History YMMV / TerminatorDarkFateDefiance

* AssPull: They way you receive your first permanent Abrams tank is just plain weird, with this human-made tank (implied to be Mother-1's from Haven) driven by a ''Rev-6 Terminator squad'' until it conveniently runs out of fuel in the middle of your op zone, forcing the chromes to abandon it. This is the one and only instance of Legion troops utilizing a human vehicle in the entire game outside of multiplayer, it's never quite explained why they did it[[note]]multiple characters suspect a trap, and they're right, but Legion is fully capable of devising other means of ambush without stealing human tech[[/note]], and it's subsequently ignored like it never happened. It really feels like this was the only way the devs could think of to give the player an Abrams at this early point of the campaign, although this in turn begs the question of why they didn't just stick it in the Field, the old battleground where you can already salvage numerous military vehicles including a new Bradley for Big Bob.

* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: With a wildly branching campaign with multiple options in each level that impact the storyline further down the road, hidden objectives and side quests across every map, and plenty of smaller vignettes scattered about realized with a full voice cast, the story of the game is arguably more compelling than [[Film/TerminatorDarkFate the movie it is based on]], essentially presenting a more grounded version of Film/TerminatorSalvation within the Dark Fate continuity. However, the many issues with the gameplay make it hard to attach onto characters that could die at any moment and remain permanently dead for the rest of the game.

* AssPull: They way you receive your first permanent Abrams tank is just plain weird, with this human-made tank (implied to be Mother-1's from Haven) driven by a ''Rev-6 Terminator squad'' until it conveniently runs out of fuel in the middle of your op zone, forcing the chromes to abandon it. This is the one and only instance of Legion troops utilizing a human vehicle in the entire game, it's never quite explained why they did it[[note]]multiple characters suspect a trap, and they're right, but Legion is fully capable of devising other means of ambush without stealing human tech[[/note]], and it's subsequently ignored like it never happened. It really feels like this was the only way the devs could think of to give the player an Abrams at this early point of the campaign, although this in turn begs the question of why they didn't just stick it in the Field, the old battleground where you can already salvage numerous military vehicles including a new Bradley for Big Bob.

** Enemy laser rifle snipers are another big threat, their laser rifles can damage vehicles easily and they can attack your units from long range if another enemy can see you.

* DifficultySpike: The Nuevo Tortuga mission is such a brutal jump in difficulty that it effectively acts as a filter for any player who isn't sufficiently in love with the game to push through it. While a fun mission on paper, in practice it's severely hampered by unfair balancing, an abundance of absurdly tanky enemies, and too many RNG-dependent mechanics that can and will screw you over for no fault of your own. It's widely considered ThatOneLevel for these reasons and more, and is responsible for a great many negative reviews on Steam due to how early in the campaign it's set (it's the second story mission past the three tutorial levels).

* NintendoHard: This game is absolutely unforgiving even on the lower difficulty settings. Your infantry dies as soon as an enemy looks at them funny unless they're garrisoned in a sturdy building, and your vehicles are only one ambush or miscalculation on your part away from being turned into scrap metal. Missions usually take upwards of an hour and always have evolving parameters that all but force you to [[SaveScumming save-scum]] in order to avoid sudden mission failures.

* GoddamnBats: Suicide drones. Easy enough to kill if you spot them in time, but absolutely lethal if you don't, they're one of the main reasons you should never advance, or even just move forces, without at least someone keeping overwatch from a position with good sight lines.

* AssPull: They way you receive your first permanent Abrams tank is just plain weird, with this human-made tank (implied to be Mother-1's from Haven) driven by a ''Rev-6 Terminator squad'' until it conveniently runs out of fuel in the middle of your op zone, forcing the chromes to abandon it. This is the one and only instance of Legion troops utilizing human technology in the entire game, it's never quite explained why they did it[[note]]multiple characters suspect a trap, and they're right, but Legion is fully capable of devising other means of ambush without stealing human tech[[/note]], and it's subsequently ignored like it never happened. It really feels like this was the only way the devs could think of to give the player an Abrams at this early point of the campaign, although this in turn begs the question of why they didn't just stick it in the Field, the old battleground where you can already salvage numerous military vehicles including a new Bradley for Big Bob.

*** Further compounding this was in the release version of the game, the difficulty settings ''did not'' effect this mechanic at all, so there was no way to make it more forgiving. This has since been patched in so that Normal difficulty comes with a generous 40% reduction in upkeep costs.