Bohemia Interactive has released a brand-new single-player mission for its awesome military simulation Arma 3. Titled Old Man, this scenario aims to offer players an experience, unlike any other official campaign mission by giving unprecedented freedom to the player. You can grab the scenario for free in beta via the Steam Workshop.
The Arma series has a long and distinguished history on the PC. Starting out as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, the series established itself as the gold-standard of open-world combined arms gameplay. This means players can choose to play on foot, airborne, on and under the sea. The options are almost endless. The most recent iteration Arma 3 is already six years old but a healthy player community and extensive mod support make it still one of the most-played games on Steam.
The story of “Old Man” is set within the shared universe of Arma 3’s “The East Wind” and “Apex Protocol” campaigns (a.k.a. the Armaverse). You play as a retired Legionnaire living on the South Pacific island of Tanoa. When a new strain of malaria causes yet another humanitarian crisis, and local authorities fail to distribute an effective vaccine to the civilian population, you’re tipped off about a possible plot. Together with a former military contact, you set out to uncover the truth.
Since the focus of the series lies rather on offering a true sandbox with modding tools, the campaigns never felt like they truly made the best of these two. Fans tried to create better mission scenarios and while there are truly incredible ones, but they mostly lack in polish. Developer Bohemia Interactive has now finally stepped in and created their own take on modders’ efforts. Unlike a regular DLC or game update, Old Man is released alongside other mods on the Steam Workshop. But the sheer manpower and knowledge of the game by the devs make the new scenario a must-play for every Arma player.
Old Man requires both the base game and the Apex DLC since it uses the large jungle map of the later. Other than that, it’s an ambitious free new mission which coupled with the immense scope of the game, should offer hours of gameplay with a plethora of play styles.
