Shockingly good. It took me probably 7 months to get past the Cartel level (I kept ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up and reloading saves 100000x) but I'm glad I came back. Nothing feels better than starting a mission with a couple of Humvees and M113s and leaving with those same Humvess and M113s, PLUS all the salvaged gear you recover from the battlefield. Its hard. Very hard. Sometimes (frequently) frustrating but satisfying when you get it right. I don't really know or care much about the Terminator universe, I was confused about where SkyNet was when i first started playing, but you really dont need to know anything to enjoy it. It is first and foremost a competent military RTS that just so happens to be set in the Terminator universe

It's a real-time strategy game unlike anything else I've ever seen before. The army management layer is detailed, and the game is pretty hard - you actually have to pay attention (can't just blob units around).
Highly recommended for RTS fans.

Thanks to the developers, I enjoyed the game a lot. It is well-designed visually and from a game mechanics perspective. The story is not trivial. The levels are challenging sometimes, but finding new ways and undocumented approaches was fun.

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What is Terminator: Dark Fate Defiance?
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T:DF Defiance is a Command and Conquer-style, real time strategy Game. You command a rag-tag group of ex-US soldiers fighting Legion, this games version of Skynet.
You have to fight, not just the Machines (Legion), but Cartel, criminal gangs and Scavenger groups that litter this brave new world.

You play the role of Lt. Church, a member of 'the Founders' a Faction composed of what's left of the US Military.
You are thrown into the deep end as you uncover a dark conspiracy; the Machines are abducting Humans for unknown reasons.
I will not spoil the plot of the game further, the rest is up to you to uncover.

The game comprises of you growing your numbers and gaining battle experience of your troops unlocking new abilities, classes to make your soldiers more versatile as you befriend Factions that are fighting the Machines as well.
You command troops, tanks, carriers and carrier vehicles that you can upgrade at any settlement. There is a resource element to the game, you need to balance as travelling from location to location costs men, supplies and goodwill (The games currency)
You can also grab tanks, Humvees and other abandoned military/repurposed civilian vehicles on the battlefield which you can keep or trade for supplies, if you have squad members with the driver trait or driving units, you can use them to confiscate these vehicles and add them to your squad.

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Game Types
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Choose between the Campaign, which is the Story Mode.
Multiplayer Skirmish mode where you can play as Legion.

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Story Mode
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You play as Lt. Church and his second in command Lt. Mason as you travel across the Western US fighting Legion and other hostile Human Factions trying to survive.
The game is broken down into 2 modes.

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Mode 1: The Battlefield
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Here, you command your troops and vehicles (point and click) to fight the enemy in a Rock, Paper, Scissors style fire fight, you need to use the right units/weapons for the job, utilize buildings for cover (Buildings are destructible) to keep your units alive and strategically push forward and make best use of your units special abilities. (Which T:DF Defiance does amazingly!!).
For me it was a real slog to push forward in certain missions, the enemy was hunkered down and in certain areas.. There was no cover to push forward which lead to risky advances that caused many necessary casualties.
Every mission has a checklist of mission tasks you must fulfil, some optional that could reward you if you complete it, or make the main mission easier, others that might slightly alter the storyline etc.

Battles tend to start in 2 ways.

- Infiltration/Recon Missions, you send a small recon unit to gather information, you talk to the locals, find contacts in neutral/hostile territory that can help you gain the advantage on the enemy in the Main Battle. By performing missions and trying to advance the storyline, certain rewards become available if you successfully complete the tasks.
Once you've completed most the tasks in infiltration missions, it always lead to the Main Battle.

- Main Battle, In full battle mode you gain access to reinforcements.. Before you engage in the Main Battle, or you start infiltration mode? You have to choose what units you will send into the battlefield.
Infiltration/recon missions only allow for a light vehicle or 2 and a tiny handful of units; whereas big battles? You choose larger numbers with the potential to unlock reinforcements if certain tasks are met; a reinforcement button appears in the left side of the screen.
Littered across the battlefield are abandoned vehicles that you can capture and repurpose.
Vehicles suffer damage on the battlefield, a repair button appears where you can stop and repair the damage, but this leaves you vulnerable to attack, so find a safe spot behind a building to enact repairs. Repairs require spare parts, you run out? You can't repair it.
Also of great importance is the use of supply/fuel trucks, some are pulled by a lorry, others are storage vehicles that you can drive to a battle and set up to refuel/rearm your vehicles and soldiers. Remember, units can run out of ammunition, vehicles can run out of fuel, so make sure you have arms/fuel trucks on standby to keep your units armed and fuelled for the fight or they will be mincemeat for Legion's grinder.
Once the mission is complete, an evacuation point appears, leave the scene with all your vehicles to end the mission.
Most occasions when you complete the main mission? You can freely comb the region for any abandoned vehicles/ you can repurpose or dropped weapons that your soldiers can pick up before you leave the warzone.
Other times you can't hang around, Legion is hot on your tail, you need to flee or you will be overrun.

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Mode 2: The Map Interface
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Which you go to after every battle.
Here you..
- Buy/sell your units.
- Buy upgrades for your troops, better weapons and add-ons for your vehicles.
- Rearm, refuel and heal your units.
- Accept optional/mandatory missions.

This requires having the 3 following currencies in order to advance your campaign.
- Manpower points to replace fallen soldiers and purchase supplies.
- Goodwill points to purchase vehicles, weapons, upgrades and supplies.
- Supplies to keep your troops fed, to refuel your vehicles and to rearm your troops and vehicles.
Supplies are VERY IMPORTANT as travelling from place to place consumes supplies.
You have to be wise and ensure you don't run out of supplies, if you find yourself short? You can exchange Goodwill and Manpower for supplies, you can also sell units too which will reduce your consumption at the cost of less units on the battlefield; you have to make those hard decisions in order to advance.

There is also missions that will activate on the campaign map that will (If accepted/declined) alter the storyline, so be smart as to what you can manage for rewards.. Refusing to aid certain Factions? Could weaken you or strengthen your campaign; again, you have to make these tough decisions.

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CONCLUSION
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Terminator: Dark Fate Defiance is a truly splendid game, made by Slytherin Ltd. I've played another of their games similar to this, 'Starship Troopers: Terran Command'.
They are really good at making tactical real-time strategy games like this.

Although there is no base building elements to this game, as you are constantly on the move, fighting machines that are constantly hunting you.
The amount of time I had to pour into arming, supplying and preparing for the next operation had me engaged a good while.
Advancing on the battlefield is extremely difficult, you may at first have them running with their tails between their legs, before you know it? They will unleash heavier tank units or you encounter a battle ground lacking defences while being pounded by artillery shells that have your troops fleeing for their lives to the nearest building for cover; you can easily get pinned down which forces you to change tactics to break their counter attack.
This game is constantly forcing you to alter your tactics as it adapts and lures you into a false sense of security.
The music is fantastic and immerses you in the fight.
The character development is entertaining and had me immersed in the story, for example.. Lt. Church and Lt. Mason are constantly at each others throats, but, as you progress through the game?.. Mason softens up and starts to respect Church's command.
The storyline is brilliant and had me captivated through out. The other characters, good and bad? Their character were all well written.

All in all, I've played allot of these type of strategy games over 30 years and this one has interesting fresh ideas, Give it a try,

Easily one of my top games, the tactical depth involved is really good, you can build up your army, customize your squads & vehicles with perks, the weapons they carry, etc..., and the campaign is very decent and varied for a game of this genre. Can't wait for future DLCs!

An incredibly well-made RTS game in the Terminator universe, with lots of deep customisation and micro-managing. I wish there were more levels, but the ones that there are can take quite a while to beat with the last level clocking in at about an hour and fourty minutes.

Thanks Slitherine for keeping the Single-Player RTS Genre alive with your games, I need it.

good game

I have heard some people dont like it, but i have been enjoying the campaign so far

Surprisingly good game. Can be quite difficult at some points but I was wanting there to be more missions at the end.