2024 marks 40 years since James Cameron’s iconic movie, The Terminator, released in American cinemas. Since then, the franchise has attracted a whole host of fans, as well as, spawning a handful of sequels and, of course, a fair number of video game adaptations, spanning a multitude of genres.
SKYNET is probably one of the most memorable killer AIs in movie history and Terminator is easily one of the most beloved Sci-Fi franchises out there. Fans have been clamoring for a game that can give them that true Terminator experience. Enter Terminator: Survivors, a survival open-world game developed by Nacon Milan, set for release later this year. It’s a promising-looking title, but there are certainly a few key features gamers will be hoping to make their way into the final build of the game.
A History of The Terminator in Video Games
With Reef Entertainment recently teasing a new Terminator game, it’s the perfect time to look back at the franchise’s video gaming history.
7 A Clear Timeline
No In-betweens
It’s no secret that the Terminator franchise has become a little convoluted in recent years with multiple branching timelines and Terminator Dark Fate swapping out the iconic SKYNET for Legion in an alternate future with an alternative resistance leader. To keep the story tight and clear, Terminator Survivors would do its best to stake its claim in the timeline and commit.
Thankfully, it looks as if Nacon Milan have taken this thought on board already, having settled their place on the timeline, and focusing on influences from the first two movies in the franchise. The new game is set to take place fairly soon after Judgment Day, before John Connor has even established the Resistance. Likely, players will be pitched in a world of survivors still trying to adjust and establish themselves in the AI’s new world order. Players can only hope that the timeline and chosen film’s story arcs are kept in place, otherwise the game’s story could be at risk of losing focus and getting lost in the many branches of the timeline.
6 SKYNET Is A Fair Challenge
No To Bullet Sponge Enemies
End-of-the-world scenarios tend to make for great game settings. There’s a plethora of games that hit that mark perfectly, Ubisoft’s The Division being a prime example of a great open-world game depicting an end-of-the-world scenario. Though despite how tight the gunplay was, and the interest generated in society’s collapse, it suffered a problem with enemy types in the first year.
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That main problem being bullet sponges. Most gamers will be aware of the term, and there are plenty of games guilty of the feature, but tanking an enemy to make them soak up an endless amount of bullets does not make an enemy tough, nor does it make them all that interesting to fight. Sure, Terminators will be expected to be tough, and being survivors in an AI-ruled apocalypse, the odds should be in the machines’ favor. Still, as a gamer, it should be surmountable, or tactical ways to approach it. No fun ever game from pumping magazine after magazine of bullets into a walking behemoth, so here’s hoping Nacon Milan manages to make the combat encounters interesting and challenging.
5 Interesting Missions
Flavored Side Quests
With any open-world game, the appeal is getting lost in the world and adventure, even more so in games that feature cooperative gameplay mechanics, allowing gamers to tackle the grand world in a group. The open world is a map littered with activities, resources and story missions begging to be explored by gamers. The thing is, the best open-world games back up their well-crafted world, with a great story, and at times even more intriguing side quests.
That allure of great side quests applies to Terminator: Survivors. The setting, the open world, and the enemy variations are all ripe for some inventive and appealing side quests for gamers to tackle. The worry is, like a good number of games before, it could be an empty-feeling world, void of reasons to explore. If potential players of the game are greeted with standard fetch quests or simple and repetitive mission types, that pull to return and keep exploring and surviving in a post-judgment day world will feel thin and quickly lose its grasp on gamers.
4 Movie references
Exo-Easter Eggs
As with any great franchise, any spin-off media should contain a good number of Easter eggs/references for eagle-eyed fans to be on the hunt for. Now the world shouldn’t be littered with references left, right and center, but there should be a nice number of winks to the franchise that fans can be on the lookout for.
The Terminator franchise has no shortage of great moments and items that could be referenced, with the likes of Terminator: Resistance‘s T100 Easter egg, or the emotional thumbs-up moment of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, being captured as a death animation in the DOOM Eternal, as a nod to the movies. It’s a joyful experience for players and fans to stumble across hidden references, so here’s hoping Nacon Milan doesn’t shy away from the opportunity.
3 Time Travel Events
Part Of The Package
Now this one may be a bit of an out-there wish, but if the Terminator franchise is known for three things, it’s Killer robots. Arnold Schwarzenegger and time travel. So it’d be criminal for the game not to feature some element of time travel in its gameplay system.
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There are a lot of great time-travel-based games out there that any Sci-Fi fan should love to get their hands on.
The game is geared up to be a survival experience first and foremost, with the game leaning in on collecting and carefully managing resources, both in its base-building mechanics and combat encounters. Now that doesn’t sound like a time travel-friendly gameplay environment, but, whether it’s a stealth mission to infiltrate and shut down T800’s being sent back or an incursion experience like Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League‘s endgame content, there’s room for players to experience a short burst of time traveling goodness. It doesn’t need to be a permanent feature/event, but a one-off mission would be a great nod, as well as be an interesting change to the gameplay flow.
2 Fast Travel
An Open World Must
For some games, an open world without fast travel can feel like a great design choice. However, in a game like Terminator: Survivors, set in a dystopian wasteland, and a modern game likely to have a large-scale map, maneuvering around the map will likely become a chore as the game starts to move on.
Now, it may not be a must for every gamer, but as the game’s maps increase in size, the more and more time players have to spend navigating across them instead of interacting with the real meat of the game. That worry should be removed, and a fast travel option will need to be implemented, needing to nip back to base. Or simply gather resources and want to upgrade a weapon and set off on a new mission, quickly travel back and keep the pace of the real gameplay flowing. It won’t be mandatory, but for gamers who have less available time, being able to cut travel time down will be a key feature.
1 Effective Crafting
Crafting Is Apocalypse 101
Defeating the forces of SKYNET is not going to be an easy feat, especially as players will be forced to scrounge for supplies in the hopes of simply surviving until the next day. So the crafting mechanic is going to be an invaluable mechanic for players to utilize, atleast it should be.
7 Survival Games Where Crafting Is Key
Crafting is a vital part of many titles, but players will have no hope of survival if they don’t craft well in the following survival games.
Many survival games thrive on their crafting mechanics, often making tense situations even more difficult by forcing players to pick between what item they’ll spend their dwindled resources on to survive, and a game like Terminator: Survivors should be no different. Whether that be forcing players to choose between a defensive or offensive device, or keeping crafting benches handy to continually improve armor and weaponry for the challenge ahead. It’s a vital gameplay mechanic in any survival game, and the same importance should be reflected here.
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While The Terminator can stop many things including a crazy amount of gunfire, these video game characters on this list can challenge him.
