Story perspectives

TMNT: Empire City releases $25, praised visuals, shallow combat

5/2/2026

Summary

Cortopia Studios Launches

Cortopia Studios released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City on April 30, 2026 for $25 on Quest, SteamVR and Pico.
Beyond Frames Entertainment designed stick-based combat and parkour across a New York City map with sewers.
The story mode supports up to four-player co-op but only the host’s progress saves.
Reviewers praised the cel-shaded visuals, voice acting and parkour while criticizing combat as shallow, buggy and the crime-rating system as padding.

Summary

Turtles Vote

The game includes a poll that lets players vote for their favorite Turtle—Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello or Leonardo.
Facial-expression tracking mirrors players’ real-world expressions, adding a comedic layer to co-op dialogue.
Spontaneous dance battles often break out during multiplayer sessions, becoming a memorable social highlight.
Technical glitches can erase unsaved mission progress, forcing players to restart quests, while community chatter cites repetitive side quests as a major grievance.

History

Historical Context

After Nintendo released the red-monochrome Virtual Boy in 1995—selling only 770,000 units and ending production in 1996—developers learned that flashy hardware alone could not sustain a game. Cortopia Studios applied that lesson to its 2026 TMNT: Empire City, using facial-expression tracking and four-player co-op but focusing on bug-fixes and community updates to avoid the Virtual Boy’s commercial collapse.

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Cortopia Studios Launches

Cortopia Studios released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City on April 30, 2026 for $25 on Quest, SteamVR and Pico.
Beyond Frames Entertainment designed stick-based combat and parkour across a New York City map with sewers.
The story mode supports up to four-player co-op but only the host’s progress saves.
Reviewers praised the cel-shaded visuals, voice acting and parkour while criticizing combat as shallow, buggy and the crime-rating system as padding.

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