ARMA 3

Arma 3 is a realistic tactical shooter featuring accurate and deadly weapons that are heavily affected by external ballistics and recoil. Gameplay is set on expansive maps (officially "terrains") featuring photorealistic land and water environments that can cover hundreds of square kilometers of ground.

Arma 3's gameplay is similar to previous titles in the series, but with more refinements and customization, including a refreshed HUD. Most aspects of gameplay—such as player guidance assists like map markers and enemy outlines, NPC behaviors like radio callouts and firing accuracy, and HUD elements like crosshairs and player information—vary depending on the set difficulty level, which can be freely customized to suit the player's desired experience.

Arma 3 takes place in the Arma series' fictional universe, set in the near future of the 2030s, during a multipolar period of global instability following Western isolationism, economic crises, and climate change. The main plot events are primarily set in the Aegean island country of the Republic of Altis and Stratis in 2034 and 2035. Other plot events occur as early as 2026 and as late as 2039 in various other locations such as the Horizon Islands Republic, Malden (returning from Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis), Livonia, and Argana.

The two primary factions in Arma 3 are the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the opposing Canton Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty (CSAT), based on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Other factions include the Altis Armed Forces (AAF), the military of Altis and Stratis who rule the country under a junta; the Freedom and Independence Army (FIA), a loyalist rebel militia led by the Altian government-in-exile; the Combat Technology Research Group (CTRG), NATO's classified black operations special forces unit; Viper Team, CSAT's high-tech People's Liberation Army special forces equivalent to the CTRG; the International Development and Aid Project (IDAP), a humanitarian aid non-governmental organization; the Livonian Defense Force (LDF), Livonia's NATO-equipped military; the Gendarmerie, the Horizon Islands' gendarmerie and defense force; Syndikat, a Tanoan criminal organization that later reforms into L'Ensemble, ostensibly an anti-imperialist insurgency but practically no different from its predecessor; and Russian Spetsnaz, special forces units of the Russian Armed Forces. Factions are sorted into three forces: BLUFOR (NATO and allies), REDFOR (CSAT and allies), and INDFOR (factions not officially on either side).

Arma 3 began development after the release of Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead. In its earliest concept stages, the game was planned as Arma Futura, a post-apocalyptic science fiction spin-off that was either a role-playing game or a real-time strategy game. To develop it, Bohemia Interactive used expertise from ALTAR Games, the developers of UFO: Aftermath, UFO: Aftershock, and UFO: Afterlight, who they had recently acquired.

The game was initially set on a nondescript archipelago. Bohemia CEO Marek Španěl was inspired to change the setting to the Greek island of Lemnos after visiting it on vacation, and development gradually shifted from the Arma Futura concept to a more grounded tactical shooter in the traditional vein of the Arma series. The few elements remaining from Arma Futura in the final game are the near future setting, the game's internal name, and the general premise of the Contact DLC.

Arma 3 has received favorable reviews, garnering a score of 74 out of 100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic based on 38 reviews, and a user score of 7.6 based on 1048 ratings.

Praise was directed toward the gameplay, game engine, graphics, physics, and sense of realism, but criticism was directed toward the game's difficulty, unfriendliness toward new and inexperienced players, and complex controls. Many reviewers noted the game's heightened focus on user-generated content compared to older Arma titles, complimenting the ease of installing content through the Steam Workshop. Significant early criticism focused on the lack of single-player content on release, with some critics calling the game unfinished due to its initial lack of a campaign.