The recently announcedTerminator 2D: No Fatewill retell the story ofTerminator 2: Judgement Daywith Contra-style gameplay. Releasing on July 12, 2025, on the PS5 and PS4,Terminator 2Dhas been described by its developers, Bitmap Bureau, as a love letter.Players will be able to play through the events of the second movie in beautiful side-scroller actionas every iconic character seen on film, including Sarah Connor, the T-800, and John Connor, while facing Robert Patrick’s liquid metal T-1000.
One of the most exciting features of the upcoming game isthe inclusion of Future War segments with an adult John Connor. While other games have covered the Future War with new characters, none have allowed players to be the man himself as he leads humanity’s efforts against Skynet.
Terminator 2D: No Fate Will Be A Love Letter To The Film
Bitmap Bureau Has Recreated Iconic Scenes Pixel By Pixel
It’s obvious that the developers behindTerminator 2Dlove the film and the tie-in games that were released alongside it. In the first teaser trailer alone,a few of the most iconic movie scenes have been recreated in beautiful pixel animationwith a stunning attention to detail. Sarah Connor’s escape from the mental asylum, John Connor’s motorcycle chase, and the T-800’s biker bar attack all appear as playable segments.
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Every character’s playstyle has been crafted to match their personality, as theT-800’s slow menaceon film will make him a more tank-like character with high durability and damage, but slow speed. Sarah Connor’s personality is especially reflected in-game, as the devs explained in aPlayStation blogpost, “Sarah is agile and reactive, mirroring her paranoia and intense training”. Her focus will be on up-close melee combat, along with a special laser sight ability to call back to her almost-assassination of Miles Dyson.
The Future War Finally Receives Some Action
Play As Adult John Connor Against Skynet
WhileTerminator 2D: No Fatewill cover everything already seen in the original film, it will also expand the story by allowingplayers to take on the role of John Connor in the Future War. The Future War, the time after Judgement Day when humanity must fight back against Skynet, is the often described but unseen period in whichJohn Connor becomes humanity’s savior. Other games, like 2019’sTerminator: Resistance, heavily feature the Future War but with new characters to play as.
Rather than entirely focus on the Future War, which can easily become generic without the grittiness and stylistic choice of the movies,Terminator 2Dwill tie the sections of the Future War to the events of the movie. Tying these different periods together through gameplay and narrative will help connect the outcome of the movie to the actual events of the future. But the future isn’t decided. As hinted by the titleNo Fate, which comes from the movie line “No fate, but what we make”,the future isn’t decided, and the game will have multiple endings, likely involving the outcome of the Future War.
Thankfully,Terminator 2Dwill take full advantage of the Future War toflesh out adult John Connor more in both personality and abilities. Like Sarah Connor and the T-800, John Connor will have special abilities to reflect his years of resistance fighting. John’s focus will be on strategic combat and ranged weapons, like a plasma rifle with three ammo types, as well as pipe bombs. John will also have a tactical roll to quickly evade close combat, so his Future War sections will likely have a kinetic run-and-gun energy.
Targeting Die-Hard Fans Might Be The Best Move
Terminator, as a whole franchise, has floundered lately. Multiple box office failures have been released alongside some lackluster games that failed to reach more general audiences.Terminator 2D: No Fatewon’t be a blockbuster game to draw in new fans, but insteada throwback side-scroller for lovers of the franchise who want to experienceTerminator 2through a new lensin what is a “love letter to ‘80s/‘90s arcade games”.
Mike Tucker, a design director and programmer at Bitmap Bureau, wrote thatTerminator 2Dwould be “the T2 side-scroller we should have had in our youth”. The upcoming game will be for the long-time fans of the series, and that’s a good thing, since games that reach for wider appeal can water down the final product, like themiddlingTerminator: Resistance.
Source:PlayStation Blog
Terminator
The Terminator franchise, launched by James Cameron in 1984, explores a dystopian future where intelligent machines wage war against humanity. The relentless pursuit of key human figures by time-traveling cyborg assassins known as Terminators is central to the narrative. John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance, is the core target of the malicious machines.
