Terminator 2D: No Fate – Review

Developer: Reef Entertainment
Publisher: Bitmap Bureau
Reviewed On: PC
Available On: PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One
Release Date: December 12, 2025
Review Copy Provided By: Reef Entertainment

Hoo-wee, that’s HOW you make a faithful movie-to-game adaptation and EXPAND it, even! Terminator 2D: No Fate is a game released for the Nintendo Switch, Windows (via Steam and Epic Games), the PlayStation 4 and 5, and the Xbox Series X|S. It captures the heart-pounding feel of the movie and translates it to a game incredibly well, which I’ll elaborate on later in this review.

First off, the game’s story. While it follows the Terminator 2 movie closely, it also expands on it, as previously mentioned, by allowing the parts of Future John Connor to be playable, showing how much of a wasteland the future has become due to Skynet’s overthrowing of humanity. Terminators both complete and halved, some others, such as the HK Tanks, which you fight as either Future Sarah Connor or Future John Connor, each with their own bosses depending on the route, with either ending in the room against the dual Terminator copies of the first boss, or against the giant T-999999 in two parts. From scenes such as the bar brawl, the motorbike and highway chase scenes, the mental facility escape, down to the final battle at the ironworks against the T-1000 is all there. Oh, and the Silverfish and D-003 enemies? Those were from the original Terminator 2 arcade game. Hooray for having played the older entry!

Every stage has its own tricks and patterns come for each difficulty ranging from Easy Money to Judgment Day, and without spoiling them for your own experience, it comes at the cost of enemy placements and the locations of power-ups, with increases in the former and by the hardest difficulty, a total lack of the latter save several hidden continue tokens that you’ll need to get if you ever want a chance at surviving the game due to the enemy’s attack and appearance patterns being that relentless.

Even the boss patterns alter themselves to become even more aggressive such as the HK Ground and the Centurion battles in the Future when playing as either Future John or Future Sarah on Judgment Day difficulty, so you’ll need to master and memorize its patterns or trick the enemy AI into playing itself onto your hands if you are aiming to unlock the cheats to make the game suffer as you most likely will should you challenge it. I know I did.

The music of the game really brings forth that Terminator vibe and feel, from the Desert Town’s shootouts with the thieves, the infiltration into the early Cyberdyne Systems factory, and even includes a bit of a deep cut: The factory itself carries notes of the JP theme for the TV show “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”. Yes, in its own way, Gackt’s song “Ghost” is in No Fate, at least a remixed instrumental of it, which fits the stage incredibly well. So well that it made me tap my feet and nod along to it, considering the stage traversal and the overall feel of the stage, turning me from depressed to impressed in 30 seconds flat, chest thumping with adrenaline as the stage goes on.

The foreboding feel of the sneaking missions, the adrenaline-pumping theme when the T-1000 appears during the mental facility escape, all of them convey the feelings they want to convey to you incredibly well. By the time the final battle against the T-1000 came, my heart was almost leaping out of my chest due to how tense it made me feel, that kind of well-conveyed.

The controls are well-thought-out and the game mechanics, such as the melee and rolling/sliding, are nice, allowing you to learn and somewhat abuse them, even using the third to kick small bots or bombs away when playing as Sarah Connor. By the way, kicked bombs can defeat enemy reinforcements that appear during boss battles, such as Bandit Bob or the Factory Defense battle, allowing you to manage spawning enemies with greater ease while dodging and fighting the boss. The game feels like it’s made to be played with a controller, too. The tight moments when you’re dodging obstacles or hurdles, or even the dogs if you’re going for a no-dog death run, it’s key to slide or roll away to safety so the pooch doesn’t get hurt or killed.

In-game power-ups are nice and aplenty, come the Future, or the aforementioned bike chase scenes, the latter even having a trophy if you manage to get all of the speed up pickups and dodge all of the obstacles/vehicles along the way. For the former, the timed powerups that grant their own powerups allow you to change the way the game is played, even feels like it’s harkening back to a refined version of Contra, except that the Probotectors (Thanks, Europe!) are the next threat once the Alien Wars were over. Pipe Bombs are capped at a full count of 5, considering you won’t probably be using many of them since your skill with the main gun is already enough to take enemies down, albeit at a slower rate than using them, considering the sheer power.

If you’re looking to speed through the enemy’s life bar, you’ll be using them on bosses, and even then, it still takes at most 4 to decimate their HP a good amount. However, should you try to extend your play to read enemy patterns and save them for later, it’s imperative that you aim well instead.

To sum it all up, Terminator 2D: NO Fate is an amazing game, well worth the money spent, should you decide to buy it. I feel that it’s going to be a game that you can easily return to and enjoy every few months or so, playing it again and again as the thrill never really goes away. In the immortal words of “Joe Bob” Briggs, four stars! Check it out!