Arma: The Great War...
I've been thinking recently about how awesome it would be to have an open world sandbox game based on world war one. I understand the trench warfare style and the technology of the time kind of limits the possibilities but hear me out before throwing this In the trash.
Due to the lack of world war one games out there I believe this could be a huge marketing boost for Bohemia Interactive (or anyone else for that fact) and it would truly be something unique. Something different from the generic first person shooter Call of Duty style game.
Think about it, those who have played Arma know how immersive the game can be. Imagine that level of immersion and realism combined with the horrors of trench warfare or the thrill of surviving an assault and taking an enemy trench! Imagine cowering down in your trench, a hail of artillery all around you, Knowing a much larger and better prepared enemy force is about to charge. Imagine lining up, fixing your bayonet to the rifle while you wait for that dreaded whistle.
The whole game doesn't have to be in the trenches either! The game could be focused around the small recon/demolition teams sent out to sabotage enemy communications and bunkers.
You follow the life of a private, fresh out of training, who has just arrived on the western front. You follow his story as he is selected to be part of a special forces team due to skills he developed before the war.
The gameplay could be very similar to that of the Arma 3 campaign with the odd mission here and there where the player can experience going "over the top" during a large scale assault or holding off several waves of enemy soldiers.
Between mission the player could roam the friendly trenches as they please with the chance of a few random tasks such as supply runs, deliver a message between officers, repair damaged communications and so on.
The base game could be set in France in the later years of the war playing as a British soldier but there are numerous DLC/expansion ideas to keep the game alive. Here are some I would like to see...
- The western front from the French and/or American point of view.
- The eastern front from the Russians perspective.
- The Gallipoli campaign from the ANZAC's (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) perspective
If you think about it, this game would be amazing and I believe it would rake in just as many sales as any of the mainstream first person shooters due to it's unique style. I understand it would be a very complicated game to make and there it will be hard to balance quality with performance with such a detailed game.