Arma 3's been invaded by aliens in the new Contact expansion

Livonia. The Baltic frontier. These are the voyages of gruff digital army cosplayers. Their continuing mission: to drive tiny robot trucks. To seek out new assault rifles, new combat arenas. To boldly go where... hold on, is that a ruddy alien? Sergeant, there's a bloody great extraterrestrial in my area of operations. I've seen films before, sir, you can get this one yourself.

Grab your tinfoil hats - Bohemia's dead-serious war simulator Arma 3 has gone interstellar in its latest expansion, Contact.

Contact is out now, bringing alien visitors to the Baltic sea. Do they come in peace - and more importantly, can humanity stop skirmishing with itself long enough to deal with this existential threat?

Contact's spin-off campaign imagines a first contact scenario on the isle of Livonia. Bohemia is keeping tight-lipped about what our alien friends are here for. Stepping into the boots of a NATO drone operator, you'll be uncovering the extraterrestrial mystery as other factions prepare for aggressive negotiations.

There's more to Contact than just glowing nasties from beyond the stars. The update adds two new Factions - Russian Spetsnaz and Livonian Defense Force - alongside new multiplayer scenarios. And then there's Eddie (sorry, ED-1), an absolute champ of a robot truck with two loadouts: SCIENCE and SHOTGUN.

There's also a complete inventory of new gear, clothes, weapons and camouflage options. The alien-filled adventure might be locked behind the expansion's pricetag, but existing Arma 3 owners can still snag NATO Woodland Camo, civilian outfits and over 100 cosmetic props and terrain objects for free.

I'll let Bohemia's Sandbox update video (below) run through them all. Red tape must've gotten involved, mind, because it cuts mysteriously short ahead of first contact.

It's pretty novel, to be fair. While brief glimpses of Arma's space-borne invaders look a little bland, it's hard to recall any other game play the alien contact scenario dead-straight. With hazmat suits and robot research, expect something a little bit more complex than gunning down squiddy lads with plasma rifles.

Contact will set you back £20/€23/$25 on Steam and Bohemia's in-house store.