The Metalhead Character DLC avoids the concept of bringing guns to a katana fight, instead pushing players into considering something else than the tried-and-true dash builds. Metalhead offers a refreshing take on shifting Splintered Fate’s meta, but if you prefer the existing shuriken-based ranged combat you can stick to the overpowered shuriken builds in the base game. That said, he remains very fun to play and a great way for Splintered Fate fans to test their mettle with endgame content and artifacts that will take quite a while to master.
When Casey Jones was added to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate in the Junkyard Jam DLC earlier this year, I was surprised for several reasons. First, I didn’t expect Splintered Fate to get DLC (as it felt pretty complete on its own). Second, I didn’t expect a partially ranged character to join the Turtles in this roguelike. Splintered Fate was designed around close quarters combat within confined spaces. It’s fun. It’s punishing (as to be expected from any roguelike). It’s a 90s blast wrapped around a top-down roguelike.
Imagine my surprise when Metalhead was added to Splintered Fate as a fully ranged character alongside a massive free update that adds an arcade mode for those wanting more of a bite-sized experience.
This Metalhead Character DLC adds the robotic amphibian as a playable character. For those unaware of Metalhead’s origins, he’s a robotic turtle designed by Donatello (in most of the series’ storylines) to be an automatic fighting machine. Unlike the Turtles, he’s the antithesis of stealthy. He’s clunky, he’s slow, but he packs a punch thanks to the explosive weaponry packed in every inch of his metal shell.
Splintered Fate has given Metalhead a fully ranged treatment – all of his laser-gun attacks are ranged. His special shoots out missiles while his default tool summons explosive landmines.
Knowing of his ranged capabilities, I expected him to feel and play just as fluidly and dash-reliant as the rest of the cast, but with ranged attacks. This was not the case. Metalhead has a noticeable delay when attacking, taking a split second for him to raise his arms for his first attack. Aiming was tough, especially when using the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons. His attack patterns were so slow that I was rarely, if ever, in a position to launch a “final strike” (the third of Splintered Fate’s three-hit attack patterns) before enemies rushed toward me or launched projectiles toward my position.
He kept me on my toes, especially when I was attempting to build craft using the new Robotics powers that were included in the free update. It’s clear that Super Evil Megacorp has designed Metalhead to be used around those powers in an attempt to maximize the Metalhead’s clunky, explosive, and electrified power fantasy.
After completing the new Arcade mode, I took him into a normal run and picked up just about every single shimmering portal and gauntlet challenge I could in an attempt to make things more difficult. His overall speed proved to be an issue, but I managed to select upgrades and masteries to fully utilize his specials and tools to clear Super Shredder on my first attempt.
I’ll admit that it’s hard to lose a run of Splintered Fate if you’ve unlocked a good chunk of the permanent upgrades and use Artifacts effectively to guarantee specific powers within runs. If you’ve played Splintered Fate prior to today and know about its skill trees, you’re probably already aware of and have abused the ranged shuriken builds found within the Ninja skill tree. I attempted this build with Metalhead and was disappointed to see how the shurikens were not only more effective than his slow basic attacks, but overshadowed his basic ranged attacks in just about every way. His playstyles are an acquired taste and won’t appeal to
Remember how I said that Splintered Fate is designed around close quarters combat? This remains true even when playing as Metalhead. He’s the perfect addition to the cast in terms of shaking things up, especially considering the new Artifacts. There are 5 Artifacts that come with this pack, and they’re all tailored for longtime players to steepen the difficulty curve by preventing you from healing but granting a ton of currency, slowing you down significantly, randomizing your tools at the start of each Chapter, and more. The Artifacts that prevent healing (Gigantic Tusk and Kitsune’s Cup) are not for the faint of heart, but they’re great for players who are trying to gather enough of the in-game currency to pay for upgrades.
I think this is a good DLC character pack as it is designed for longtime players and longtime fans. He’s $3, to boot – a steal of a deal that will offer far more than three hours of fun if you’re the kind of person who abides by the 1 hour of playtime per dollar spent. Sure, I wish that they added more deep cut characters and amped up the difficulty in more ways, but I’ll take what I can get from Super Evil Megacorp. If this DLC is any indication, I’ll patiently wait for more TMNT-themed roguelike content.
The Metalhead Character DLC avoids the concept of bringing guns to a katana fight, instead pushing players into considering something else than the tried-and-true dash builds. Metalhead offers a refreshing take on shifting Splintered Fate’s meta, but if you prefer the existing shuriken-based ranged combat you can stick to the overpowered shuriken builds in the base game. That said, he remains very fun to play and a great way for Splintered Fate fans to test their mettle with endgame content and artifacts that will take quite a while to master.
