Krzysztof Bielawski on Arma Reforger

I'm not a tactical simulation game kind of guy. I just don't have the patience or understanding for it. I have a hard time concentrating, and the complicated control mechanisms rarely, if ever, help with that.

So, when I got an invitation to check out Arma Reforger for the PlayStation 5, I was initially hesitant. Would it be something that I could accurately talk about? Would it even work for me, considering how my past with Arma is limited to short sessions – ones which I mostly spent as a bullet sponge?

Luckily, my reservations proved unnecessary. Arma Reforger is a smart and thoughtful update, one designed to invite new players into the hardcore simulation, without ever compromising the vision that fostered its current player base.

My guide for the introduction is Krzysztof Bielawski, one of the developers behind Reforger. As we sit down to play the PS5 build, I let him know that he should treat me as total noob.

What makes Arma stand out from all the rest?

Arma is the most realistic simulation game on the market. That's not a brag, it's a fact. We are historically driven by it. Our community expects that. So every Arma has to stand on its own as the most realistic simulation game.

That's quite a standard, but doesn't that also mean that it has a certain kind of impenetrable nature to it?

The issue was that the game was always clunky. It was difficult to get into. So, the good thing about Reforger going multiplatform is that we had to rethink how we communicate with players in terms of input. How does the game work on a controller without compromising the simulation?

We had to rethink everything about the game. But I think that means for a typical player is that Reforger is a lot more accessible. You can get into the game easier, but you'll still hit a wall of learning. But that's fine, because this is a game that's supposed to be difficult to play, not to control.

This is a game that's supposed to be difficult to play, not to control.

How does the experience differ from the previous Arma games?

Arma is still a sandbox, and you have these tools like Game Master, where you can create situations for yourself. So you can bring up objects, like choppers or weapons, or enemy teams. Reforger is not as wide as Arma 3, but it is a deeper experience. Reforger has less content: so no boats, no jet carriers, but everything that we've kept, we've refined. It's so much more detailed.

At this point, Bielawski spawns a chopper for me to try out. I'm already impressed by the controls, which feel tactile and far more understandable than ever before. I get into the chopper, and once again I'm greeted by smart, intuitive controls that just work. The chopper feels heavy, like the real thing, and there's an immaculate sense of immersion.

The helicopter rotor is animated, too. You can see the weight to it. They bend under the pressure. This is for people who are excited about military history, the vehicles, and systems.

Previously, you didn't have chambering for weapons. Now we have that. It's little things that's we've emphasized, but they amount to a much deeper experience.

I tilt the controller a bit and notice that the motion controls react immediately, turning my view inside the cockpit. Usually, I turn these settings off, as they end up finicky. Here, the result is different. It lends to the immersion rather than taking away from it.

The same applies for shooting, which catches me by surprise the first time. The haptic engine rumbles like the real thing, and there's a superb feedback to the trigger that changes based on the caliber of the gun.

You can use the motion controls for aiming or free-look when you're in vehicles. You can adjust it for everything based on what you need and like. We also use the haptic triggers to simulate the pressure of real triggers, and each weapon feels different to fire because of this. Even if you change from burst to single fire, it feels different. Squeezing the trigger too quickly, you will become less accurate, because we wanted to simulate how it would feel with a real weapon.

First-person shooters are usually a very different beast on consoles than they are on PC. How have you approached the desire that players might have for a third-person perspective?

We have a third-person perspective, but most of the servers will disable it, because this is a PVP game, and it provides an unfair advantage.

We soar over the map, and I get my first real look at the level of detail. The vista is immense, with a variety of biomes and thick, multi-tiered forests and valleys. You could get lost in it for days.

The maps are about 50km squared, and the largest levels are 100km squared.

This is not a match game. It's a game you join and experience the war on a whole other scope. You might be scouting, building infrastructure, or working behind the lines, or ambushing the enemies behind enemy lines. It all happens on one server.

It's not about running and gunning, it's about strategy and how these elements work together, so that you eventually defeat your enemy. Sometimes we've seen conflicts with such strong teams that they don't finish. It's the bread and butter of the game.

That almost sounds like a role-playing experience.

Yes! It's a sandbox where people have the tools to almost role-play this experience. It has fewer limitations compared to Arma 3. You can change your loadout at any time, and that equipment defines your role. It's not a case of clicking a role at the start, it changes based on how you want to play.

I land the chopper and watch as the rotors sway under the weight and wind. I admire the level of detail further, before it's time to end the demo.

I have never been a big tactical simulation gamer. Arma Reforger might just change all that. For the first time, I feel like there's a game that's designed for me. One that is accessible without ever feeling dumbed down. I can't wait to get lost into it for hours at a time when it launches.