Arma 3 is an open world tactical shooter simulation video game developed and published by Bohemia Interactive exclusively through the Steam distribution platform. It is the third main entry in the Arma series, and the eighth installment in the series overall. Arma 3 was released for Microsoft Windows on September 12, 2013, and for macOS and Linux on August 31, 2015.
Arma 3 primarily takes place in the mid-2030s, on the fictional islands of Altis and Stratis in the South Mediterranean Sea. The game's expansions are set on the South Pacific archipelago of Tanoa; the Strait of Gibraltar island of Malden; the Eastern European country of Livonia; the Western Saharan country of Argana; and several real-life locations, including parts of Mainland Southeast Asia and Europe. The game's maps feature photorealistic terrain and water environments. Arma 3's plot is progressed through multiple episodic single-player and co-op campaigns, most of which follow different perspectives surrounding the 2035 "Altis Incident", a war fought in Altis and Stratis involving various factions, the most major belligerents being the United States-led NATO and the Iran- and China-led Canton Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty (CSAT).
Arma 3 was conceived around 2010 as a science fiction spin-off of the Arma series, but gradually became a grounded mainline entry. Development was stymied in 2012 when two developers were arrested in Greece on charges of espionage for allegedly photographing military installations, though they were eventually released the following year. The game's first public alpha release in March 2013 made it one of the first games to be released through Steam Early Access.
Arma 3 was released to generally favorable reception, with praise toward its gameplay, visuals, and immersive realism alongside criticism toward its difficulty, learning curve for new players, and lack of single-player content on release. Arma 3 has been actively maintained and expanded by Bohemia Interactive and publishing partners, with over 20 significant updates and downloadable content (DLC) releases since 2014. Over a decade after its release, Arma 3 maintains a substantial player base and an active modding community.
A sequel, Arma 4, is currently in development using the Enfusion Engine; a prequel spin-off to test its features, Arma Reforger, was released in 2022.
Gameplay
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 primarily focuses on infantry, but a wide selection of usable vehicles, including combat vehicles, armored fighting vehicles, military helicopters, multirole combat aircraft, motorboats, and civilian passenger vehicles, are essential to gameplay and are frequently expanded on in the game's DLCs. Arma 3 introduces diving to the series, with diving equipment and an underwater firearm implemented for underwater frogman operations. The game's campaigns and scenarios place the player in a wide variety of situations, from infiltration and reconnaissance to the commanding of combined arms operations.
Though most missions have specific objectives, players are usually encouraged to choose their own approach to achieving them, ranging from silently eliminating targets as a lone marksman to commanding a multirole squad into battle from multiple flanks. In some situations, various resources may be at the player's disposal, including uncrewed vehicles and fire support from artillery and mortars. Certain campaigns and scenarios change gameplay elements, add unique features, or stray from the usual combat-centric gameplay: for example, the Old Man scenario is set in an interactive open world and features a disguise mechanic, while the First Contact campaign centers around electronic warfare and allows the player to use deception among other means to non-violently remove threats.
Arma 3 and its DLCs contain over 50 unique weapons of varying type, caliber, and purpose, including rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, handguns, and rocket launchers (primarily MANPADS and ATGM launchers), with additional variants of some weapons such as carbines and mounted underbarrel grenade launchers. Weapon attachments mostly consist of scopes, though suppressors, flashlights, infrared laser sights, and bipods are available for most firearms. Equipment such as fragmentation grenades, smoke grenades, landmines, chemlights, medkits, binoculars, laser designators, and night vision goggles can be used to varying effects.
Standard tools such as maps, GPS satnavs, compasses, and radios operate basic in-game functions that are disabled if removed. For example, removing the radio disables NPC radio messages and multiplayer long-distance communication. The player's uniform, vest, backpack, headgear, and eyewear can be customized; vests and backpacks in particular allow for additional gear to be carried, and the majority of vests and headgear provide varying levels of ballistic protection. Clothing and carried items add weight to the player, which decreases movement speed and stamina, encouraging proper inventory management and promoting cooperation between soldiers carrying different equipment.
Multiplayer servers, hosted officially and by third parties, offer various player versus player and cooperative player versus environment modes, ranging from combined arms battles across an entire terrain to custom role-playing servers that simulate civilian life. Arma 3 also features "units", the community's official multiplayer clan system.
Arma 3 includes the Eden Editor, a level creation system that allows players to create comprehensive custom single-player and multiplayer scenarios using the game's assets and scripting, as well as compositions of assets for use in scenario creation. Scenarios and compositions created in the Eden Editor can be uploaded directly to the Steam Workshop.
Synopsis
Setting
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).
The plot of Arma 3 takes place over a variety of campaigns, showcasing missions, and scenarios. The story is primarily told across eight campaigns: Prologue, The East Wind, Remnants of War, Apex Protocol, Tac-Ops, Altis Requiem, Old Man, and First Contact. Only Prologue and The East Wind are available in the base game, while the rest require their respective DLCs; additionally, the events of First Contact are considered non-canon.
Some Creator DLCs are set in real locations during certain time periods such as Vietnam War-era Mainland Southeast Asia, Cold War-era Weferlingen, and World War II-era Saint-Lô, and feature real factions such as MACV-SOG, the National People's Army, and the French Resistance. However, all Creator DLCs are considered semi-official and non-canon to the plot of Arma 3.
Prologue After a coup d'état and civil war leaves Altis and Stratis destabilized, NATO and CSAT deploy separate peacekeeping forces to quell conflict between the AAF and FIA. In May 2034, U.S. Army Sergeant Conway and Staff Sergeant Thomas Adams are rerouted from training to assist an AAF unit, and find they have conducted a botched raid on a compound. A week later, backlash from the raid prompts the AAF to negotiate a ceasefire with the FIA in Kavala, but talks are hindered when an AAF convoy is reported missing. Conway and Adams are sent to locate it and, after a skirmish with an FIA squad, they find the convoy destroyed and the soldiers killed. They are ordered back to Kavala, where the AAF has repelled an FIA attack but is using excessive force against the defeated rebels. Conway rebukes an AAF officer for allowing his men to abuse captives, but Adams and NATO command order him to stand down; after they leave, Adams reveals the officer was Colonel Georgious Akhanteros, the de facto president of Altis. Intertitles explain that NATO–Altis relations soon deteriorated to the point that NATO peacekeepers were limited to the military-occupied island of Stratis.
The East Wind
Survive In July 2035, the NATO peacekeeping operation winds down as their five-year commitment ends. As the last remaining NATO peacekeepers, including U.S. Army Corporal Ben Kerry, prepare to leave Stratis, the AAF suddenly attacks them unprovoked, killing several peacekeepers including Adams, Kerry's superior. Kerry regroups with the surviving NATO personnel led by British Royal Navy special forces operators Captain Scott Miller and Lieutenant James, who attempt to gather supplies and communicate with NATO. Eventually, Miller claims to have reached NATO command and leads an operation to secure a landing zone for NATO reinforcements, but Iranian CSAT forces defeat them. The survivors attempt to flee to Altis, but AAF fighter jets attack their boats, knocking Kerry overboard.
Adapt