Arma 3 vs Reforger

[tux]

What really separates these games and which would be a better choice for someone who is new to the milsim genre?

[Disgruntled Cuttlefish]

Don't buy Reforger, it's an overpriced glorified tech demo. I'd say don't buy either and wait until Arma 4, or go with one of the classics: Arma 2 and its expansions.

[CW2 P. Larkins]

Reforger is an overpriced tech demo that relies entirely on youtuber hype to function. Even the ones that like it admit that it is only playable for a few hours at a time before they either crash out or something catastrophic happens to game stability. Arma 3 sucks, but it certainly is more alive than Arma 2 and Arma 2 operation arrowhead. I'll be blunt with you, at this point NEITHER game is good for starting milsimmers since the vast majority of units have had their quality get horrendously degraded over time. There are still good ones out there, but you will have to get a shovel and start digging.

You can find information about units in this discussion's subforum called Clans, Communities - and the reddit forum r/findaunit. Its gonna be trial and error. Its going to suck. But you will find something good if you persevere.

[|H|H| Fr3ddi3]

Reforger is a tech demo, it's entire purpose is to test the engine so it's ready for 4, it's just open to the public ... for a price, to get a look under the hood. It will never compete with 3 since it will never be a full game. I'd also say it's primary focus is PvP combat akin to the likes of Squad. In that regard it is objectively a better FPS game when you want to shoot at another player, it's just an overall more fluid experience ... when it works, it also has the benefit of being a very nice looking game given the tech advancements over the years.

3 on the other hand is an old, janky piece of ♥♥♥♥, performance is a problem, AI is lacklustre, and the gunplay is far from fluid, but it IS a finished game, it's a vastly superior PvE game, has ALOT more content out of the box and infinitely more content from the workshop, it looks old but it is still visually fine and is ... ironically ... a far more stable game as well, (yeah, I'm aware of the contradiction).

3 is currently the better game overall, Reforger does have qualities that beat 3 and can be a better game depending on what it is you are looking for and so logn as you understand exactly what you are buying into ... but it's development is ALL in service of Arma 4 and as such you should be worried that development will end before it is ever actually truly finished.