The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license is really getting around the video game world these days, having recently resulted in a roguelike (TMNT: Splintered Fate), two beat-’em-ups (TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants and TMNT: Mutants Unleashed), and a mysterious upcoming PS5 game called TMNT: The Last Ronin. What I did not expect to see was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles strategy game from Strange Scaffold, developer of tons of indie favorites here at Polygon, from Clickolding to I Am Your Beast to El Paso, Elsewhere. As the name of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown implies, it’s a turn-based strategy game — yet with the beat-’em-up elements that are a classic part of TMNT adaptations.
How will those two genres — turn-based tactics and beat-’em-up brawling — combine into one fluid experience? According to the press release, the usual turtle foursome, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo (all playable), will have “their own mini-campaign, where you wield unique movesets and utilize super moves to turn the tide against opponents in strategic, turn-based battles. Perfect for quick-play sessions that feel meaningful, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown’s fast-paced encounters only take minutes to complete. Eventually, players progress toward a dramatic finale, in which the Turtles must unite against evil forces.”
Strange Scaffold is working with Paramount Game Studios on the project. “Working with Xalavier Nelson Jr. and his team at Strange Scaffold has been an incredible experience,” Paramount’s SVP of Games & Emerging Media, Doug Rosen, said via the press release. “From our first conversation, it was clear Xalavier’s vision for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown would exceed our expectations.”
With Strange Scaffold involved, I’m not surprised to hear the game will do something different than TMNT stories that have come before. As Xalavier Nelson Jr. put it (via the PR): “I will be forever grateful to Doug Rosen and the team at Paramount for their collaboration, and putting their trust in our team to make an original take on the world that soars. I get to make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game where the very first lines of dialogue establish that Shredder and Splinter are dead. Who else can say that?”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown will hit PCs via Steam in 2025.
Source：https://www.polygon.com/gaming/491119/tmnt-tactical-takedown-announcement-strange-scaffold
