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Why Arma 3’s missing campaign is worth waiting for

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Yesterday, an apologetic Bohemia announced that, between the demands of their ongoing Arma 3 beta, the imprisonment of two of their top staff and a vast rescoping of the project, the game’s campaign mode no longer stands a chance of release in September. Instead, it’ll arrive later in three free DLC episodes – Survive, Adapt and Win.

That’s a bit sad. But studio PR person Korneel Van’t Land is here to tell you that, actually, the campaign missions are nearly all there – and there are happy reasons they’re taking so long.

“Most of the missions for the episodes already exist for gameplay evaluation and iterations – and making them really fun,” Van’t Land told us, explaining that much of the work left to do was in briefings, conversations, hints, voice overs and general spit ‘n’ polish.

“Designing a good mission is not something we do by making a concept / plan once and then just executing it,” he went on. “We try it, evaluate for fun and authenticity, and then iterate, iterate, iterate. If a mission needs it, we go back to the drawing board and try again.”

Van’t Land wouldn’t be drawn on an exact number of missions, but estimated 12-15 hours of crawling on your belly and being shot, “depending on your play style and skills”.

In the meantime, early adopters will have immediate access to 12 singleplayer “showcases” and challenges.

“The editor is really cool as well – we know that many people love tinkering with it to quickly create any (crazy) scenario they dream up,” added Van’t Land. “Especially on Altis it’s easy to lose yourself by just randomly visiting places on the island using any number of vehicles.”

Are you dead set on waiting for the campaign? Or will the challenge mode be enough to prepare you for multiplayer realistic ballistic madness?