Bohemia Interactive has marked 25 years since the release of Operation Flashpoint by announcing Arma: Cold War Assault Remastered. The announcement comes with a playable demo, out now on Steam, alongside publishing the full engine source code on GitHub for the community to dig into.
The remaster brings widescreen support and updated code for better compatibility with modern hardware, with the full game release date still to be confirmed. For now, the demo is free to download on Steam via the Cold War Assault page, with a full release expected later in the year.
For those unaware, Operation Flashpoint was the original series, with the Arma devs re-releasing the title in 2011 after a split from Codemasters. Code Masters took the IP name, while Bohemia took the engine, and released it as an Arma game. It’s why Codemasters went onto make games like Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising with EA in 2009.
Arma: Cold War Assault is getting a remaster
The demo is built on the game’s original Poseidon engine, rebuilt in modern C++, configured with CMake and Clang, and running natively on both Windows and Linux in 64-bit. It’s a self-contained slice of the original Cold War Assault experience, covering the classic open-world sandbox across the islands of Everon, Malden and Kolguyev, complete with vehicles, AI and the mission system that helped define the military simulator genre.
The devs also stated that the demo can be used as an asset pack for the Arma modding community. The bundled game data is provided as raw material that players and creators are free to study, modify and build new Arma content from, giving modders clean reference assets and an official foundation to start from. It should help get some new models and assets with more modern capabilities to help the game breathe some new life. Somewhat akin to the Dawn of War Remaster last year.
Alongside the demo, Bohemia has published the full source code on GitHub. The repository includes licensing information, developer documentation and a scripting reference. Anyone can clone it, build it, study it and submit pull requests.
For a game that helped build the foundation of the military-sim genre and inspired everything from DayZ, the original Battle Royale mods, all the way to the wider Arma series, opening up the source code to the community 25 years on feels like a fitting way to celebrate. Bohemia says it can’t wait to see what the community does with it.
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Craig Robinson
Craig Robinson is an experienced gaming and esports writer with nearly a decade of coverage experience since 2015. With a background in software engineering, he combines his journalistic expertise with a strong understanding of technical SEO and web development fundamentals. He’s passionate about covering MMO games, competitive esports, and crafting guides that help players get the most out of their favorite titles.
He's been writing about gaming and esports for over 10 years, which started as for fun project during university. He has since developed his skill set, contributing to newsrooms coverage of key games and event, and blending evergreen content strategy and a solid grasp of content marketing fundamentals. His work has appeared in Esports News UK, Gamer Guides, theEscpaist, and VideoGamer, and he now contributes to Gamehub's review team. When he’s not writing, Craig can usually be found running, at the gym, or tinkering with coding projects to keep his GitHub active.
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