Indie Game Terminator 2D: No Fate Announced in an Epic Trailer
One of the greatest action movies of all time is making its way back to the video game scene, and it looks better than ever. In a surprise announcement earlier today, UK indie game developers Bitmap Bureau and publisher Reef Entertainment released a trailer for Terminator 2D: No Fate, a brand new 16-bit side-scrolling action game based on the legendary Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Terminator 2D allows you to play through the movie’s plot in various locations, alternating between the Terminator and Sarah Connor, as well as wage war against Skynet and his machine army in the future as John Connor. It’s also officially licensed, so they can use elements like the iconic Brad Fiedel score and the likenesses of actors Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Terminator 2D: No Fate will be available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on September 5, 2025. You can see the trailer below:
That looks amazing. It’s fascinating to me that 16-bit games appear to be making a comeback, at least in the indie gaming world. You’d think with all the graphical advancements made since that era, we’d be well beyond them, but there’s a desire for them. Part of it is pure nostalgia, of course, but I think they also harken back to a time when you didn’t have to worry about the annoying, shoehorned-in political messaging popping up to ruin your good time. Not every game was good – believe me – but they didn’t feel like traps for soapboxes. You can do that just as easily with the better graphics of today, but the 16-bit look is like an assurance that you can rest easy on that score, sort of like a black-and-white movie. (I imagine it’s partly because it helps keep costs down, too, which is a big deal with an indie developer.) And this one looks great; there were Terminator 2 games before, most famously the shooter T2: The Arcade Game, but this one looks like a more comprehensive adaptation, with seemingly better gameplay than the previous side-scrollers and more variety than The Arcade Game.
Mike Tucker, the Bitmap Bureau design director, wrote a piece on PlayStation Blog detailing the work they put into recreating each of the major characters in Terminator 2D: No Fate, and it all sounds great. Each character is designed differently, in ways that not only make their gameplay distinct but reflect their skill sets in the movie. Sarah Connor is more agile and focused on melee combat because of her training and size, John Connor is tactical and shoots from afar because he’s fighting an army of machines with advanced weaponry, and the Terminator is a tank because… you know… Arnold. Watching the trailer, you can see all of that in action, like Sarah’s dives and rolls or the Terminator smashing into his opponents with his shoulder and sending them flying. It’s exciting watching a 16-bit Arnold wielding the minigun and laying waste to enemies, and the many locations from the movie like the Cyberdyne Systems building, the mental institution where Sarah was being held, and the biker bar where the Terminator acquires “your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle.” Even the subtitle No Fate gives it an air of desperation and determination, mirroring the inspiring message of the movie (which every sequel since then utterly demolished to keep the money train running). I’m really looking forward to this game, and if it’s as good as it looks, I hope Bitmap Bureau can do the same for more classic action movies that never got the side-scroller they deserved. (Seriously, how many liquor stores would you knock over to fund a Tango and Cash game?)
Let us know what you thought of the Terminator 2D: No Fate trailer in the comments!
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