Bohemia Interactive announced two games on Tuesday: Arma 4, the follow-up to its military franchise, and Arma Reforger, a standalone “preview” game using Bohemia’s new Enfusion tech engine. Arma Reforger is out Tuesday in early access, Bohemia said in a news release. It’s the first time an Arma game will be released on Windows PC and Xbox at the same time.
Details on Arma 4 itself are thin — the company didn’t share a release date or any footage. But it sounds like Arma Reforger will give players a small taste of what Arma 4 will be, a way to “showcase the studio’s progress on [its] new Enfusion engine and offer a glimpse of things to come,” it said.
Arma Reforger is set on Everon during the 1980s, the same setting from Arma: Cold War Assault. In it, there are two multiplayer modes: Conflict and Game Master. Conflict is your standard team-based multiplayer mode in which players will work together to “capture strategic positions from the enemy,” Bohemia said: It’s stuff like base-building, shooting other players, and completing different tasks, playing as either American or Soviet fighters. Bohema said there’s also a “smaller independent force” that players can choose from, which has its own gear inspired by Arma.
Game Master is more of a platform for users to share mods; mods can only be created by PC players, but console players can access them, too. It comes with some software tools, called Workbench, which Bohemia says gives the mod community its development tools.
“Any user with a fair knowledge of C# scripting, should be able to add custom AI behaviors, audio and visual assets, or even completely new gameplay mechanics,” Bohemia said. “Artists too can import their creations using intuitive, streamlined workflows. Essentially, imaginative players will be able to explore Enfusion to its limits and receive a crash course in Arma 4 modding, well ahead of schedule.”
Bohemia said it’ll keep Arma Reforger up with “continued support” even while Arma 4 becomes a bigger priority. There’s no full release date for the game, but it will eventually leave early access.