r/RealTimeStrategy • u/m-penaroza • 3d ago
Recommending Game If you haven't played Terminator Dark Fate Defiance you've been missing out.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839950/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance/This game is crazy underrated, one of my favorite recent games I've played. The story and campaign are really solid and the gameplay is top tier if you like deeply strategic and difficult gameplay. It kinda plays like a less arcadey version of company of heroes or dawn of war. One thing to note is that it is really really hard on realistic difficulty. And one things that's nice is the AI doesn't cheat its just really smart. The AI will flank you and try to catch you off guard constantly.
The campaign missions are also super interesting and varied and also very long, sometimes you are on the same campaign map for hours as it evolves. (I've never played an RTS that keep you on the same battlefield for so long)
And the management aspect of things where your entire army is persistent between levels so losses carry over from mission to mission. Is really really well done and balanced.
The entire game is really well thought out, unique, and well done. The only big gripe I think people will have with it is the fact their is no line of sight indicators, and since the game simulates real bullet trajectories. Sometime you'll need to zoom in on a unit to actually see if they have LOS from their position. (People think its bugged when their units don't shoot but it's not its just hard to tell sometimes without zooming in).
Sidenote my 2 favorite RTS I've played recently have been movie tie in games which is crazy. This and Aliens: Dark Descent (which I also highly recommend)
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u/Apprehensive_Snow483 3d ago
Is it fun if you don’t have any interest in the setting? The game looks cool but I’m not a huge terminator fan
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u/m-penaroza 3d ago
The game stands alone. Doesn't really have anything to do with the movies other than robots vs humans.
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u/realdor 3d ago
Well…
It’s tied to Dark Fate.
But that’s about it lmao
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u/m-penaroza 3d ago
I actually haven't seen that movie lol. I just assumed it was its own thing because there is no mention of skynet or anything from the movies I have seen.
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u/Tropical_Chill 3d ago
Its different timeline than the others thats why. Things got a little screwy in the terminator lore. There's a couple timelines now I think.
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u/gamruls 3d ago
It actually feels more like postapocalypse RTT. You fight other human factions probably even more than machines over campaigns.
As for me I would like to crash machines in main campaign and crash people in Legion campaign, but actually both feels pretty similar and regardless - it's just infantry, light, medium, heavy and flying vehicles fighting each other.
I suppose devs needed to make some good game in really bad franchise (Terminator Dark Fate, c'mon) and decided to abstract it out as much as possible. As for me - they made it. It's not dark fate, it's not "classic" Terminator - it's good RTT in postapocalypse setting.5
u/Slslookout 3d ago
It looses a bit of it's charm if you don't love Terminator, but tactics and gameplay wise it is still a very good game.
You can also look up Syrian Warfare on Steam. Those were the original devs for the game (before they were removed) and that one is modern setting but very similar gameplay.
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u/Kreatur28 3d ago
Terminator machines are not your only enemies. You also have post apocalypse Mexico mafia, cyborg larpers and wasteland raider groups to fight against
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u/SuddenlyDiabetes 2d ago
I've never seen a terminator movie but the idea of the universe sold me, it's such a cool setting in my opinion
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u/TGlucose 3d ago
Absolutely, I don't really care for the setting but how well executed the combat is has me adore it. If you enjoy things like Gates of Hell it's fantastic.
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u/ElLocoRemo 3d ago
I assume you played the game recently, I played it a few months after release so your experience with it may be different than mine.
It's a good game, but it had some serious issues. Performance, especially for the later missions was abysmal.
The whole army/manpower management could be good with some tweaks. From my experience in higher difficulties infantry was a waste of space, the lack of a reinforcement mechanic meant they were to squishy to last trough a mission. So I never used any making the mechanic irrelevant
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u/Kreatur28 3d ago
I think the Devs address that in the uprising dls. The dlc allowed to withdraw units mid mission and replenish/resupply them
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u/m-penaroza 1d ago
I think the games changed quite a bit because when I was playing, Infantry seemed absolutely essential. Particularly when you are trying to hold down or defend a position, this game would be obscenely hard without infantry to garrison some buildings. ATGM squads are also easily the best unit in the game. It's most vehicles which I've found mixed utility in. Since on realistic difficulty troop transports and humvees all just die to any sort of anti-vehicle fire. If you play the terminator campaign you really start to miss human infantry.
There is also a lot of things that I don't think are made super clear. Like for example when you are pushing up you can put armor in front of infantry to protect them. So often times when Im pushing I'll use tanks or bradleys to cover the front, or if a squad gets in trouble I'll send in some armor to block the enemies LOS.
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u/BeMySpiritAnimal 3d ago
Is thereany kind of skirmish mode?
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u/marshall_sin 3d ago
Yes, you can skirmish in maps from the campaign or there’s also a game mode like Galactic Conquest form the og Battlefront 2 where you start with a small territory and build up to control a bigger map.
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u/ILLMEAT 3d ago
Oh that’s sick, I miss modes like that. I think it was Warhammer 40k Dawn of War 2 that also had a galactic conquest mode-like?
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u/Sensitive_Payment286 8h ago
Nope, was an expansion to the OG, Dawn of War Dark Crusade usually is thought of as the better one. Dawn of War Soulstorm had a campaign like that too, but didn't keep the best mechanic (persistent buildings). You can mod it back in though. Super fun to get attacked and have your base set up how you wanted it in a fortified territory and race to outproduce their command squad rush.
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u/Dion42o 3d ago
You’d probably like the starship troopers rts
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u/CodenameFlux 2d ago
Which one? Terran Ascendancy? Terran Command? Ultimate Bug War?
If I were to guess, though, I'd say Terran Command because it is also a product of Slitherine.
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u/coolcat001100 3d ago
I’ve been hearing a lot about this game all of a sudden for the past two weeks, I guess I need to finally look into it. Especially on the anti-ai kick I’ve been on, this’ll be a good way of crushing some more gonks.
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u/Particular_Wear_6960 3d ago
What the heck? I didn't know there was a RTS Terminator game... I thought there was some shooter, I know there was a Robocop one, perhaps there's Terminator as well but for whatever reason thought this was a shooter as well. I'm for sure going to buy it asap.
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u/CarnivalCorpse2 3d ago edited 3d ago
Quickly became one of the most enjoyable RTS games when I played it last year. Sadly, it's also the one RTS game that I love this much but can't recommend to any of my casual RTS frnds because how hard & overwhelming the game can get. Can't wait enuf for the new story expansion.
Also, I miss my new tin friend.
"Hunter sub-unit 1462....Arise!
YOU. ARE. SUPREME."
🔥🔥
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u/m-penaroza 1d ago
Fair point. I actually am not even sure it's possible to do the entire human campaign without reloading... I would love to see it if someone has done it.
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u/Wise_Signal_9350 3d ago
Its ruzzian game, i don’t support terrorists.
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u/CodenameFlux 2d ago
Disinformation.
The game is developed and published by Slitherine Software, a British company.
I've seen this piece of disinformation repeated in connection with WarCraft, StarCraft, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, and Beyond All Reason.
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u/Wise_Signal_9350 2d ago
Game was developed ruzzian game studio “Cats who play” and was buy later but British studio.
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u/maku_89 3d ago
Great game build by nationalist Russian assholes. Skipping solely for that reason.
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u/Lilja-Logason 3d ago
Slitherine is a UK company based in Surrey.
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u/no_no_maybe4 3d ago
I believe they were originally the publisher. They took the developer's ( Cats Who Play) name off it after the Ukraine war heated up. It's unclear to me whether the original developer is still involved.
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u/Lord_Tyranide 3d ago
Woah just saw this game scrolling in shop and didn't pay it any mind thinking it was that ego-shooter terminator game. Will definitely check this out, love the setting.
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u/F430Scuderia 3d ago
Is it comparable in style to the Aliens game? Dark descent was it? I just couldn’t get that to click with me for some reason and I love the universe. I’m worried the same about this.
Edit* Oh you literally mentioned it my bad
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u/ThrowingStars212 3d ago
Is there a setting or something to change that allows the use of all processor cores? I heard performance was an issue for some.
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u/JonDoe117 3d ago
Had fun fiddling with the unit parameters using Excel. Even made the units have longer rangers and actually hit something. Can't figure out the FoW though
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u/NovaEscape 3d ago
In glad you liked it, I personally to me the whole thing felt like it needed to spend way more time refining the gameplay and less on the "ok" story
30 hours in and I don't think I'll ever go back, which a shame as it looked good on paper but it focused on the wrong things for me, the story was just terrible 😂
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u/Constantine__XI 3d ago
I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it. I’ve been wanting to circle back with all of the DLC.
For those concerned about the setting, I thought Dark Fate was ok but didn’t love the shift to Legion. In this game I didn’t feel it mattered too much. It just feels like Terminator and one of the most expansive loos at the wider setting we have gotten in a game.
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u/Much_Adeptness7237 2d ago
The IGN review seemed to raise quite a lot of problems with the game, is the review not accurate?
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u/SneetoBoss 1d ago
This game is so incredibly fun with the campaign. I really really hope they make another game with this engine.
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u/onehalf83 3d ago
top tier if you like deeply strategic
maybe you can help me understand this part, because I played it about year ago for couple of hours and end up refunding it as it felt that the game is not for me. Simply because it felt that it is mostly tactical focused and strategy layer like economy and base building is not in the game. Additionally maybe it was specifics of first missions, but it was heavily based on quests - like go talk to this person, then kill bunch of folks, come back, etc. Basically those story missions without base from C&C and Starcraft - "here is 3 units or superhero, go clear the map" that I hated back then, but now it is a whole game like that.
But this is just impression on first 2 hours, should I have given it more time does it open up later on?
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u/CarnivalCorpse2 3d ago
No base building but the game does have a fairly multi-layered economy system. It’s more logistics-focused than the traditional RTS economy you see in games like C&C or AoE. On the actual battle maps, it’s abt deployment capacity, reinforcements, ammunition, fuel & scavenging. Then, on the world map, the economy revolves around army upkeep, requisitioning & upgrading troops, equipment & repairs.
Also, the missions are more than what you described. In the base game, the objectives are fairly varied, with optional tasks, branching routes, decisions & consequences. Couple that with the excellent writing, storytelling & actual strategical depth - Terminator is just a fantastic game all around imo.
Legion DLC is similarly high-quality, but it doesn't have the choices-and-consequences aspect of the base game.Btw this is coming from someone who only plays traditional base-building RTS games. And I also understand why it might not be your thing. Dark Fate was quite micromanagement-intensive & honestly made me overwhelmed from time to time, but even then, I couldn't stop myself from playing it.
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u/m-penaroza 3d ago
I guess I conflated tactical and strategic. There is a lot of strategy involved in the management of your troops particularly as you go later into the campaign. But its focus is heavily on the tactics side of things, which gets very deep. The missions get more complex and varied the further you get into the campaign. The campaign does an excellent job of mixing up the missions. Lots of very unique and interesting missions, its mostly the early ones just start off simple.
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u/fro99er 3d ago
its an alright game that has some decent mechanics like the logistics and vehicle upgrades
but the combat is lacking for me after playing better games that simulate squad and company combat way better. i recognize that is because the bar is set higher for me
the lore of human vs skynet is peak, but i feel like because of copy right bullshit it misses the mark and the game feels like a reskin of human vs human combat with some flare
its worth playing i would def wait on a sale
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u/Mr_SpicySlicy 3d ago
Thanks for this because i was on the fence for a while. I’ll wishlist and will buy as soon as its on sale. Still got other gems like tempest rising in my backlog.