Something amazing is happening with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There’s never been a shortage of Ninja Turtle games out there, but for a couple of decades now, the boys have not been at their best. Other than cameo appearances in Call of Duty and a few fighting games (as well as Smite, for some reason), TMNT has had it pretty rough in the video game world.

That changed in 2022 with the back-to-back releases of Shredder’s Revenge and The Cowabunga Collection, a pair of critically acclaimed titles that celebrated the history of the Ninja Turtles' very best games, and revitalized them for the modern era. They were then followed by the endlessly replayable Hades-like Splintered Fate in 2024, and now, the turts take on the turn-based tactics genre in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown: a brilliant little game that fits perfectly into this shining new era of Turtle Power.

When most people think of turn-based tactics games, they think of slow, grindy RPGs, battles that take an hour to finish, and soldiers aiming at aliens faces at point blank range with 99 percent accuracy that somehow still miss. Tactical Takedown is none of those things. In fact, it’s unlike any tactics game I’ve played before - and I’ve played a lot of them.

For one thing, you only ever control one character at a time. Each of Tactical Takedown’s 20 levels features one of the turtles fighting his way through dozens of Foot Clan ninjas in a style of turn-based combat that’s so fast paced, it practically feels real-time.

And that’s the entire point. Instead of shoving the brothers into a traditional turn-based tactics RPG, Tactical Takedown reimagines the classic TMNT beat ‘em ups as a tactics game. The sewers, rooftops, and New York street-themed levels feel just like the levels you’d find in Turtles in Time, and the turtles’ attack combos and abilities smoothly string together to create the feeling of playing a ‘90s arcade game - only this time, you’re playing flawlessly.

If you’re familiar with developer Strange Scaffold, you might have expected some kind of genre twist like this. Director and studio head Xalavier Nelson Jr. has developed a reputation for producing inventive, bite-sized games that push genre conventions in new directions, and Tactical Takedown, the studio’s first licensed game, is no exception.

This is what you get when you put iconic characters in the hands of a team that isn’t afraid to do something unexpected. Sometimes that means making a horror clicker game about cuckoldry, and sometimes that means making a turn-based tactical strategy game that feels like a classic Ninja Turtles beat ‘em up.

Since you play as a different turtle in each level, you quickly pick up on what makes each of their fighting styles unique. Michelangelo has a lot of mobility on his skateboard, and is skilled at maneuvering around enemies and stunning them to break up big groups. Raphael, on the other hand, likes to get in the middle and fight everyone at the same time, trading his health for big, powerful attacks. Donatello uses his tech to push enemies away from him and create traps that chip away at their health while providing area denial. And finally, Leonardo is fittingly skilled at strategically lining up his targets and knocking them down one by one, getting stronger and stronger with each successful KO.

Almost all of the levels are built around getting from point A to point B while taking out every goon along the way, but the way you approach each one will be completely different depending on the turtle - or at least it should be, if you want any hope of surviving the onslaught of enemies that stand between you and victory.

Tactical Takedown can be brutally difficult if you aren’t playing to each character’s strengths. Mikey, for instance, is much better at running than fighting. It seems counterintuitive at first, until you realize that any enemies left behind during a stage mutation - the turn after a new section of the map appears when the previous section falls away - will be instantly killed.

Playing as Mikey is all about corralling groups of enemies, then skateboarding out of danger just as the floor is about to fall away. This is almost the exact opposite of Leo’s style, who needs to build momentum by stringing together a sequence of hits, treating bad guys like dominoes and knocking them over in one smooth motion.

These are just their default kits. As you progress through the story, you’ll be able to unlock a new base kit and several special moves for each turtle. You can swap Mikey from his skater build into a rushdown build that’s all about quickly closing the distance between enemies so you can shove them off the map. These kits, along with the choice between three support abilities provided by each of the other brothers, give you plenty of options for different builds and playstyles.

Tactical Takedowns 20 missions only take a few hours to get through. While there’s a bit of replayability if you want to go for a high score on each level, it won’t take you more than six hours to exhaust everything there is to do. That’s both a good and bad thing. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, but it also feels like it's just scratching the surface of what could be done with this fresh take on tactical strategy.

Strange Scaffold has made a name for itself with bite-sized games, but this one feels like it would have benefited from a larger scope. There are only a few different enemy types, the maps tend to blend together, and as charming as the tabletop miniature aesthetic is - especially with the way the figurines hold their poses with each attack and hit taken - the total effect is a game with brilliant ideas that feels constrained by its budget. I don’t know if the studio would ever do a sequel, or if it would even be willing to dedicate the time, but I’d love to see the ideas in Tactical Takedown expanded into something more substantial.

But when your biggest complaint about a game is that it left you wanting more, you know it’s something special. Like this year’s Expedition 33, Tactical Takedown overcomes the most common complaints about turn-based games to deliver a strategically action-packed experience. This is an excellent showcase of what makes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so beloved, and as a fan, I’m so happy to see the turtles finally get the kinds of games they deserve.