Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance: The Final Preview

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In a world where we're being bombarded by constant hype about AI, getting to mow down some chrome-plated baddies is kind of cathartic. Playing through the first several missions of Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance, I found myself leading a ragtag band of human survivors trying to evade hostile machines in a slightly clunky but overall competent squad-based RTS. And there are some interesting ideas glimmering in the gaps beneath its synthetic flesh.

A bit of wiki diving revealed that Definace is set in something called the "Dark Fate" timeline, which was apparently established as an alternate reality through time travel shenanigans in the 2019 film of that name. I grew up on the classic Terminator films, but I haven't kept up with any of the newer stuff, so I don't know why Skynet is called "Legion" now or who any of these characters are. But the premise is still pretty straightforward: the machines rose up and decided to wipe out humanity, and the few of us that are left need to band together for survival.

Commanding a resistance group called The Founders, I was put in charge of a small number of vehicles and infantry squads that are each specialized for different roles, and can be equipped with special weapons found on the battlefield, similar to Company of Heroes. You have your standard infantry guys with rifles, snipers, rangers, this dude's kitted-out pickup truck, and occasionally heavier hardware like tanks.

There isn't a full cover system, but units can be told to go prone to avoid damage, which takes the terrain into account somewhat. Hiding in grass is more effective than in the middle of the road, for example. You can also station units in buildings, which provide different levels of defense and can accommodate varying numbers of troops based on how damaged they are, changing throughout a battle. The machines don't really make use of this, though. I suppose because they can just send an unlimited number of expendable warriors at you, they pretty much attack