Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance

NOTE - ONLY REGARDING MAIN CAMPAIGN Main Campaign. Enemies keep spawning indefinitely in like a cheap arcade crap - which you discover only after repeating frustrating attempts. Hidden rules everywhere that also change on the fly. Lack of system transparency. Punishments for unknown reasons. Even if someone explains the system/you figure out: it doesn’t fix the feeling, it doesn’t restore trust, it doesn’t change how it plays. The system is inconsistent and dishonest as it mixes systemic mechanics with scripted traps, without signaling which is which. Frustration arises as you have no idea what actually is the game to optimise for. This is not acceptable for someone who wants to play this seriously on realistic difficulty. Please expect opaque quirk driven system of main campaign built on “don’t go here yet” logic: improvement = remembering: this mission behaves like X/ this action secretly causes Y. And the game has exceptions everywhere and calls it a challenge. Mechanics should be sufficient to win and not knowledge of hidden scripting. Instead of the system mastery you are forced to develop meta-knowledge of designer tricks. That is the main campaign theme you will be experiencing. This plays just like super old badly designed games but actually runs on hidden triggers. It really does feel like a patchwork of two systems. System A — Coherent simulation layer, losses, reinforcements, supply mechanics. System B — Scripted mission layer: hidden triggers, phase switches, reinforcement waves tied to events. Why it feels so jarring? Because they operate on different contracts. Simulation contract: “The same rules apply everywhere.” Script contract: “Rules change to create drama.”. Recommended are ironman or auto saves which then almost immediately break or fail to save. This is not a “bad game” problem. It’s a misalignment between system layer and campaign layer. Other than that the game is masterpiece: good tactical system inside a poorly designed campaign framework. What makes it sting more is the story, dialogues and all are exceptionally well done. But then that is deceiving: narrative pulls you in, system convinces you it’s “real”, but then: campaign violates the rules. The frustration is amplified, not reduced The good story makes it all worse, actually. If the game was mediocre overall, you’d shrug it off. But here: you want to engage seriously, you want to play it properly and the game responds with hidden constraints and broken expectations. Also, The game has terrain-dependent LOS as a core mechanic, but does not give you a camera that matches the unit’s perspective. This is not just cosmetic but missing interface for a core mechanic I have also got We are Legion campaign which plays differently and I do enjoy it a lot. I can also see Uprising DLC plays more systemic but I haven't tried that one out that much. This is just to say that apparently developers are aware and are developing the game further.