Author: Game Infliction

PS Blog Game of the Year 2025: The Winners

Today, we reveal how your votes shaped the PlayStation Blog Game of the Year awards for 2025. This year’s voting saw nearly 1.5 million votes cast across the awards’ 19 categories, with your choices, and your choices only, deciding which games would earn the coveted top spots and accompanying trophies. 

As with every year, the awards are a chance for you to help highlight the experiences that made your gaming year, and by extension, the creatives who have crafted those games. And as with every year, there was an abundance of titles to select from, leading to some tough choices. 

Before we dive into the category winners, a thank you to all the creators whose collaborative work has brought PlayStation players so much enjoyment the world over these past 12 months. 

And without further ado, the games which received the most player votes in each category are… 

Best New Character

Platinum Trophy: Atsu (Ghost of Yōtei)

Gold Trophy: Hornet (Hollow Knight: Silksong)
Silver Trophy: Maelle (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
Bronze Trophy: Hinako (Silent Hill f)

The category acknowledges the careful amalgamation of multiple creative disciplines, from concept design, through in-game modelling, to motion capture and voice work, that result in captivating characters. And 2025 was rich with iconic protagonists. 

That included Silent Hill f’s Hinako, with players unearthing her story as she faced horrors that corrupted and twisted her quiet hometown life. The tag-team delivery of Sandfall Interactive’s artistry and Jennifer English’s performance that etched Expedition 33’s Maelle in such vivid detail. The quiet confidence of Silksong’s Hornet, and the sublime animations that defined her every leap and strike. Yet it was Ghost of Yōtei’s Atsu that caught the most attention. Striking design, a growing, multi-disciplined combat style that thrilled the senses, and a deeply personal, fully-formed character arc that carefully interwove revenge and redemption across a dense open world rich with stories. Sucker Punch Productions and voice actor Erika Ishii, take a bow. 

Best Story 

Platinum Trophy: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Gold Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei
Silver Trophy: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Bronze Trophy: Silent Hill f

Silent Hill f’s small town horror. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s sweeping narrative. Ghost of Yōtei’s complex quest for revenge. All demanded dissection, but it was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s whose endings quickly became essential post-game discussion, a sign a story has found a cultural echo. Beyond its disarmingly authentic dialogue and some incredible bits of wisdom (whee whoo whee whoo), perhaps the game’s most striking achievement is how elegantly it maintains the delicate balance between darkness and light: levity and warmth cutting through the heavy existential themes with precise, intentional timing. Clair obscur, if you will. 

Best Graphical Showcase 

Platinum Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei

Gold Trophy: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Silver Trophy: Battlefield 6
Bronze Trophy: Arc Raiders

With each passing year, creators turn growing familiarity with PS5 hardware to craft increasingly detailed depictions of worlds that edge towards photorealism. Despite danger hidden in every stairwell and creek, Arc Raiders players couldn’t help but take time to soak in the quiet, unsettling beauty of its many devastated battlegrounds. Equally Battlefield 6’s upped the franchise’s appetite for destruction, making it hard to ignore the wider spectacle even as you focused on survival. Plenty of you showed your appreciation of Death Stranding 2’s potent mix of evocative landscapes, sci-fi design and outstanding character models. 

But it was Ghost of Yōtei’s jaw-dropping foliage density, stunning use of ray tracing and rich detail with every aspect of life in Ezo that saw the most support as players named it the most graphically impressive PlayStation title of 2025.

Best Art Direction

Platinum Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei

Gold Trophy: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Silver Trophy: Hollow Knight: Silksong
Bronze Trophy: Silent Hill f

The diverse work of the Best Art Direction’s top four spoke to creators with strong visions when fashioning their respective virtual worlds. Silent Hill f wrapped the horror franchise’s hooks with the myths and culture of 1960s Japan, turning a peaceful small town into a labyrinth of terror. Team Cherry conceived an entirely new, equally captivating insect kingdom in Silksong’s oppressive Pharloom, making every corner and denizen – dangerous or otherwise – a must-see. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s painterly look drew inspiration from multiple art styles to dazzling effect, and made a great excuse to fire up the game’s Photo Mode. 

Yet it’s Ghost of Yōtei you voted on to take the top spot. Sucker Punch, building on successes of Ghost of Tsushima and an ever-growing confidence in utilizing PS5 hardware, who fashioned an evocative snapshot of the rural wilderness of 1600s Japan that demands to be explored.

Best Audio Design 

Platinum Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei

Gold Trophy: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Silver Trophy: Battlefield 6
Bronze Trophy: Hollow Knight: Silksong

Great audio design solidifies the world around you, combining SFX, 3D audio, music and more, making you feel relaxed, elated or fearful in an instant. Your picks for category winners are exemplary at this. The sound of a distant chant helps give you direction through an unexplored corner of Pharloom in Silksong. Picking out the stomp of approaching threats amidst a symphony of destructive explosions and crackle of gunfire in Battlefield 6. The roar of a sandstorm or the howls of BTs twisting your gut in Death Stranding 2. 

And for Platinum winner Ghost of Yōtei, it’s how Sucker Punch brought the sounds of Japan to life. Not just wildlife and fauna, but the crunch of swords, or the twang of the shamisen reverberating out of the DualSense controller’s speaker, and the sound of the wind whipping around you that make the Ezo feel like a real place waiting to be explored. 

Best Soundtrack

Platinum Trophy: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Gold Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei
Silver Trophy: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Bronze Trophy: Hollow Knight: Silksong

Plenty of great music caught your ear in 2025, with strong contenders – and voting – in this category. Ultimately your choices landed on four distinct scores. Christopher Larkin returned to Hollow Knight’s underworld for another acclaimed atmospheric score that helped define Silksong’s sprawling areas and its cast. Similarly Ludvig Forssell, alongside a star-studded lineup of artists, returned to Death Stranding 2 to define its soundscape once more. Composer Toma Otowa kept Ghost of Yōtei’s soundtrack powerfully authentic with Japanese instrumentation (and a nod to the low-fi beats produced for the game’s Watanabe Mode in collaboration with Cowboy Bebop’s Shinichirō Watanabe). 

Yet it was Lorien Testard’s work on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that caught most ears. Its music showcased an impressive range, from unapologetically funky character themes to stripped-back spoken word, sweeping orchestral arrangements, and Alice Duport-Percier’s soaring vocals. Expertly woven through the game, it’s a score that you decided most deserved this year’s Platinum. 

Best Accessibility Features 

Platinum Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei

Gold Trophy: Battlefield 6
Silver Trophy: Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Bronze Trophy: Split Fiction

Developers continued to emphasize accessibility features in 2025 in myriad ways, and your votes showed your appreciation for creators’ efforts in this area. Battlefield 6 added controls for tinnitus-like sounds, Assassin’s Creed Shadows included tone indicators for its subtitles, and Split Fiction allowed players to skip difficult combat and platforming sections. 

But taking the win this year is Ghost of Yōtei, which took all the great features from Ghost of Tsushima and added in even more – from visual assists to help attacks stand out, to alternate-input options for touch and motion controls.

Best Use of DualSense 

Platinum Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei

Gold Trophy: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Silver Trophy: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Bronze Trophy: Battlefield 6

Developers flexed their growing familiarity with PS5’s unique hardware features in 2025. Battlefield 6’s weapons felt distinct thanks to adaptive triggers translating trigger pull and recoil to the players’ hands, while you felt the impact of explosions with the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback. Similar feedback immersed you in the rhythm of Expedition 33’s combat, while Death Stranding 2 transported you into Sam’s shoes, mimicking the trudge through snow or mud, the pull of heavy cargo, and more. 

All that said, voters threw the majority of their weight behind Ghost of Yotei’s DualSense controller implementation. Be it quality-of-life shortcuts, interactive moments such as camping, or the clash of steel during combat, hats off to Sucker Punch for another title cleverly tapping into unique PlayStation features.

Best Rerelease (Remaster) 

Platinum Trophy: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

Gold Trophy: Days Gone Remastered
Silver Trophy: Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered
Bronze Trophy: Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles

A tight race for the coveted Platinum prize saw The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered ultimately take the crown. This enhanced version of the seminal 2006 RPG benefitted from massively upgraded visuals and polish, as did Bend Studios’ update to fan favorite Days Gone. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered and Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles also saw strong support in Game of the Year Awards voting.

Best Multiplayer Experience 

Platinum Trophy: Battlefield 6

Gold Trophy: Arc Raiders
Silver Trophy: Marvel Rivals
Bronze Trophy: Split Fiction

Battlefield 6’s action-packed, large-scale multiplayer battles struck a nerve with PS5 players, earning a big Platinum trophy for Battlefield Studios. Hotshot Arc Raiders also saw strong support in the polls, with gamers appreciating its fresh take on the extraction shooter genre. Marvel Rivals and Split Fiction took the Silver and Bronze prizes, demonstrating the robust depth and breadth of multiplayer experiences released over the past year.

Best Ongoing Game 

Platinum Trophy: Genshin Impact

Gold Trophy: Marvel Rivals
Silver Trophy: Fortnite
Bronze Trophy: Honkai: Star Rail

Best Ongoing Game recognises those games whose original launch may be years past, but who continue to delight players with huge new content packs and seasonal updates to keep gameplay fresh and fans guessing what’s next. Launched only last year, young buck Marvel Rivals has already made its mark on the multiplayer landscape, rubbing shoulders with established titan Fortnite, which continued to produce fantastic crossover events with big name IPs and expanded its gameplay offerings. 

In the end, publisher MiHoYo pulled off that rarest of wins, earning two trophies in one category, thanks to your votes for two of their ongoing titles: Bronze for Honkai: Star Rail, and Platinum for Genshin Impact. 

Best Expansion 

Platinum Trophy: Lies of P: Overture

Gold Trophy: Helldivers 2: Heart of Democracy
Silver Trophy: Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Claws of Awaji
Bronze Trophy: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – The Order of Giants

While many expansions continue the adventures of core characters, Platinum trophy winner Lies of P: Overture took a different approach, in the form of a sizable prequel that fills in the story prior to the events of the main game. That slimmer frame still boasted a complete package, distilling down what made the main game enticing, including a cavalcade of new challenging bosses to further sharpen your combat-honed skills on. 

Your votes went to other deserving winners as well: Helldivers 2 surprised players by putting them on backfoot as they fought on (and for) the streets of Super Earth in Heart of Democracy. Indy’s adventure in Rome expanded to fold in another ancient mystery by way of The Order of the Giants expansion, while Claws of Awaji sated Assassin’s Creed Shadows players eager for more ninja and samurai action. 

Best Sports Game 

Platinum Trophy: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Gold Trophy: Forza Horizon 5
Silver Trophy: EA Sports FC 26
Bronze Trophy: Rematch

The all-star cast and reality-bending courses of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds took the checkered flag this year, with fellow racer Forza Horizon 5 not far behind. EA Sports FC and newcomer Rematch rounded out the list, with each representing different expressions of The World’s Game.

Best Independent Game 

Platinum Trophy: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Gold Trophy: Hollow Knight: Silksong
Silver Trophy: Dispatch
Bronze Trophy: Ready or Not

These smaller teams yielded big results! The majority of your votes weighed towards titles that included clever gameplay hooks or unique presentations to make for new and exciting experiences. From the vast world of Clair Obscur, to the superheroic drama of Dispatch, these imaginative indies prove the future of gaming lies in innovation and thoughtful iteration. 

Best PS VR2 Game 

Platinum Trophy: Alien: Rogue Incursion

Gold Trophy: Hitman World of Assassination
Silver Trophy: The Midnight Walk
Bronze Trophy: Zombie Army VR

Survios struck black goo with its virtuoso VR take on the iconic Alien series, which scored the Platinum award despite a tight race with IO Interactive’s Hitman: World of Assassination. The Midnight Walk’s moody adventure and Zombie Army VR’s red-meat combat also got recognized as being among the best of 2025’s PS VR2 offerings.

Best PS4 Game 

Platinum Trophy: Hollow Knight: Silksong

Gold Trophy: Elden Ring Nightreign
Silver Trophy: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
Bronze Trophy: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

Recognised with Bronze, Silver, and Gold trophies across other categories, it’s in Best PS4 Game that Hollow Knight: Silksong claims the Platinum. Team Cherry’s utterly captivating and tensely challenging 2D platformer wasn’t without staunch competition, from FromSoftware’s multiplayer take on its acclaimed Elden Ring series, the fresh spin on arcade racing dynasty in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and the heavyweight of Call of Duty returning to the PS4 frontlines with Black Ops 7. 

Best PS5 Game 

Platinum Trophy: Ghost of Yōtei

Gold Trophy: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Silver Trophy: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Bronze Trophy: Arc Raiders

In a year full of acclaimed games, it’d be tough to pick a shortlist. And that proved true for Best PS5 Game, which saw your votes nearly evenly split throughout the whole period of the polls being open. It was only in the closing hours that the winning order was solidified. Though a later release this year, Arc Raiders quickly attracted plenty of heat, spawning numerous gameplay clips and stories by players detailing narrow wins and surprise betrayals. Death Stranding 2’s suite of new and retooled mechanics made Sam Bridges’ biggest challenges a joy for players to experience, while Expedition 33 found a unique groove in its take on turn-based combat, and combined it with a story and world that has electrified many of you. 

Following a tight race, in the end, the  Platinum went to Ghost of Yōtei. Sucker Punch’s sophomore effort improved on every aspect of the first game, then layered on top of that new features, a new cast, and new story. 

Studio of the Year 

Platinum Trophy: Kojima Productions

Gold Trophy: Sandfall Interactive
Silver Trophy: Sucker Punch Productions
Bronze Trophy: Team Cherry

As we tally up the votes, it’s clear that several studios have left an indelible mark on 2025. Sandfall Interactive’s debut showcased their absolute confidence in their identity, while Sucker Punch and Team Cherry released hugely anticipated adventures to critical acclaim. 

However, it was Kojima Productions who claimed the Platinum trophy for Studio of the Year after the release of Death Stranding 2 and a ‘round the world’ tour to showcase their work. While the game reached new and existing fans alike, the studio tapped into pop culture, connecting them with their audience on a level few studios can achieve. 

Most Anticipated Game of 2026 and Beyond

Platinum Trophy: Marvel’s Wolverine

Gold Trophy: Resident Evil Requiem
Silver Trophy: 007 First Light
Bronze Trophy: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

In recent years, the Most Anticipated Game category has proven to be the most fiercely fought of the entire awards. This year was no different, with an extensive list of new games to look forward to, and you showing your excitement for all with votes cast far and wide, and the most write-in votes of the entire awards. 

Yet the race was particularly tight between the top two placements.  The final result? Resident Evil Requiem earns Gold, but it’s Marvel’s Wolverine that takes the Platinum this year.

A future Silent Hill game could be set in Central or South America, says Konami producer

Silent Hill f is one of the few Silent Hill games set outside Silent Hill itself. It transports players from the eternal doldrums of Maine, North America to 1960s Japan, and casts you as a school student in the foggy village of Ebisugaoka. It’s very good, thanks not least to a thoughtful and poignant story from Ryukishi07. Appetites are now whetted for a Silent Hill package tour, and Konami producer Motoi Okamoto already has a few ideas about where he’d like the series to go next. Ideas that, admittedly, make me nervous about the possibility of ham-fisted cultural misrepresentation.

Read more

Nintendo Has Finally Won a Wii Remote Patent Lawsuit It’s Been Fighting for 15 Years, or Three Console Generations

Nintendo has finally won damages in a Wii Remote lawsuit it’s been fighting since 2010, over an unofficial controller that infringed on the company’s patents.

15 years on, Nintendo has claimed victory in its extremely long-running battle against Bigben Interactive (since renamed Nacon), and has been awarded a judgment worth $7 million (around $8.2 million). The actual damages Nintendo has been awarded count for around half the amount, while the rest is made up of interest, since the case has dragged on for so long.

Why has it taken a decade and a half to sort? As reported by GamesFray, Nintendo won an early ruling on the case back in 2011, though Nacon has been able to delay a further decision on damages until now. And the matter still isn’t over, as Nacon is now appealing the verdict — holding off on paying for even longer.

Back in 2010, Nintendo said a third-party Wii controller made by Nacon, then Bigben, infringed on its own patents and had caused the company to lose money. Without that third-party controller on the market, Nintendo argued, customers would have otherwise bought more of its official Wii Remote instead.

In response, Bigben said that customers could have chosen other third-party controllers as well as its own, so Nintendo couldn’t claim it would have definitely lost out. But Nintendo ultimately won this argument, as a court decided that the company’s patents were strong enough that no other third-party controller could have been made without others infringing on Nintendo’s patents also.

Nintendo has a reputation for being a litigious company, pursuing video game pirates and instances where it feels its trademarks have been infringed — such as in its current legal action against Palworld maker Pocketpair, which it currently seems to be struggling with.

If nothing else, this latest development shows that Nintendo is nothing if not persistent. And if the company does want to pursue you, prepare to still be fighting, three console generations later.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Get Four Commander Decks From One of Magic’s Most Underrated Sets at a Steep Discount From Amazon

Magic: The Gathering’s 2025 might be remembered for the highs of Final Fantasy and the less well-received Spider-Man Universes Beyond set, but between those, one set was snubbed.

Landing in August, Edge of Eternities adds a space flavor to Magic, and comes with two great preconstructed decks. Now, thanks to a discount at Amazon, you can save on a bundle of them with two for each player.

Two of Magic’s Best Commander Decks Are Discounted Before Christmas

Not only did Edge of Eternities mark a surprising left-turn into a space opera, but it also introduced two great Commander decks – Counter Intelligence and World Shaper.

The first is all about proliferating counters to power up your creatures, using Kilo, Apogee Mind to basically keep those tokens coming every time it’s tapped.

World Shaper, on the other hand, is all about playing lands to trigger Landfall effects, while also using cards to cheat them out of your graveyard for near limitless expansion of your army.

Both are great decks in themselves, but this bundle nets you two of each for an ideal playset for two players just starting out in Commander. It’s down to $121.55, a drop of 32%, which brings each deck down to around $30.

Given World Shaper is currently selling for $43 on its own, while Counter Intelligence is $36 (and that’s on sale), you’re getting a great deal here, allowing you to open up the decks and play right out of the box with a friend – or sell two of them on to buy singles to upgrade with.

And that’s saying nothing of the Collector Sample Pack in each, which includes a pair of cards in rare treatments.

All in all, this is a great deal for anyone curious about Edge of Eternities. It’s also still the last wave of Commander decks from 2025, given they weren’t offered in Spider-Man or Avatar.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.

Arc Raiders is a good shooter, but it’s also where I go for a relaxing walk

At 5 pm, most week nights, I’ve gone out to scavenge among the vestiges of humanity for loose wires and leftover air fresheners. But right after I get back from the Kilburn Tesco Metro, I boot up Arc Raiders and do the same, except this time with friends. (Classic joke structure ACTIVATED.) That is the magic of videogames.

Despite returning to extraction shooter Arc Raiders time and again, exploring its ruined Earth in 20-minute sessions while keeping out of the reach of the flying robots hunting for fleshy humans, there’s always a wrinkle when judging multiplayer games: are you playing because the game is good, or because it’s lovely to catch up with the ol’ gang?

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Nintendo Wins $8.2 Million In Damages Over Wii Controller Patent Infringement

15 years leads to big(Ben) payout.

Nintendo has been locked in a long-running legal battle with BigBen Interactive — now known as Nacon — over an infringement relating to the patent of the Wii controller for a full 15 years. That’s a long time!

Now, though, and as reported by The Games Fray (thanks, Games Industry.biz), the Japanese giant has finally had success, resulting in a “nearly EUR 7 million” payout ($8.2million).

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

New FIFA Video Game Confirmed by Netflix, Developed By a Studio That’s Yet to Ship Anything

FIFA has announced its next soccer game will be published in partnership with Netflix and developed by new studio Delphi Interactive.

Following the end of its partnership with EA in 2022, FIFA announced it was working on a portfolio of Web3 games ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, but it has been pretty quiet since then. According to its president Andy Kleinman, however, Delphi has been working for the past 30 months “to continue the legacy of one of my favorite video games of all time, FIFA.”

Delphi, seemingly established in 2023, hasn’t yet shipped a game, but describes itself as “the architects” behind 007 First Light and “uncompromising about quality.”

While we haven’t seen any screenshots yet, let alone gameplay, a press release claims the game will be “fast to learn, thrilling to master, and built for anyone to jump in,” and playable — either solo or online — without a controller, as “all you need is Netflix and your phone.”

“Football is the biggest thing in the world. As lifelong FIFA fans, we’re honoured to help usher in the bold, next generation and reimagine the future of the franchise. Our mission is simple: make the FIFA game the most fun, approachable, and global football game ever created,” said Casper Daugaard, founder & CEO of Delphi Interactive. Kleinman called it “one of those pinch-me” moments and hailed the project as “a historic exclusive partnership to launch the next generation of the FIFA football simulation titles.”

“FIFA is very excited to team up with Netflix Games and Delphi Interactive ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026,” added FIFA President Gianni Infantino said. “This major collaboration is a key milestone in FIFA’s commitment to innovation in the football gaming space, which aspires to reach billions of football fans of all ages everywhere in the world and will be redefining the pure notion of simulation games. Our reimagined game truly marks the beginning of a new era of digital football. It will be available for free to Netflix members and is a great historic step for FIFA.”

Partnering with Netflix and enabling soccer fans to get involved “with just the touch of a button” does sound like the sports sim will be more accessible to a casual audience. However, Netflix stresses the game will only be available “on select TVs in certain countries.”

As Netflix subscribers can presently only play games in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Mexico, France, Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Germany, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, that leaves a lot of soccer-loving countries without access. And while Netflix’s CEO claims the game will be playable for “free,” it’s not entirely clear if this access will be paywalled behind certain subscription tiers.

FIFA 23 is the most successful game in the franchise, despite the fact EA delisted from online storefronts when it was just a year old.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Hard Void is a chilling 4X strategy game inspired by Stellaris and Master of Orion, where FTL travel risks getting Cthulhu’s attention

What music do you expect from a 4X game? As regards historical 4X games, I predict a mixture of triumphal philharmonics orchestra and noodly period skits, as though wandering between the main floor and the giftshop in some museum of empire. If it’s a fantasy game, I think of choirs blaring wordlessly or singing doggerel Latin or Welsh. If it’s a sci-fi game, I think of choirs and synth.

I haven’t heard any choirs so far in Hard Void, though I may have encountered some synth. As regards the trailer and demo, it deals exclusively in heart-battering techno. It sounds like 3am in a club I wouldn’t have been old enough to get into, when this kind of stuff was in vogue. I can picture the bouncer glaring at me. Gosh, the bouncer sure has funny-shaped pupils. Mates, I fear the bouncer may be Lovecraftian.

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Terminator 2D: No Fate Review

Millions of digital horses were clad in armour on April 3, 2006. The survivors of this phenomenon called this downloadable content purchase a “microtransaction.” They lived only to face new nightmares: season passes, live service models, always-online single-player, loot boxes, pay-to-win, ship-now-fix-later patches, and more. Make no mistake, the team at Terminator 2D: No Fate developer Bitmap Bureau has seen this future, and they clearly don’t like it. As such, Terminator 2D is an unapologetically nostalgic sidescroller, specifically designed to send players directly back to the 16-bit era of the ’90s to experience the greatest T2 game we never played. Exceedingly short by modern standards but brimming with love for James Cameron’s indisputable sci-fi classic, Terminator 2D is part time machine, part uncommonly terrific movie tie-in. In an insane world, it’s the sanest choice.

Terminator 2D’s main story mode – which follows the events of T2, with a few expanded diversions – takes roughly an hour to complete successfully. However, it took me a few runs to actually achieve this. Admittedly, this is incredibly short by contemporary standards – but it’s nonetheless authentic to an era where a game’s perceived girth was significantly inflated by the amount of times you’d need to play through nearly the entire thing in order to reach the end.

Even though I no longer have the time, the patience, or the sugar-enhanced reflexes of a 12-year-old with no job, I do respect the format.

This philosophy feels pretty heavily baked into Terminator 2D and, even though I no longer have the time, the patience, or the sugar-enhanced reflexes of a 12-year-old with no job, I do respect the format. Sure, burning through my continues on an encounter I didn’t quite understand immediately was frustrating, and needing to start all over again is never fun. However, pushing past punishing sections that gave me grief on previous playthroughs is undeniably rewarding. I only wish you weren’t limited to accumulating a maximum of just nine continues. Whenever you have nine in the bank, any further ones you collect are converted to bonus points instead. Failing on the last level does sting a little harder knowing I could’ve easily had a few more cracks at it.

Are We Learning Yet?

On account of Terminator 2D’s modest length, I’m hesitant to drill down too specifically on how and when it shifts up its various mechanics, because encountering and learning this stuff for yourself is really all part of the process. What I will say, however, is that Terminator 2D doesn’t stagnate as a one-speed sidescroller, and there are tweaks throughout that typically require a slight adjustment to your approach. That is, one moment you might be cutting a plasma-fueled path through a Skynet-ravaged future in an overtly Contra-inspired run-and-gun action section, and the next you’re sneaking through the Pescadero State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, engaging in mild stealth and hiding from the T-1000. This level loses its suspense on subsequent visits thanks to its scripted nature, but the tension the first time around was palpable thanks to the excellent use of T2’s original music and the predilection of the deadly T-1000 to pop up out of nowhere.

T2’s music is actually used to incredible effect all throughout. It essentially does all the heavy lifting in terms of atmosphere in the absence of voice acting, with the dialogue relayed through on-screen text. The power metal version of T2’s main theme is a major highlight, and there’s a fabulously engineered bit of licensed music available in the biker bar that had me grinning like a cybernetic organism in a well-stocked weapons bunker – just be sure to punch that jukebox.

Terminator 2D is as fabulous to look at as it is to listen to.

Happily, Terminator 2D is as fabulous to look at as it is to listen to. Its pixel art isn’t just brilliantly handsome, either; it’s also silkily animated. It oozes character at every opportunity, from the way the T-800 disdainfully tosses that unlucky biker onto a burning grill, to the desperate backpedalling of Sarah in the shadow of her worst nightmare, to the final flailings of the T-1000 as it cycles through its most recent shapeshifts in the pool of molten metal.

I Know Now Why You Cry

My biggest disappointment overall is the surprising lack of T-800 sequences, resulting in a Terminator game where you unfortunately spend limited time as the Terminator itself. When playing the core story thread – that is, the one that runs faithfully to the film – you’ll only play as the T-800 during the biker bar beatdown and the canal chase. It’s true that, in the spirit of the film, Bitmap Bureau can’t simply turn the T-800 into a mass-murdering WMD. After all, as we all know, it’s under strict instructions from John not to kill anyone. As regularly as ’90s movie tie-ins coloured outside the lines – present company included – it would’ve been quite discordant to have the Terminator arbitrarily massacre his way through a few levels.

Nonetheless, it does feel like there are some missed opportunities here. For instance, the biker bar beat ’em up gameplay could’ve made a very logical reappearance in, say, a mall level where the T-800 was forced to slap down some security on his way to rendezvous with John for the first time. This could’ve crescendoed with the T-800 blasting at the T-1000 with his shotgun. As it stands, this iconic encounter occurs in a brief still screen before the motorcycle chase, with no associated gameplay. It feels brushed over considering just how mega that moment is in the context of the movie.

It’s odd, too, that the T-800 blasting the cop cars assembled outside Cyberdyne Systems is only a playable portion in runs destined for one of Terminator 2D’s alternate endings. We actually don’t get it in a regular canon run. It’s stranger still that the T-800 is a passenger for the entire final showdown at the steel foundry with the T-1000. You get a glimpse of the fight between the two as you hustle through the area as Sarah – and the part of the slugfest you can watch does contain some terrific fan service – but I feel like it would’ve been nice to be able to participate in that. I’m not sure whether or not the slight sidelining of the T-800 is related to the fact Arnold Schwarzenegger’s likeness is not actually featured in Terminator 2D, while Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, and Michael Edwards are.

I’m not sure whether or not the slight sidelining of the T-800 is related to the fact Arnold Schwarzenegger’s likeness is not actually featured.

The T-800 does get some minigun action if you dabble with the decision options that become unlocked after completing the main story for the first time. These decisions send the story on a split path towards new endings that are bespoke to Terminator 2D. They’re an interesting novelty, and these paths result in some different riffs on previously completed levels, but I wouldn’t say they’re a massive boost to proceedings.

Completing these other paths is the key to unlocking several bonus modes, like a Boss Rush and one dubbed Mother of the Future (which focuses exclusively on Sarah). However, they’re really just slightly altered ways of playing the same thing over again – which is something I’ve done a whole bunch already just pounding through Story Mode. There’s also an ‘Arcade Mode’, which appears to just be Story Mode without continues. This one doesn’t interest me at all, and I’m not quite sure what it’s supposed to emulate. Going to the arcade with a hole in your pocket?

At any rate, T2 is already a perfect film with a perfect ending, so any perversion of it is naturally going to be pretty unsatisfying in comparison (which is a lesson I thought we all learnt watching the first five minutes of Terminator: Dark Fate).