Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin — Everything We Know

One thing we can't complain about is the increasing number of video game adaptations lately. Whether it's a movie, book, or comic, it feels like practically every fictional story now has a videogame counterpart. Just off the top of our heads, we can think of Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and most recently, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.

TMNT: The Last Ronin was announced at the THQ Nordic 2023 Showcase and it easily stole the show. One of the key reasons for this is that the game's plot doesn't follow the typical story of our favorite butt-kicking turtles. Instead, it follows the story of the TMNT comic The Last Ronin, which has a much darker and more vengeful narrative than the original story. As a result, it immediately captured the attention of many people, including ours. That's why we couldn't wait to find out everything we could about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.

What is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin?

The recently revealed title is the official videogame adaptation of the 2020-2022 comic miniseries The Last Ronin. The comic itself was written by the original TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, alongside the help of Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop, and Isaac and Esau Escorza.

The Last Ronin game is being created by Black Forest Games, and it marks the franchise's first time stepping into the big leagues of AAA titles. Of course, TMNT has seen multiple video game adaptations in the past. Those games, on the other hand, were largely aimed at a younger demographic. Not to mention, they didn't receive the large budget that this product will.

As a result, Black Forest Games, with the assistance of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, has the opportunity to bring a memorable TMNT game to our screens for the first time. And we believe that everyone in the stands can sense that ambition, which is why there has been so much buzz about the title thus far. Because The Last Ronin has a dark heart to its story, which will appeal to a more mature audience. With that being said, it's probably about time we give you more context about the story.

Story

The story of The Last Ronin follows Michelangelo, who is the last known survivor of his mutant family. Armed with the weapons of his fallen brothers, Mikey is on a vengeance story as he journeys through a post-apocalyptic New York City in the hopes of finally putting an end to the Foot Clan.

Because the story revolves around Michelangelo, the humorous one, he'll be able to inject some much-needed levity into what we believe will be a rather dark tale. At the same time, this could be a very different Michelangelo than we know. Given his traumatic past, we wouldn't be surprised if he's not as cool and laid back as we've seen him portrayed before. Nonetheless, we'll eventually know when the game comes to fruition. Or, at the same time, you could read the comics to get the full scoop.

Gameplay

Unfortunately, because The Last Ronin is so fresh, very little is known about the game. We literally only have the premise of the plot. Aide from that, there are no gameplay screenshots or game description to provide us with more details. However, what we can gather so far is that the game has been uttered to be, “a third-person action-RPG in the vein of Sony’s recent God of War games.” At least, that's how Doug Rosen, Paramount's senior VP of games, described The Last Ronin.

Comparing your just-announced title to a former Game of the Year winner seems overly ambitious. However, we're glad they've set their sights so high. Because it's no secret deep down everyone is rooting for the game to reach that benchmark as well.

Development

Black Forest Games is developing TMNT: The Last Ronin. The studio itself has worked on a number of other successful titles but is most known for the Destroy All Humans series. Nonetheless, TMNT: The Last Ronin is their most ambitious project to date. So, we're hoping they didn't bite off more than they can chew.

Trailer

The official reveal trailer for The Last Ronin was shown at the 2023 THQ Nordic Showcase. It doesn't give us much to go on, other than some candles burning in the breeze against various black-and-white backdrops. However, you can clearly see every time the backdrop changes, one of the candles dies out – all except one. Of course, this is a reference to the plot of The Last Ronin: Each candle represents one of the four TMNT, and not by coincidence, only one is left burning. That last one is the family's lone survivor, Michelangelo. We commend them; it's a very brilliant way to tease the game's plot.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Because it just got announced, there is no release date for The Last Ronin. Or, a tentative release window for that matter. However, we do know the game will be arriving on PS5, Xbox Series X| S, and PC – thankfully. So there will be no exclusive scraps over this title as it will be for everyone to enjoy.

Aside from that, it's too early to speak on different editions of the game yet. Nonetheless, stay tuned to Gaming.net as we'll be sure to provide any updates and news on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin when it sheds.

So, what's your take? Are you excited about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin? Will you be picking up a copy when it releases? Let us know in the comments below or over on our socials here!