Bohemia Interactive have announced that Arma 4, the next big instalment in their shooter simulation series, will release in 2027. The announcement came at the tail-end of Bohemia’s 25th Anniversary Concert, alongside some disturbingly gun-less footage of a coastal promontory with rippling ocean waters against a cloudy sky – it reminds me more of The Elder Scrolls 6’s announcement teaser than any tactical mili-banger. Perhaps they’re secretly making an open world walking simulator? I kid, I kid. Please put the chair down.
Bohemia unveiled Arma 4 back in 2022, telling CJ (RPS in peace) that the intervening Arma Reforger would serve as a kind of bridge or testing ground: it has allowed Arma modders to experiment with the developer’s Enfusion engine, and equipped Arma 4 developers with player data and feedback. Reforger left early access in November 2023, with the final update adding such features as a totally revised supply system and something approximating fast travel.
If you’re new to Arma, it’s one of the most realism-driven simulations on the shop – so much so that the US Army has used Arma games for training, and Bohemia developers were famously once arrested by Greek police for taking research photos of military installations. Bohemia even had their own division dedicated to making training simulations for a while – eventually named Bohemia Interactive Simulations, this was sold off in 2013 and has become a standalone business entity that uses the same engine technology. Bohemia’s love of realism has also seen nefarious parties attempt to pass off footage of Arma games as real-life war photography.
Hi-fi battlefield recreations aside, Bohemia are also the developers of the legendary DayZ, an enormous Arma mod taking the form of an open world zombie survival experience, which entered early access in 2013. I’ve never had huge interest in Arma, but DayZ’s obsessively in-depth injury systems have given rise to some of my favourite video game travel writing, like the tale of Dr Wasteland. Perhaps I’ll try to get into Arma: Reforger properly in the run-up to Arma 4. It’s not like there’s any rush.