James Cameron’s Terminator franchise is probably one of those film franchises that has the benefit of being both a sweet summer action adventure while also having a strangely thick pile of lore available for anyone who wants to parse through it. The last time the Terminator franchise delved into the video game medium (not counting Arnold’s appearance in Mortal Kombat 11 or the T-1000 showing up as guest in Mortal Kombat 1) we got Terminator: Dark Fate and the highly underrated Terminator: Resistance which both definitely lean on Terminator’s lore, but now we have the exact opposite, a direct adaptation of one the Hollywood blockbusters in Terminator 2D: No Fate, a sidescrolling nostalgia trip by Bitmap Bureau.
As you can see you can play as future resistance leader John Conner, his action hero mom Sarah Conner, and of course the iconic T-800 Terminator himself as you play through the events the the 90’s classic Terminator 2: Judgement Day, evading capture by the liquid metal T-1000 (who as I already stated, has been getting some workouts in thanks to his guest appearance in Mortal Kombat 1).
The gameplay is a real callback to classic sidescrolling shooters like Metal Slug, where you take control of your chosen hero and play through the levels, evading Skynet throughout all of space time. You even get to play the scene where the naked Arnold Schwarzenegger beats up a bunch of bikers and steals their clothes.
Terminator 2D: No Fate will release exclusively for Sony consoles the Playstation 4 and Playstation 5 on September 5th, 2025. This is definitely the perfect nostalgia trip for those who both miss sidescrolling shooters and old 90s blockbusters, there’s definitely an overlap there so if you’re interested be sure to check this game out when it releases later in the year.