▲ Recommended
31 hrs
Finished the campaign 30-40 minutes ago. It was a tough bout'. Won't spoil anyone for the story and what happens, but it definitely has an open ending and has a "cliffhanger" so to speak.
All of the missions were largely solid, though a few stand out as very problematic:
-> Cartel Mission (Infiltration). Very tedious and a lot of downtime & back and forth. You can cheese it immensely with C4 charges but I'm not sure this was the intended way to beat it by the devs. Suggest reducing the downtime by simply giving a faster vehicle and give more rebel reinforcements.
-> Integrator Side/Bonus Mission. Again, won't spoil anything BUT please reduce the amount of Legion spawns in that mission. It's way too much and the only way to adequately beat it is with cheese. Also some of the story make up of that mission doesn't make sense. Also please remove the mines or provide a way to adequate -detect- and -remove- mines.
Those are the only two missions I've had the biggest issues with due to the mechanics not being fleshed out. Now for some genuine feedback:
1) Campaign is awesome. I love the setup and I love the liberties you guys have taken with it. It's really suiting the style and the universe. The mission variety is solid and fun. I half-expected the campaign to end in the Oklahoma mission. Real good stakes and setup.
2) The music is superb (albeit in some cases repetitive).
3) The atmosphere is solid and the traversal on the campaign map is solid. Takes a bit of thought. You don't really need to have a massive army, but a specialised one with veterans. Keeping people alive with veterancy has proven much more useful than more units.
4) The combat is solid, however while I'm aware of the RNG aspects for accuracy, there isn't a lot of information present in the game. How much damage is being done by what weapons and so forth. No need for numbers, just 'low/medium/heavy' and subsequent references to armor. A lot of the stuff is basic knowledge if you have army knowledge and gun knowledge IRL, but it should still be properly descriptive for everyone.
5) Actual game mechanics are legit awesome. The ammo/fuel/specific damage and repair is superb. The ability to scavenge the map before leaving is amazing.
7) Allow to gather dropped weapons either by Supply Truck or by Technicians. I've missed so many upgrades just because of the rudimentary mechanic of not having the right unit to actually pick up the weapon.
8) Add more bonus areas and missions in the Campaign map. That could be something to be done with future DLC but having more additions there as areas for you to explore and grind some resources/fight the machines, would be awesome.
9) To have an option that shows all range indicators for weapons constantly (not on the minimap but in the actual game). I know when you however over a weapon-type you can see them even in the open world, but they are vague and you have to hover on the weapon.
10) Introduce a Supremacy mode similar to Battlesector. It's going to help for the longevity of the game.
11) Expand on the factions and make some playable. (Skirmish) Integrators as one. Also please introduce more integrator vehicles as they are barely touched and used if you don't snipe/flame up the crew/vehicle.
12) This obviously goes to the above but add more maps and more modes.
13) Map editing and potential mod support will help greatly with the longevity of the game.
Those are the main points that I wanted to share with both the Devs and the other folks that bought and are still playing the game.
The game overall is very solid and I found it really enjoyable. Will take a bit of a break to play something else (Pacific Drive :>), but I am definitely planning on getting back to it with a higher difficulty campaign, in the coming weeks. It's really a hidden gem and a really well done RTS in the Terminator universe.
Has a similar vibe akin to Terminator: Resistance, which is a big plus. Overall, I'd give it a 8/10. Some improvements need to be made and some additions, but what's there really works and it's really awesome.
141 found helpful
Steam ↗
▼ Not recommended
21 hrs
Please listen to the people saying this game has big issues! I did not and have suffered for it.
Cons:
•conflicting, "buggy," under-explained, or confusing triggered events
•extremely restrictive fog of war
-Why does vision end so far in front of gun range? The gameplay loop involves continuously baiting out enemies who should be clearly visible to your troops.
•high-end conventional small arms do next to nothing, even against human enemies
-The game seems very 50 BMG-centric.
•your units are extremely (and unrealistically) inaccurate at times
-Example: a stationary autocannon on high ground struggles to land a single hit against a lone crawling soldier on an opposite hillside. Shots miss by 15 to 20 feet. (Note: not all weapon types fire on all enemies as default. In this case autocannons are set to fire on infantry by the game itself. I think it's appropriate given the resilience of machine infantry. Similar lack of accuracy occurs with small arms as well as mounted automatics.)
-This inaccuracy is well showcased in the store page GIFs. It looks so cool at least!
•the combat is extremely building centric
-This is of course realistic however the buildings seem largely invulnerable even to absurd firepower. Buildings should degrade.
-The player is at the mercy of building entrance locations -- be careful -- commanding your troops to occupy a building might mean they run around the entire thing to the front door while under fire! (This makes sense at times or can be absurd given there should be secondary entrances and windows for your troops to leverage.) Also, some multi-unit complexes have odd behaviour or unknowns as to whether the infantry can stay within the building or must exit to go the next section. I'd think busting through some drywall to the next apartment instead of running around on the streets would be the realistic approach here ..?)
•strong buildings seem to benefit the AI way more
-For instance, I once had 3x 50cal, 2x rotary cannon, and a plasma cannon all firing at a single enemy three-man squad who were holed up in a strong building. They just wouldn't die! Meanwhile precious ammo is being used up. Friendlies have no trigger control or sense of ammo conservation. There should be an intermediate ammo conservation mode between the on/off options presented
-A single enemy 50cal in a competing strong building will drop your most experienced and levelled marines even if they occupy a strong building from behind and even if other friendlies are already shooting on target.
-Must we use sniper rifles versus buildings as Inforiel suggests? Acceptable, of course, but this edges the game as many of the issues do away from creative solutions to playing rigid rock/paper/scissors. Is there one correct way to play the game? Laser-sniper equipped rangers are super fun but the battles would take even longer, especially given the fog of war issues, if a specifically sniper-squad centric approach were to be pursued. I'm willing to try it but am uncertain it solves the issues of the game. Fielding more fragile units accentuates the issues around line of sight, fog of war, and formation.
•the line of sight system seems to be deeply flawed
-Your forces will dump shots into a large building even if the target they are trying to hit is running around the middle of the roof. They can't hit him until he comes to the edge but fire none the less. (Don't get me started on troops running laps in the big buildings..!)
-Enemies and friendlies alike treat intervening buildings and cover as shoot-through-able.
This is extremely cool when, for instance, a rotary cannon blasts over fences (or shoots "through" tiny buildings) and totally silly when tanks shoot at each other with no line of sight or chance to hit all the while wasting ammo.
-This comes to a head in that you'll need to micro your anti-tank units or they'll just shoot fences even if a better angle is only a few feet away and they moved 90% of the way there on their own from an attack command.
•there's no stressed or pinned mechanic (for human friendlies or enemies) to reduce damage output
•there's no proper cover mechanic to make use of small intervening terrain or variation
-Although there are hills and buildings, the game is effectively limited to 2D play.
-That said, your units do indeed accidentally hit hills and other terrain when firing on-target. (There seems to be some trouble with unit accuracy when engaging at hill/cliff edges.)
•the group formation option (hold RMB, thanks Inforiel) is too simple to be useful
-The per-squad formation option seems fairly good, however.
•there's no stacking/queuing unit commands or actions nor is there or on-screen path visualization
-It feels archaic not to be able to all at once once choose the path my vehicle will take while supplying my back lines and moving around troops. This matters given land mines, AI patrols, and map control. The automatic path finding near edge of map can be problematic as can pathfinding on narrow cliffside roads.
•I've yet to come to terms with the extreme effectiveness of smokes
-Guided rockets veer off course without fail and armoured combat slows to a crawl.
-Is the dev-proposed approach to buildings smoking them to assault with infantry in CQC -- ? This is a bit counter-intuitive given the firepower at your disposal; the animations show literal hand to hand combat when assaulting buildings. Getting close enough to do this is no small feat.
•more an oddity than anything else, but I swear unoccupied vehicles take extra damage from incidental/accidental fire
The game is also missing options for quality of life and accessibility such as HUD size + preferences, in-game notifications, gamma, etc.
Pros:
•great graphics, I mean seriously, the game looks awesome
•cool setting
•very fun army customization
•mission design such that you don't neatly tie things up but instead are caught in ever-increasingly complex and dynamic situations
•the game runs totally fine at max on my i7 8700 and 3060ti at 1440p
Conclusion:
I wrote this review because from my perspective the pros just don't outweigh the cons. I found that the store page and game price combined do indeed make some implicit claims. In reality the quality and features fall short. I document this here for the reader's benefit. Gameplay wise this game has more in common with the original Command & Conquer than Company of Heroes (or DOW2). It also starts quite slowly: I didn't feel like I had a good grasp of what was on offer until about five hours in. By that point, Steam rejected my refund request. Finally, I should note that I actually bought this game because I was looking for a difficult game. This game -is- difficult. Note that I do not criticize the high difficulty at all. I'm just looking for an internally consistent "simulation" with logical rules. The noted issues continuously pull me out of that RTS flow state we're all seeking.
I really wish the devs would reconsider some of their choices. This game is super fun when it works. Unfortunately most of the time the player is fighting with issues. The game doesn't train your tactical mind, it bends you to its arbitrary patterns. Dark Fate Defiance really could be an all-time best RTS. I just can't understand why proper terrain cover and interaction isn't a must-include in a game very much presenting as "tactical."
125 found helpful
Steam ↗
