By Joseph Luster

Arma Reforger has been cooking in Early Access on PC and Xbox Series since May 17, 2022, and it recently made its full exit. The open-world first-person multiplayer shooter takes place during the Cold War and sets the stage for Arma 4, so players can finally dig into Version 1.0 for a better idea of what developer Bohemia Interactive has been working on. 

As stated at the time of the 1.0 launch, the team at Bohemia Interactive doesn’t consider development finished by any means. This just means the technical state of the game—including its blend of technical and accessible action—has “reached a level that we consider ready to leave Early Access.” The devs previously set a tentative roadmap for the game, so now the focus will be to adhere to that as more players hop into the action.

Beyond the main Conflict multiplayer mode, one of the standout elements of Arma Reforger is Game Master, a real-time editor that lets players create their own scenarios. This is the key aspect that makes Arma a unique entry in the military sim genre, offering a fully-moddable platform that opens up possibilities for those willing to invest the time in creation. 

At the time of this writing, Reforger is in an interesting state, with some players unhappy at concessions that have been made to make this entry something that plays nicely on consoles as well as PC. There are still some kinks to be worked out for sure, especially with the overall Game Master interface, but there’s a lot of promise in Reforger, too. The new Enfusion engine looks fantastic, and if you don’t mind battling a few bugs you’ll find a lot to dig about its take on multiplayer combat. As long as Bohemia Interactive continues to iron things out while traversing that roadmap, the future is bright for this shooter.

Genre: Shooter • Platform: Xbox Series, PC • Publisher: Bohemia Interactive • Available: Now

Back to the issue this appears in