Arma coming to consoles. Streamlined. Simplistic. Random explosions

Good news for the currently 0 Arma fans on console, soon to be "a half dozen", Arma, one of theeee only tactical shooter that hasn't been ruined, is probably about to be ruined.

Currently, it's using the Early Access scam to get away with releasing an unfinished game, but will be on consoles down the line according to the developers.

Is this prejudice unfounded? Will you be able to mod it so you're in the Ukraine war?

All this will be answered, probably.

Arma Reforger: is it on Xbox One or Series X, Steam release date - is Bohemia Interactive game coming to PS5?

Arma is a series of first-person tactical military shooters created by Czech studio, Bohemia Interactive.

Unlike your usual, bombastic blockbuster video game shooters, Arma features much more realism and simulation, with a mix of big-scale military action and close quarters fighting.

While fans wait for the next game in the series, Bohemia Interactive has launched Arma Reforger, a spin-off of sorts designed to show off the studio’s technology ahead of Arma 4’s release.

But how exactly does it all work?

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What is Arma Reforger?

Think of Arma Reforger as an ‘appetiser’, a taste of what Arma 4 - the next ‘mainline’ game in the series - could turn out to be.

Reforger is a small slice of the Arma 4 experience that has launched in Early Access on Steam and Xbox Game Preview on Xbox Series X and S.

It’s designed as a test that will both show off Bohemia Interactive’s in-game tech, and allow the studio to gather feedback on what works and what doesn’t before Arma 4’s release.

The early access period is expected to run for about a year, during which three major updates will be issued, as well as ongoing gameplay and feature improvements.

That does not mean that when Reforger leaves early access, it will ‘become’ Arma 4, and the developers are keen to stress the game’s status as a standalone title.

Bohemia Interactive is promising “realistic Cold War combat”, and players will get to choose whether to play as a US or Soviet Army soldier.

In a “dynamic, unforgiving environment”, you’ll conquer strategic positions, control the battlefield, and collaborate with other players to secure objectives.

“With a selection of period-authentic weapons and vehicles, recreated in meticulous detail, Arma Reforger’s multiplayer game mode returns you to war."

What’s included with Reforger?

At launch, Arma Reofrger contains just two multiplayer modes.

The first is Conflict, which “lets you fight for supremacy over 51 km2 of incredible island terrain in an authentic Cold War setting.”

It takes place on the fictional island of Everon, a remake of a map from the original Arma game - extensively updated and reinvented utilising the developer’s latest tech of course - that features tall peaks, valleys, beaches, and meadows.

Then there’s Gamemaster, which allows you to edit and create game modes and scenarios with other players in real time.

The community has always been an integral piece of the Arma puzzle, with dedicated fans creating their own ‘mods’ and add ons, which at times have even amounted to separate games of their own.

Arma Reforger comes packaged with Workbench, the creative suite of Bohemia Interactive’s new Enfusion game engine, which the company is eager to show off.

Those tools are the same ones used by the company to create the game, and they’re granular enough that you’ll need a good understanding of C# code to get the most out of them.

With the new engine, Bohemia is starting over with the Arma series, and so too are the modders who have been the game’s lifeblood for years.

By the time Arma 4 is released, it wants the most dedicated players to have already mastered the tools that will make it shine.

When can I play it?

Arma Reforger is available now through Early Access on Steam and Xbox Game Preview on Xbox Series X and S.

It costs £24.99, though a free trial of Arma Reforger is available on the Xbox Store if you want to try it out before you buy.

There is no support for last generation consoles like the Xbox One or PS4, so players will need to upgrade to current generation machines (or PC) if they want to experience Arma Reforger.

Reforger marks the Arma series’ first console release, and while modding will not be available on consoles, players will have full access to any mods created by the community - as long as they don’t exceed the Xbox’s memory limits.

The kids also wanted to try Arma?

I love hardcore shooters but there needs to be a level of arcade to it too.

I don't like walking miles to get to see some battle. So some dumbing down is fine for me, just fine.

I have this. If you don’t like hardcore sim, you won’t like this. I like hardcore sim.

Brah, this website is viewed by children too!

I think Cup just hates arcade or arcade-style games, it seems.

Tactical Shooters aren’t really my thing so I’ll pass unless it hits Game Pass then I may try it there or I may not. 🤷‍♂️

I got Arma 3 early on. It was immediately after my switch from console to PC and I wanted a good tactical shooter. I played it for a few hours, and that was it. What kept me from playing the series more, honestly, is it was too overcomplex. If you ever look at the keybindings for that game, your eyes are going to pop out of your head. A binding to salute? To sit down? Bindings to command squad members (when voice chat is available), bindings to zero a rifle, which isn't something you're ever going to do in a fucking fire fight anyway. It just ended up being a pile of convoluted shit which is a problem with a lot of developers that are like "ooh, the J key is still unbinded, what can we put there?"

Honestly, if your game needs 120 mappings to play, you're doing something very, very wrong. With everything, there's a spectrum, there's an arc. Complexity vs simplicity, and you don't want a game to be overly complex and confusing, which Arma is, nor do you want it to be too simple, and not very fun. You want a balance, and that balance will yield the most enjoyable experience. Battlefield 3, and Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360, those were the ideal balance.

I got it a couple of days ago, mainly to get in early on modding and mission making. They've done a good job of simplifying the controls. I'm still not sure if it will translate well to controller though, but the absence of the command (function) keys for now definitely simplifies it compared to previous Arma games. I'm really looking forward to Arma 4 though, its set just a few years after CWC/CWA. The game modes in Reforger right now are basically Arma 2 Warfare mod and Arma 3s Zeus mode.

It's probably going to get review bombed by players that think it's like console looter shooters or Tom Clancy games and get owned over and over.

I remember playing Arma 2 for the first time before 3 came out and just dying over and over until I realized it was MY fault for playing it like console shooters.

Once I started playing like my life was actually at risk, I stopped walking in the open and staying low at all times and fell in love with the series.

This will be either really good or really bad.

ArmA is a great series, I really enjoy it, but it suffers from being a little too hardcore to have a large community. I've tried to get into it and it doesn't seem like one of those games you can just hop on and start playing online; there's clans, mods, private servers, schedules...it doesn't seem casual friendly.

And, yes...you can be a casual sim gamer. Not everyone needs to devote their rec time 100% to their clan and a scheduled online presence. You should be able to just hop on.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut I'd rather give all that up if it turns into an another arcade shooter, to be frank. Keep ArmA realistic and tactical, don't turn it into Op Flashpoint Dragon Rising.

Yeah. Some.

The problem is, we've been here before. Before there was Arma (Armed Assault), there was Operations Flashpoint. And it was good!

But then they ported it to console/multiplat and it become Operation Flashpoint (2): Dragon Rising, and it was bad.

I just hope they keep it mostly sim-levels of gameplay. I am totally down for making it more accessible but not if it becomes an open-world arcade game.

Found a video from a Youtube guy I like (OperatorDrewski), he plays a lot of sims and realistic games (DCS World, ArmA, Squad, etc).

Seems like nothing but positives, still a work in progress. But promising.

Excited for this, and even more excited for ArmaA 4.