord with TMNT fans implicit the past fewer years. The comic has already inspired aggregate TMNT enactment figures and a PVC statue from Diamond Select Toys. Multiple follow-up comics person besides been commissioned by IDW. TMNT: The Last Ronin - The Lost Years is some a prequel and a sequel. It fills successful the galore gaps successful the Ronin’s backstory, but it besides continues wherever the archetypal publication leaves disconnected and introduces a marque caller procreation of Turtles. At Comic-Con 2023, we got our archetypal look astatine the existent sequel, dubbed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin II - Re-Evolution, and a 3rd measurement is connected the way.

Only 1 Turtle remains to transportation the torch and decorativeness the combat against Shredder’s grandson, Oroku Hiroto.“

The Gameplay of The Last Ronin

A large portion of the entreaty with TMNT games is the accidental to power your Turtle of choice. In immoderate cases, the gameplay differences are reasonably minor. Take the assorted old-school arcade brawlers featured successful TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection, wherever each Turtle differs lone somewhat successful comparative onslaught powerfulness and the scope of their weapons.

But immoderate games, similar 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants successful Manhattan, truly thin into the differences betwixt the Turtles. Each quality successful that crippled has a unsocial ninjutsu benignant and peculiar moves, and players are capable to power betwixt Turtles astatine will.

The Last Ronin is benignant of the unusual antheral retired successful that regard. This is simply a crippled built astir lone 1 Turtle, which would look to region immoderate imaginable for switching retired characters and warring styles. However, the Ronin inactive carries the afloat TMNT arsenal. He wields Leonardo’s katanas, Raphael’s sais, Donatello’s bo unit and Michelangelo’s nunchucks, making him a one-man service against the futuristic Foot Clan.

It’s casual to spot wherever the God of War power whitethorn travel into play. Kratos tends to wield aggregate limb types successful those games, with the code of combat changing dramatically depending connected whether Kratos is wielding his trademark Blades of Chaos, his Leviathan warfare ax oregon 1 of the different mystical weapons successful his arsenal. The Last Ronin could travel that look and let players to power betwixt these 4 weapons connected the fly.

Nor is the Ronin wholly unsocial successful his quest. April O’Neil is inactive live successful this aboriginal timeline, and she’s joined by her girl Casey Marie (named aft her precocious father, Casey Jones). Casey is simply a budding ninja herself (having work Master Splinter’s books for guidance). While there’s nary denotation whether she’s successful the game, it’s imaginable Casey could go a secondary playable quality successful the game. In different motion to 2016’s God of War, Casey could adjacent beryllium the Atreus fig - a semi-playable companion quality who joins the Ronin connected his quest.

It’s besides not intolerable that the different 3 Turtles could look arsenic playable characters successful the crippled via flashback sequences. That could beryllium a useful mode of introducing players to each caller warring style, by having them leap backmost successful clip to walk a fewer minutes controlling these fallen Turtles earlier they met their extremity battling Oroku Hiroto.

In short, portion there’s nary crushed for The Last Ronin to beryllium a c transcript of the God of War games, determination are galore ways successful which God of War is simply a fitting prime of inspiration for this enactment game. If anyone tin lucifer Kratos’ ferocity and rage connected the battlefield, it’s the Ronin.

Adapting the Story of The Last Ronin

The TMNT franchise has a beauteous coagulated past of making the leap to games, but communicative is seldom an country wherever those games genuinely shine. Most TMNT games opt for the modular look - Shredder is back, April is successful peril, clip to spell massacre hundreds of Foot Soldiers, etc. Even the 2016 game, which was much ambitious than astir successful presumption of its scope and gameplay, didn’t task acold from the beaten way successful presumption of its plot.

This is 1 country wherever The Last Ronin tin truly basal retired from the assemblage of TMNT games. Its communicative is acold darker and much emotionally charged than most. The usually cheerful, humorous code of the franchise has been drained away, leaving lone the communicative of a lone subsister seeking vengeance for his murdered begetter and brothers. The game's little teaser trailer suggests it'll beryllium sticking adjacent to the basal look of the comic. We spot candles being snuffed retired portion images of carnage play retired successful the background, until lone 1 candle and a achromatic ninja disguise remain.

Mind you, if The Last Ronin were simply acheronian for the involvement of being dark, it mightiness not beryllium a communicative worthy adapting. We’ve seen plentifulness of games astir lone protagonists cutting a wide swath of demolition arsenic they question to close a unspeakable wrong. Fortunately, there’s an undercurrent of anticipation and optimism to the bid that offsets the grim and gritty elements. The Ronin’s quality arc is little astir whether helium achieves his extremity than it is learning to anticipation again and find reasons to live. That’s the arc we anticipation to spot play retired successful the crippled adaptation.

That’s not to accidental the crippled can’t besides thin into the fatalistic acheronian of the root material, arsenic well. We’d surely emotion to spot the cyberpunk-y, Judge Dredd-esque mentation of New York City brought to three-dimensional life, successful the process giving The Last Ronin much of an open-world format than astir TMNT games.

There’s besides the imaginable to truly marque the astir of the flashback sequences successful the crippled (assuming it does yet spell that route). The crippled could gully connected the worldly being introduced successful The Last Ronin: The Lost Years, exploring the afloat scope of the Ronin’s communicative and not conscionable the climactic events chronicled successful the archetypal comic. The much we spot of those missing years betwixt the deaths of the different Turtles and the Ronin’s last conflict with Hiroto, the much value his travel carries.

The Last Ronin could besides get a fewer pages from the Halo franchise here. Halo 3: ODST initially puts players successful the shoes of a grunt nicknamed “The Rookie,” but the crippled often flashes backmost successful clip and pivots to the viewpoints of different members of the ODST squad. Perhaps The Last Ronin could employment a akin attack arsenic it flashes backmost to the different Turtles. These flashbacks could chronicle their last, doomed struggles against the Foot Clan, channeling the haunted, ominous code of Halo: Reach.

The Last Ronin is astir surely going to beryllium a precise antithetic acquisition from immoderate Turtles crippled that has travel before, and that’s precisely what has maine truthful excited. This communicative is simply a cleanable prime for an ambitious, story-heavy enactment game. We conscionable anticipation the developer successful question tin propulsion it off.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin tin presently beryllium purchased successful hardcover for $15.77 astatine Amazon, which is implicit $14 disconnected the archetypal MSRP of $29.99. In different TMNT news, IGN spoke with the originative squad down The Last Ronin II astatine Comic-Con, and Kevin Eastman reminisced astir however the Ninja Turtles conquered Hollywood with the archetypal live-action movie.

Note: this nonfiction was primitively published connected March 24, 2023 and updated connected June 6, 2026 with the latest info astir The Last Ronin.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected Twitter.