Cyberpunk 2077 came back from the brink. No Man’s Sky turned it around. Even the responses to Payday 3 and Cities Skylines 2 have shown signs of thawing. Today, if a new game struggles at launch, there is still the possibility that its creators can claw it back. Arma Reforger may be the best, recent example. Arriving in early access back in May 2022, for a while, it remained the awkward middle child of Bohemia’s realistic FPS series. But now, as Escape From Tarkov enjoys continued success, and Delta Force and Gray Zone Warfare lure potential new players to the world of milsims, Arma Reforger has exploded in popularity.
When it first landed, it’s possible that Arma Reforger became caught in the middle of its two possible audiences. For some people, this was an FPS game with milsim pretensions, a high-stakes shooter where the action was too slow paced and the consequences of mistakes were too steep – casual players may have bounced off it immediately.
For others, particularly the Arma disciples, Reforger might have felt like a concession to newcomers. The plot breaks from the main series’ timeline. The controls are streamlined. The action wheel is replaced by simplified keybinds. You can wield two primary weapons. It’s Arma but with some of the edges removed.
Arma Reforger might also have caught people off guard when they were waiting for Arma 4. Though it’s built using the same Enfusion engine that is expected to power the full sequel, Reforger is, in some ways, a testbed for ideas rather than a full follow-up to Arma 3. Nevertheless, it’s finally found momentum.
Recent updates as well as the release of a PS5 version and the introduction of crossplay have propelled Arma Reforger’s Steam player count to record heights. As of Sunday January 12, the shooter has hit a new all-time concurrent user record – 15,983 people logged in simultaneously to play Arma Reforger, a larger number than ever in its lifetime.
Personally, as well as Reforger’s own improvements, I sense the swell in players is tangentially related to our collective fatigue with the biggest online shooters. If you’re looking for something with a serious military atmosphere, Call of Duty has become far too similar to Fortnite, and is plagued with cartoonish skins and garish crossovers.
Battlefield 2042 is solid, but suffers from comparisons to Battlefield 3 and 4. EFT, Delta Force, and relative newcomer Gray Zone Warfare are suitable alternatives, but there are clearly more people eager for an FPS that mixes playability with simulation game depth. If you want to try Arma Reforger yourself, head here.
Otherwise, try some of the best war games, or maybe the best co-op games on PC.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or join our community Discord to stay in the know.