Top Arma 2 Mods
ArmA 2 mods allow players to add replayability and personalisation to their ArmA 2 game. With different nationalities, weapons, and stories available to be told through downloading new mods, players can craft a whole new adventure.
Top Arma 3 Mods
While hyper-realistic and extremely difficult shooters are all the rage now with games like Squad and Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, the critically acclaimed Arma has the main tent pole of that sub-genre for a long time.
Offering more than just a gritty and difficult military experience, Arma is a franchise that's also always been known for its stellar mods, with titans like DayZ arriving in earlier series entries.
The game's third installment is no exception -- and there's a reason why four years after its release, Arma 3is still going strong on the mod front. Currently, players have access to more than 40,000 various map, item, scenario, and overhaul mods across the Steam Workshop and various modding sites.
It's impossible to go through all of these independently, so we've done some of the leg work and curated 10 of the top-notch mods for Arma 3 that show off what's possible with a little bit of modding know-how and a lot of ingenuity.
Baphomet
What the heck... Hellgate London meets the realism of Arma? This is a mod you wouldn't expect to see, but it definitely exists. Baphoment changes the game into an alternate future timeline where the earth is under assault via portals to hell.
Custom ambient music and the dark red color tone make this one pretty legitimately chilling to play as you tackle missions to roll back the zombie and demon hordes!
Unsung: Vietnam War Mod
Before Rising Storm 2 finally arrived, this was the place to go for a crazy Vietnam war experience. The amount of work that went into this mod is sort of ridiculous -- new terrains and maps, a crop of ground and air vehicles, authentically-equipped units from the time period, and 80 new period-specific weapons all arrive to throw you straight into the action.
Wasteland
At this point, you don't really need to download anything for Wasteland, since there are so many servers running it without the need to personally install any mod resources.
This is the big sandbox mod for Arma 3, frequently referred to as 'DayZ minus the undead'. And that assessment is not far off base. Camp somewhere, find loot where you can, and get ready to die a lot.
Battle Royale
An oldie but goodie, Battle Royale is all about free-for-all survival on a massive scale. You will always be on the hunt for equipment and ammo as the player count drops and you end up stalking the remaining survivors until there's only one winner standing. If this sounds a lot like PUBG, that's because it's designed by the same guy.
RHS: Armed Forces Of The Russian Federation
This one actually took home a pretty hefty monetary prize for winning Bohemia's 'Make Arma Not War' modding contest. There are several different mods in this line, all adding in realistic infantry and vehicles from the Russian Federation, United States, and more.
Accurate uniforms, headgear, backpacks, are all included, in addition to a whole new fire control system for vehicles. Its basically a whole new Arma 3.
Extended Fortifications
While a few of the additions are a bit wonky, overall this is a killer mod that drastically extends your fortification possibilities. A whopping 94 different modular base elements are featured -- from steel barriers and wood panels to staircases, support beams, concrete pylons, and a whole lot more.
CUP Weapons
With more than 40k mods available, obviously there's been a lot of collaboration between community members -- and that's where the CUP (Community Upgrade Project) mods come in.
The Weapons version of these mod packs strives to bring in extra content (specifically from the previous Arma titles) into the third main entry, extending out the number of weapons available and tweaking those new arms to match the game's functionality.
Machine guns, shotguns, rifles, grenade launchers, pistols, sniper rifles, and a host of attachments are all added here.
VSM Uniforms
There are more uniform and decal mods for Arma 3 than a single person could probably count -- so if you just want one with tons of options, go for this VSM addition that has it all in one place.
If what you are looking for isn't in this particular pack, just hit the Steam Workshop and search for 'VSM' to find about a hundred other high quality mods that add in new camo, vests, helmets, accessories, and just about any other type of gear.
Jurassic Props
Unlike a lot of other mods, this one doesn't radically change the whole game, except perhaps in tone. Yes, that's the gateway to Jurassic Park you see there. While rather limited at the moment (the gate doesn't actually open and there are no dinos), the mod does add in a bunch of JP themed objects that will definitely alter the feel of any given Arma 3 match.
I can't wait to see where this one goes, and hopefully someone will pick up the torch and carry us to the finish line with a dinosaur total overhaul in the same vein as all those zombie mods.
Apex Species Sharks
This mod really shows the dedication (and sometimes oddity) of the Arma modding community. Does this military shooter really need hyper-realistic sharks based on extensive research by the Australian Institute of Marine Science? I can't say that it particularly does, but we got it anyway.
The mod adds in male and female sharks that swim around, hunt, bleed, behave differently in night and day, and only become aggressive if there aren't any other large fish food sources around. If you want to take time off from war to study marine biology, then have it my friend!
Zombies And Demons
If modding has taught us anything, its that people want zombies added to everything. Another entry in a long line of mods that throw hordes of the walking dead into a shooter, Zombies And Demons shines by being customizable -- letting you decide just how strong those zombies are (from barely standing shambling dead to super powered hellish monstrosities).
Sure, we've left realism behind at this point, but who doesn't want to skip the typical warfare to gun down some walkers every now and again?
There you have it -- from new uniforms to entirely different game modes, these are some of the very best mods available at the moment. But remember -- a mere 10 out of 40,000+ mods doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what's available if you want a whole new Arma 3 experience.
What did you think of our picks, and what top tier mods would you recommend for players who want to shake up their Armamatches with new dynamics? Let us know down in the comments!
Arma 3 launched without its campaign mode, meaning that soldiers who stepped onto the field of battle early would've been left kicking their heels and cleaning their rifles – would've been, were it not for an industrious army of Arma 3 modders. Even a quick reconnaissance run on Bohemia's military simulator's Steam marketplace turns up some impressively professional missions. Here ten of the best Arma 3 mods we've enjoyed so far.
Wasteland
There's something of DayZ in sandbox mission Wasteland, both in terms of mechanics and cult popularity. It's a multiplayer-only mode that drops players onto the island of Stratis, before asking them to select a team: BLUFOR, OPPFOR, or Independent. From there, players have to stay alive, scavenging money, food, and water from the island's settlements, and spending their gotten gains on new weaponry. Occasionally the game spawns missions and AI enemies that reward teams that combine to complete them with hefty payouts. Because it's a multiplayer mission, you don't technically need to download or subscribe to anything before playing Wasteland - simply pick a server running the mode.
Arma 3 Rally - Skopos Course
You'll find a few rally courses already available on the Steam Workshop, but none are as slick as m@gicpanda's Skopos Course. It's set on a country road with straights long enough to let you floor your hatchback's accelerator, but it's the visual touches that make the course memorable. Come round the first corner and a jet screeches overhead; round the second and you're dodging burning armoured car wreckage. Try and avoid spectators if you can, but don't worry too much: I ran seven of them over after misjudging one tricky corner, and the rally organisers didn't seem to mind.
GhostHawk Shift
Antorugby's chopper-centric mission is good practice for helicopter pilots. It starts off simple, asking you to cart a lazy squad a few hundred metres down the road, but gets hard fast. Your next landing zone is covered by enemy AA guns, meaning you'll have to fly low, land quickly, and get out fast before your wings are clipped. Later, you're able to redistribute some aerial justice with your copter's own cannons, meaning that by the end of the job, you should be comfortable landing, hovering, and manoeuvering yourself around the sky.
MGS1
This download is a surprisingly complex retelling of the Metal Gear Solid in the Arma III engine, complete with boss battle, codec, and audio cribbed from the Playstation game. Arma III's AI - still a little suspect at the best of times - isn't really built for this kind of difficult stealth workout, but it's the little touches that make MGS1 worth playing. You'll start near a minisub, correctly aping the real Metal Gear Solid's aquatic infiltration, and regular checkpoints mean that being spotted won't lead to too much frustration.
Survivor
Survivor's a simple mission that drops you into a town with a pistol and an electro-ed up version of a '50s boogie song, before asking you to survive against a roving gang of “bullies” who want you dead. There's a time limit, so hiding on the top floor of a house - however much it might be my cowardly instinct - won't work. Survivor's a good mission for training your iron-sight aim, too, forcing you to be quick on the trigger but fairly conservative with your ammunition.
Dynamic Universal War System
One of Arma III's most ambitious and impressive mods yet, Dynamic Universal War System will invent you a procedural war upon startup. You're plonked onto the vast island of Altis, given a base, and asked to capture enemy territory. Squads and vehicles can be purchased with command points; command points are earned by capturing more territory. There's an admirable amount of choice in how you approach DUWS's war: use your own sniper rifle to clear enemy territory, or send a mechanised force to clear out an enemy outpost from the comfort of your own base.
Revenge!
One for PC Gamer art editor and Operation Flashpoint obsessive John Strike, Revenge! is a retread of the mission of the same name from 2001's original OpFlash. You're a team leader in one of two APCs converging on a large, terrorist-held settlement. Clearing the area is a matter of slow and deliberate progress, splitting your squad into fire teams and closing off firelanes. Or, in my case, ordering all your men to run toward the objective and hiding around at the back so you don't get shot.
CH Assault from the Deep
Mateck's Assault from the Deep uses Arma III's newly introduced submersible well, asking players to pilot the craft up to a beach where they have to clear a small gang of foes before regrouping and pushing toward a larger force. It's one of the easier missions available on Steam Workshop, but it's well suited for small groups, making it another good training exercise. Just remember to shut the hatches on your mini-sub so your team doesn't unceremoniously drown on the way in.
Ekali Apocalypse - Sniper Mission
Casting you in the role of sniper in a sniper/spotter duo, Ekali Apocalypse is short, giving you only one target to eliminate before extracting. But it's notable for letting you choose your vantage point and forcing you to scan around the area before making your shot with one of Arma III's realistically unwieldy sniper rifles. Overcompensate for bullet drop, or else you'll end up alerting the entire town to your presence.
Ground Attack II
Graduate to this after you've completed your GhostHawk Shift. The second of DICS' Ground Attack missions has you attacking convoys at low altitude. You're piloting, so you don't need to worry about shooting - your gunner will do the killing for you. That is, unless, you're feeling particularly ambitious and want to take manual control of your cannons. Knock out the convoys across Stratis, then it's back home for a congratulatory hug and a sandwich.
Have any favourite Arma 3 mods and missions of your own? Share them in the comments!