Evolution is the latest story expansion for Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance, the real-time strategy game set in the Dark Fate timeline. It pushes the war against Legion north into the frozen territories of Canada, adds a new single-player campaign, and introduces a battlefield shift toward close-quarters melee combat that reshapes how fights against Legion’s machines play out.
Quick answer: Evolution is a paid story DLC for Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance, priced at $11.99, released on September 22, 2026. It requires the base game and adds a new campaign, augmented soldiers, and Legion’s fast melee Revs.
What Evolution adds to Dark Fate – Defiance
In the expansion, Lieutenant Church takes the Resistance north into Canada to find new allies. The Legion is constructing a quicker breed of killer in its Canadian mines and test labs. Church’s troops form a tense pact with the Integrators, who see hybrid augmentation as a way for humanity to surpass its natural limits. The alliance drives the plot and ignites a contest over who will shape the destiny of humans and machines.
Church, Silas, and 1462 anchor the story, each pursuing a different vision. Its Canadian backdrop ranges from frozen woods and industrial mines to Legion research complexes.
The new single-player campaign
Evolution adds a new campaign, carrying the main storyline into the icy north. You lead Resistance and Integrator troops against Legion mining sites and research centers. Operations include sabotage, holding sieges, and launching large-scale attacks.
The campaign spans eight new missions, as shown in the launch trailer and on the Steam listing. One official storefront cites nine missions instead, so the exact count varies slightly across listings, but the structure and objectives are the same either way.
Legion’s melee Revs and the new close-quarters threat
The biggest change to combat is the arrival of melee fighting. Legion’s new machines are built for speed and close-range attacks, forcing you to defend against enemies that close the distance instead of trading fire from afar.
The headline enemy is the Rev 6 mk 2, also called the Rev-6.5 Ripper. It is an upgraded Rev fitted with bladed limbs and rapid melee assault systems, capable of tearing through armor, scaling terrain, and boarding vehicles. Its high mobility makes it a direct threat to units that would normally stay safe behind your front line.
Augmented soldiers and human augmentation
As Legion’s machines grow faster, humanity turns to augmentation technology. Enhanced muscle fibers, neural uplinks, and reflex boosters create the first augmented soldiers, able to fight Legion’s most advanced units on equal terms in close combat.
Augmentations are handled through management menus, where you buy and apply upgrades that raise troop stats and capabilities. That gives the human side a way to fight back at melee range rather than relying only on firepower and positioning.
New units and vehicles
Every faction gains new hardware in Evolution, spanning Legion machines, Integrator artillery, and Canadian armor. The main additions are listed below.
| Unit | Side | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Rev 6 mk 2 (Rev-6.5) | Legion | Bladed-limb melee attacker |
| Legion Mini-Rover | Legion | Fast recon and pursuit drone |
| Augmented Soldiers | Human | Close-quarters infantry |
| Integrator Plasma Multi-Barrel Mortar | Integrator | Wide-area plasma artillery |
| Leopard C2 MEXAS | Resistance | Tank between Bradley and Abrams |
| LAV-AT | Resistance | Anti-tank armored unit |
The Leopard C2 MEXAS fills the gap in armor weight between the Bradley and the Abrams, while the LAV-AT is a dedicated anti-tank platform carrying a TOW-2 launcher. The Integrator plasma mortar covers wide areas with plasma fire, and Legion’s Mini-Rover scouts ahead and chases down retreating units.
Price, release date, and requirements
Evolution released on September 22, 2026 and is available now for $11.99. It is developed and published by Slitherine Ltd. You need the base game, Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance, to play it. The DLC is listed on its Steam store page, and it is also part of the Complete bundle that packages the base game, soundtrack, and the We Are Legion, Uprising, and Evolution expansions.
Supported languages include English with full audio, plus subtitles in French, German, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Dutch. On PC, the minimum specifications call for 64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i5 or equivalent, 8 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 750 (2GB), DirectX 11, and 25 GB of storage. The recommended setup lists Windows 11, a Core i7 or equivalent, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB).
You can see the campaign setting, the new Revs, the augmentation menus, and the added vehicles in action in the official launch trailer below.
Taken together, Evolution is positioned as a turning point for the campaign rather than a small add-on. The melee combat, the augmented soldiers, and the new units all point the same direction, toward a war where the line between human fighters and Legion’s machines keeps narrowing.
