**EDITOR’S NOTE: Playing together will be a blast, but we appreciate that you want to know when you can play Turtles with your friends. Today we confirmed that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City will be available Spring 2026 for $24.99, with Meta Quest pre-orders available now at a 20% discount**.

The best stories have meaningful character arcs. We tend to feel the closest to characters who best great conflicts and character flaws. They’re cathartic and relatable since we all go through our own stuff. It is, after all, the human experience to overcome adversity.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City is a game about the Turtles, but, in VR, YOU are the Turtles, so the game’s sort of about… you? While we could have told you a 2nd-person story, telling you all about what’s happening to you, that felt weird. Almost like we’d be pupeteering you around, which goes against the spirit of freedom that permeates all aspects of this game, including movement, combat, action choices, setup, etc. 

Since we didn’t want to force you into an arc, we wanted to introduce a character into the story that could be a reflection of the player’s choices. Someone who, throughout the franchise, had a history rife with internal and external conflict that played squarely in the gray zone between light and dark, right and wrong, might and balance.

Enter, Karai, head of the Japanese branch of the Foot Clan. To complement this Dev Diary, we also sat down with comic author legend and Story Consultant to TMNT: Empire City,  Tom Waltz, to discuss Karai as a character. Give it a listen to get a wider perspective of how she’s developed over time and how that journey fits into our game.

A Throne Without a Jounin

For fans of the City at War stories of the original Mirage run or the 2003 show, our set up for Empire City will sound very familiar: Shredder is dead. New York is in chaos. The Foot Clan is fractured, and everyone is looking to fill the power vacuum that’s been left behind. Karai arrives in the middle of this turmoil to reunify the clan under her control.

While Shredder ruled with fear and aggression, Karai believes there may be another way to lead. The Foot Elite, with help from new leadership (who we’ll reveal in a later dev diary), deny her right as Jounin, as they believe the way of Oroku Saki is the only way. Are they right? The Shredder was powerful. Unstoppable even… until he wasn’t. 

To wrangle control of her clan and discover the meaning of true power, she convinces those who felled her predecessor – The Foot’s sworn enemies – the Hamato Clan (You) to aid her.

But who will she become at the end of this journey? That’s your example to set.

Black & White Shades of Grey

Karai doesn’t exist on a fixed narrative track. Players will encounter decision points throughout the game, and Karai will respond to the decisions that players make.

Those decisions can change the outcome of the entire game. Mercy versus pragmatism. Immediate safety versus long-term consequences. This isn’t about good vs evil, it’s about how you philosophically approach any given situation. None of the choices are wrong. Karai will learn what kind of leaders your Turtles are, and she’ll respond accordingly. And most importantly, she remains Karai in every outcome.

Because of this, Karai can occupy very different narrative positions depending on how you play. We’re still an indie team, so we’re not building a branching narrative that requires a corkboard and red string to follow. But your actions do accumulate. Major chapter decisions push the story in one direction or another. By the end, those choices will resolve in one of two distinct outcomes.

Karai: Empire City Edition

In Empire City, the Turtles don’t start with a history with Karai. They meet her the same way most people do: mid-fight on a rooftop with everyone assuming the worst. 

Our version of Karai draws from several of her strongest interpretations at once. Her role as the stabilizing leader stepping into a fractured Foot Clan comes straight from Mirage’s City at War era, while her clan-first pragmatism, political instincts, and moral flexibility are heavily influenced by Tom Waltz’s IDW run and nearly every other portrayal of her over the last 40 years.

From there we built something new – a Karai whose trajectory isn’t fixed by canon, but shaped by the player’s leadership, decisions, and values over the course of the campaign.

To commemorate our take on Karai, we were lucky enough to connect with Dan Duncan, the artist whose work laid the foundational visual architecture of the IDW line – including Karai, to create an original piece of art for us. Getting his take on our take has been nothing short of magical. 

What Comes Next

As a member of The Foot vying for power over the clan in New York City, you might have assumed Karai was our big bad – but after reading this post, you’re probably getting the sense that it’s not so cut and dry.

So does Empire City have a big bad?

You’ll have to wait for our next dev diary to find out – and I can’t wait for your reaction.

Until then, keep making good choices – you’ll want to be in practice before Empire City drops (soon).

Ace

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City will be available Spring 2026 for $24.99, with Meta Quest pre-orders available now at a 20% discount.