We’re approaching the eight years since hardcore military simulation game Arma III launched on PC, and it’s still getting new content to fuel player’s war game fantasies. The latest DLC pack is called S.O.G. Prairie Fire, and it will be set during the Vietnam War. It will feature a brand new 300 km2 map, four factions, and all of the weapons and vehicles you could want to fill this sandbox shooter.
Prairie Fire is a ‘creator’ DLC – a label publisher Bohemia Interactive is using to promote add-on packs created by third-party studios – in this case, Savage Game Design. Previous entries under this label have included 2019’s Global Mobilization – Cold War Germany, and CSLA Iron Curtain which is due out sometime this year.
These can be thought of as a step above paid mod projects, an example of which would be what Firaxis did when they hired Long War Studios (the creators of the excellent XCOM mod The Long War) to make Long War 2 specifically for the launch of XCOM 2 back in 2016.
Other companies have flirted with the idea of uplifting mod projects to full games as well, such as Paradox Interactive with the Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game spin-off game, and cancelled projects such as cold war era East vs West and the troubled Magna Mundi project.
This is not to say Prairie Fire isn’t a legitimate creation, but SGD was formed in 2017 by members of the Arma community who specialised in Vietnam War mods. The company’s aim is to create Vietnam War videogames and this project appears to be their debut. The other two titles under the Creator DLC label mentioned above were created by studios also born out of pre-existing Arma mod teams.
As well as plenty of era-appropriate hardware and factions, Prairie Fire will feature nine multiplayer-focused scenarios and five solo scenarios. It will also come with additional modules not used at launch, but that can be used to support any mods that wish to use this expansion as a start point.
Related: Arma 3 DLC guide on wargamer.com
At the time of writing, there’s no set release window for S.O.G Prairie Fire but it’s expected sometime during the second quarter of 2021 via Steam.