During The Future of Arma livestream, developer Bohemia Interactive announced two new games for the franchise: Arma 4 and Arma Reforger. While Arma 4 is in active development, Arma Reforger is built from the ground up in a brand new engine and is available right now in Steam early access on PC and through Xbox Game Preview on Xbox consoles.
Arma Reforger is a game that’s been carefully created to retain the essence of the series and take things back to their roots. It’s inspired by Cold War conflicts and is closer to the old Operation Flashpoint titles some fans may remember. However, that doesn’t mean it looks as old as those games. This title has been built in Bohemia Interactive’s Enfusion Engine, with detailed visuals, day/night cycles, and water that will make you want to dive right in.
The game is set on the fictional island of Everon, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Everon is inspired by Czechoslovakia and plays host to the U.S. Army, forces fighting for the Soviet Union, and a third faction made up of natives who want to protect locals’ independence.
Everything fans remember about Arma is in this game. It has three core game modes at launch: Conflict, Capture and Hold, and Game Master. Conflict is the classic Arma game mode in which armies battle it out for supremacy over the island by capturing radios in bases around Everon.
Game Master is where players can create a custom match, tweaking everything from the placement of AI bots to the time of day. An example of a custom game mode built using Game Master is Capture and Hold, similar to King of the Hill modes in other shooters. The same tools used in Game Master mode can be used to mod Arma Reforger, mods that can then be shared with the entire community.
Bohemia Interactive has confirmed that it hopes Arma Reforger will be in early access for no longer than one year. Then, using the knowledge it gains from updating the game over time, it will move to focus on Arma 4, which may follow a similar release pattern.
