Recently, I had a chance to sit down for a hands-on preview of Sniper Elite: Resistance, developer Rebellion’s latest entry in their long-running Second World War franchise. It was emphasized that the game was still in development, but my hour-and-a-half-long tour of occupied France was like beef tartare: an acquired taste but bloody smooth.
Sniper Elite: Resistance will be the first entry in the series without protagonist Karl Fairburne. Instead, players will take on the role of Karl’s British counterpart, Harry Hawker, an agent of the Special Operations Executive.
There wasn’t much time to get to know Harry, but considering how little characterization Karl received in the previous five games, I doubt we ever will. What we do know is that Harry is an elite sniper with a voice so gravelly that even his inner monologue sounds like it needs a lozenge. We also know that the story coincides with the events of Sniper Elite 5, which may explain why the gameplay in Resistance feels so familiar.
“At its heart, Resistance is a stealth game that emphasizes observation and timing.”
My time with Harry was spent behind enemy lines, searching the streets of occupied Paris for members of the French resistance. The Paris map was brilliantly designed; Harry starts in a garden at the top of the city and has to descend through a labyrinth of cobblestone streets and buildings to reach a set of bridges that bisect the map.
The bridges functioned as choke points that forced different play styles; while the high ground was rich with long grass and shadows to hide in, the bridges were well-lit, well-defended, and observed by enemy snipers from the opposite side.
Once crossed, the map became a network of roads that were heavily patrolled by German lorries and motorcycles. Vehicles were fast and unpredictable, showing up with little notice. Their approaching headlights would turn my carefully timed manoeuvres around infantry patrols into mad dashes for cover to avoid being seen. It was a wonderfully tense and varied map to work through, even in its purportedly unfinished state.
“This grotesquery has been a staple of the franchise since 2012, and this time around it’s more fleshed out than ever.”
Gameplay remains largely unchanged from Sniper Elite 4 and 5, albeit with tighter controls and a more dynamic environment to skulk and parkour across. For those unfamiliar with the series, it falls somewhere between the deliberate pacing of a Hitman game and a streamlined version of Metal Gear Solid V’s action. Each map is an immense sandbox with an open-ended set of tasks to complete and targets to assassinate.
At its core, Resistance is a stealth game that emphasizes observation and timing. While you can technically solve every problem by going in guns blazing, Stahlhelms are much easier to remove from a distance. This is a sniper game, after all, and SMGs and pistols are mostly used in a pinch.
By sneaking Harry up to a good vantage point, he can learn the movement patterns of his enemies and take in the nuances of his surroundings. If you can figure out when and where a soldier will sneak off for a smoke break, he can be dropped when out of sight, and his friends will be none the wiser.
To make your shot, crosshair placement has to take windage and bullet drop into account, but another important consideration is noise. For a silent takedown, gunshots can be aligned with environmental sounds like the rumble of a passing truck or the squelch of a loudspeaker. Impatient killers can create their own opportunities by setting up and remotely detonating mines or sabotaging nearby machinery.
Silent or not, once you take a successful shot, the bullet becomes the star of the show. We’re treated to a nauseating display of ultraviolence as the camera tracks the bullet’s flight in slow motion. Upon impact, there’s a guided x-ray tour of our target’s body as the bullet shatters their bones and obliterates their organs.
This grotesquery has been a staple of the franchise since 2012, and this time it’s more fleshed out than ever. It’s also more common now that it’s moved from a rifle-only event to something that triggers with every weapon. Twelve years on, it still elicits a visceral reaction every time it plays out. Nothing can make you contemplate the fragility of the human skull quite like a Sniper Elite headshot.
“Nothing can make you contemplate the fragility of the human skull quite like a Sniper Elite headshot.”
Multiplayer will consist of PVP, a wave-based PVE survival mode, co-op, and an asymmetrical offering called Invasion. Invasion mode invites a stranger into your single-player or co-op campaign to take on the role of an Axis sniper.
I’ve got a soft spot for stealth games—Splinter Cell lives close enough to my heart that the words “Chaos Theory” appear above my aorta during CT scans. But with Michael Ironside aging out of his Sam Fisher role and Kojima separated from the Metal Gear Solid series, there are not many new stealth action games to look forward to anymore.
Thankfully, since Sniper Elite 4, the series has grown into its own and has become a staple of the genre. It found a rhythm that not only fills the void but does so with unique mechanics, great game design, and a style all its own. Sniper Elite: Resistance may feel identical to Sniper Elite 5, but like Hitman‘s “World of Assassination” trilogy before it, not messing with a good thing can prove to be the wisest move.
Sniper Elite: Resistance is set to release on Jan. 30, 2025, on Game Pass and available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.
