New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game Developer Teases “Batman-Style” Take on Leonardo

One of the most frequent things fans have been told about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is that the video game will have a different approach to the property. The game takes place when the heroes are a little bit older, and have been somewhat driven apart following the deaths of Master Splinter and the Shredder. These deaths apparently had a profound impact on the characters, who find themselves living much differently than fans are used to seeing. In an interview with GameSpot, Strange Scaffold boss Xalavier Nelson Jr. talked about the directions these characters are heading in.

At the start of the game, the heroes in a half-shell are “about 17, 18” years old. Nelson says that Raphael has become roommates with Casey Jones, and that the pair are basically acting as detectives. Donatello has thrown himself into his machines and is basically living as “a hermit.” Meanwhile, Michelangelo continues to take care of the lair, in hopes that his family will one day find themselves reunited. Of the 4 brothers, Leonardo seems to be heading down the darkest path.

“Leonardo, his sense of responsibility… he might be my favorite character arc in the game. His sense of responsibility has driven him to basically be a Batman-style vigilante,” Nelson told GameSpot. “And you get to see almost like the burnout of, he has so internalized that he’s the leader of the group, under a leader, Splinter. And when Splinter’s gone, him saying ‘I am the responsible one,’ and that being the story he told himself, is manifesting so strongly, so self-destructively, that his brothers need to kind of pull him out of that cycle.”

The engine for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown only supports a single playable character at a time. The gameplay is what inspired this story that has the characters going on these separate journeys, and it sounds like Strange Scaffold is creating something very unique to the property. Raphael is usually the one that has to be pulled out of a dark place by the rest of his brothers, so the fact that it’s Leonardo this time adds a very interesting dynamic. It’s clear Nelson and the rest of the team have put a lot of thought into the storyline, and how these deaths continue to have an impact on the TMNT.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is set to arrive on Steam on May 22nd, so fans of the series don’t have to wait too much longer to see how this storyline will play out. The TMNT characters have appeared in many video games over the years, but the stories have always taken a backseat to the gameplay. From everything revealed thus far, it seems like that won’t be the case this time, and it’s going to be just as interesting seeing how these characters come out of this situation as it is seeing them at the start.

Do you think this path for Leonardo makes sense? Do you plan on checking out the game next month? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!