Czech developer Bohemia Interactive’s Armed Assault series – long since officially simplified to the infinitely catchier ‘Arma’ – has for some time been generally recognised as the best multiplayer military simulation (mil-sim) shooter there is.
The latest full iteration, Arma 3, now has a bulky roster of 14 DLC expansions (with two more forthcoming) which, between them, furnish the core infantry squad gameplay with many dozens of accurately simulated tanks, planes, helicopters, trucks, cars, weapons, and battlefield gadgets. If that – along with several full campaigns of story missions, couched in full military field briefings and strategy – weren’t enough for you, Arma 3 has also amassed a huge library of mods that add hundreds of potential extra hours of play.
But, as modern PC and videogames go, Arma 3 is getting old. First released in 2013, the game itself is now at the ripe old age of eight, and so fans’ thoughts have inevitably turned to the future – and, more specifically, when they can expect Arma 4 to arrive on PC and consoles.
As enthusiastic – if often tactically inexpert – Arma fans, we at Wargamer are eagerly awaiting the next evolution of this deeply moddable mil-sim FPS, and so we’re keeping our finger up to the wind for any and all information on this more-or-less inevitable sequel’s release date, trailer, and anything else we can pin down.
We’ll keep this guide updated with all the latest info on Arma 4 – here’s what we know so far.
ARMA 4 RELEASE DATE
Alas, we’re probably still quite far off having a confirmed release date for Arma 4.
Developer Bohemia Interactive has not made any official statements yet as to when we can expect Arma 4 to come to our gaming machines – or even officially confirmed whether or not it’s in development at all. All the signs suggest we’ve still got at least a year or two to wait.
Sure, we only had to wait a piffling four years between Arma 2 and Arma 3, but that was something of a special case. Arma 3 was a serious step change for the series, selling roughly twice as many copies as its predecessor on Steam, and forming a base for 14 DLC expansions (so far), of which the most recent substantial offering, Contact, came out in 2019.
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Moreover, the game’s ongoing engine upgrades and improving user generated content tools (not to mention the deep ocean of mods) have made Arma 3 a supremely versatile mil-sim playground – and one for which Bohemia is still releasing expansion content, in the form of its community-built ‘Creator DLC’ packs.
Still, with Arma 3’s gameplay and visuals now severely showing their age – especially compared to what Bohemia’s newer Envision game engine can do – we reckon it really is just a matter of time.
ARMA 4 TRAILER
We’re sorry if we got your hopes up, but no – there are not yet any Arma 4 trailers available to watch online.
When it’s finally time, we wouldn’t be surprised if Bohemia makes the official announcement in the form of a teaser trailer, though, and rest assured: when it exists, we’ll add it here.
ARMA 4 LEAKS and rumours
Unsurprisingly, given how long Arma 3 has been alive and kicking – and especially in the long lull between the last full-scale official DLC in 2019, and this month’s announcement of the upcoming, Vietnam-focused S.O.G. Prairie Fire Creator DLC – fans have been ever watchful for signs that Bohemia may be hard at work on a sequel.
Thus far, though, there has been precious little for them to chew on.
Even rumours suggest the next full Arma is ’years away’
Things seemed to hot up a little in January 2021, when some apparently leaked game screenshots carrying a logo that read “Arma Reforger” were shared over Twitter by a user called @biostiel – whom some community members (on the Arma subreddit at least) believed to be a genuine Bohemia Interactive insider, with privileged information about their current projects. However, authentic insider or not, @biostiel’s tweets swiftly clarified their claims, saying that the game shown in the allegedly leaked photos was not Arma 4, but rather an unnamed, smaller-scale, multiplayer-only shooter project (we’ve seen nothing of it since).
They also suggested the next mainline Arma title was “years away”. The @biostiel account, and all the relevant original tweets, have since been deleted.
Night gathers, then, and our watch continues. As soon as there’s something more substantial – or, ideally, official – to get our teeth into about Arma 4, we’ll let you know here.
In the meantime, you could get your FPS fix with one of the other best tactical shooters out there – or get more strategic with our guide to the best RTS games for PC.
If you’d rather stay in Arma-land, you can top up your mil-sim experience with some of the finest Arma 3 mods – or perhaps check out that Arma 3 DLC you were meaning to try.
