Bohemia Interactive announces a Minecraft competitor as well as a comedy platformer with a horse theme, but does not reveal the status of Arma 4.

Sometimes you have to wait for a bus forever, but then two different modes of transportation appear at the same time. Bohemia Interactive's long-awaited Arma 4 development is still in its reforging phase. Bohemia Interactive has announced it will be publishing two very different Gamescom games this year, one about airships and another about a strange horse.

Skyverse is the first, and it boldly asks "What if Minecraft terrain generation algorithm had an old age moment and broke the world up into a bunch floating islands?" Skyverse, a blocky RPG developed by Enjoy Studio, is similar to Minecraft but with an overt fantasy theme. The players can travel these islands in their own airship and stop off to explore the islands, harvest resources, or explore skeleton-filled caves.

The second game, Brute Horse is a "slightly deranged" action platformer by Place of Departure. Brute Horse is set in South Vulgaria and revolves around a barbarian named Brute, his best friend, Horse, as well as a female assassin named Michelle. They are all searching for the most powerful weapon. The trailer below doesn't include any gameplay but gives a good sense of the game's tone. It's got a vague resemblance to the old comedy actioner Armed and Dangerous, but it's probably less British, given that it was developed by a Czech company. Hopefully, it will be a better game underneath the jokes.

Both games place a lot of emphasis on multiplayer. Skyverse lets you explore its procedurally generated worlds with friends, while Brute Horse allows two players to team as Brute and Michelle for couch co-op. Brute Horse would be more fun if players could team up as horse and rider. That's a great idea that has the potential to create some shenanigans.

Brute Horse will be released in 2025. Skyverse's Steam page has a vague "Coming Soon" label. I'm intrigued by both games, but let's be honest, what we want to know is when Arma 4 will be released. Bohemia Interactive hasn't revealed anything about the sequel to Arma 3's huge success since 2022. That was in context of Arma Reforger - the studio's "bridge to Arma 4".

Reforger's early access was met with a mixed reception last year, but the studio has continued its bizarre mix of military D&D toolkits and glorified engine testing bed. June's major update added AI vehicle control, the ability to command teams, and a bunch of weapons and game master features. Zeus is the only one who knows when Reforger will become Arma 4.