Arma 3 Apex: Old Man beta now available

Just before heading into the winter holiday break, our developers still have one surprise for you in store: the beta version of the Arma 3 Apex: Old Man open-world singleplayer scenario is now available on the Steam Workshop!

Arma 3 Apex: Old Man is free for everyone, but since the scenario takes place on the premium Tanoa terrain, it does require players to own the Arma 3 Apex expansion. By distributing the beta version via the Steam Workshop as an optional download, users do not need to switch to Arma 3’s Dev-Branch to participate in its public beta testing.

The story of “Old Man” is set within the shared universe of Arma 3’s “The East Wind” and “Apex Protocol” campaigns (a.k.a. the Armaverse). You play as a retired Legionnaire living on the South Pacific island of Tanoa. When a new strain of malaria causes yet another humanitarian crisis, and local authorities fail to distribute an effective vaccine to the civilian population, you’re tipped off about a possible plot. Together with a former military contact, you set out to uncover the truth.

The Old Man scenario drops you into Tanoa’s 100 km2 tropical jungle island terrain with but a few instructions. It’s up to you to find your way around, obtain intel, weapons, and equipment, and decide on the best tactics to accomplish your objectives. While the scenario aims to offer an authentic experience, players do have access to a few convenience features, such as the option to wait and skip time, and the ability to fast travel between known safe houses.

Besides the Old Man scenario itself, the Workshop item adds a new static M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun, as well as several new assets for Arma 3 content creators, such as a Tanoa CSAT reskin of the Zamak truck, a red beret, malaria-infected civilian characters, and various decals and inventory items. These extras will eventually be added to the Arma 3 base game via a free platform update.

Due to its experimental nature, the Arma 3 Apex: Old Man beta is placed inside the Bohemia Incubator. This is a label for projects that Bohemia releases to the public in order to try out new design ideas and/or gain more experience in certain areas of game development. Depending on user feedback and available resources, the plan is to add the Old Man scenario to Arma 3 via a platform update in 2020. When that happens, people will still need to own the Arma 3 Apex expansion to play the scenario but no longer need to subscribe to the Workshop item.

The beta version of Arma 3 Apex: Old Man scenario is now available for download on the Arma 3 Steam Workshop (click here). Testers are requested to report game issues to the Arma 3 Feedback Tracker, and post their feedback in the Workshop discussion section or the dedicated Bohemia forums thread.

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Happy Holidays!