The Next Arma 3 DLC Will Take the Player to Vietnam

PC’s best military sandbox and my go-to game when I want to write actual games journalism, Arma 3, will be getting a new expansion set in the Vietnam War sometime in the second quarter of 2021.

According to the expansion’s Steam page, S.O.G Prairie Fire will be one of Arma 3’s biggest to date DLCs to date. It will include 55 weapons, four new factions, 54 unique vehicles and static weapons, as well as a smattering of new uniforms and equipment.

The expansion will also include nine multiplayer scenarios, five single player missions, and perhaps best of all, there will be 300 square kilometre terrain included called Cam Lao Nam. The expansive map will have tons of iconic locations from the timeframe like Saigon, the Ho Chi Min trail and even parts of Cambodia, which means that although it won’t be historically accurate, the map should provide players with a lot of room to toy around with the DLC’s new tools, and it should be especially enjoyable seeing as Arma 3’s only other jungle terrain released in 2016 with the Arma 3 Apex expansion.

The expansion will also include a placeable FM radio that will play songs inspired by the ‘60s, as well as 16 cinematic tunes to play and a few assorted news clippings and advertisements from the war.

Unlike traditional expansions, S.O.G. Prairie Fire is being developed by Savage Game Design, a small studio based in the United Kingdom, and it’s merely being published by Arma developer Bohemia Interactive. The expansion is part of Arma 3’s Creator DLC Program that began in 2019, which allows small teams to publish expansions, something that many teams already do on Arma 3’s extensive Steam Workshop page, for profit. The program has already seen the release of Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany, a passively well-received DLC, and at some point this year another community-made expansion set in Czechoslovakia is set to release as well.

It’s also noteworthy that, assuming the upcoming Vietnam War-themed DLC works the same way as Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany, the expansion will act effectively as a standalone game. Players will need to enable the DLC to play it, and while the expansion is active, players can’t play with anyone who’s playing vanilla Arma 3.

This makes sense, though, given that Arma 3 is set in 2035 and the Vietnam War expansion will be, well, set in the Vietnam War, which is definitely a welcome change of scenery in the first-person shooter genre. The most recent, and effectively only modern game set in the Vietnam War is 2017's Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, which while a fantastic shooter, failed to offer any of the moral ambiguity that Arma so often provides. Outside of this, anyone who wants to experience one of the most questionable conflicts in recent history can only play either a few games made in the ‘00s, or the free Arma 3 mod Unsung.

Needless to say, then, we’re looking forward to this expansion. It will cost £20/$23, and as soon as there’s a more definitive release date available for the expansion, you can be sure to read about it here on Jump Dash Roll!