Move over, Karl Fairburne—there is a new noggin-popping, nut-shotting Nazi hunter in town, and his name is Harry Hawker. If you are a fan of stealthy action, sniping and absurd levels of graphic violence, developer Rebellion has you covered with Sniper Elite: Resistance.
Sniper Elite: Resistance occupies an awkward no man’s land between sequel and expansion to Sniper Elite 5. It ports the assets, animations and gameplay of its predecessor to tell a parallel story from the perspective of the series’ longtime co-op partner, Harry Hawker, a British commando with ties to the French Resistance.
The Sniper Elite series has always been slow to change, embracing the “do not fix what is not broken” approach to its tried-and-true formula. With Sniper Elite: Resistance, the formula still works, but even with a fresh coat of paint, it cannot help but show heavy signs of wear.
“Sniper Elite: Resistance offers a fresh perspective with Harry Hawker, but it feels more like an expansion than a true sequel.”
Our time with Harry Hawker is spent in occupied France during the weeks leading up to the D-Day landings in 1944. The mission is to link up with the French Resistance and collect intelligence about an experimental Nazi Wunderwaffe. This is no ordinary Nazi superweapon—in fact, it is so deadly and controversial that even the Führer himself said “nein” to its development, a protestation that the project’s commander, Otto Kruger, has ignored.
It is the same level of schlocky Second World War storytelling you would expect from a Sniper Elite title, but by disconnecting from historical events and dialling up the camp, Harry’s adventure is decidedly more fun to work through. Rebellion seems adamant that there is still juice left to squeeze from the Western Front setting, and by leaning even harder into a grindhouse style of historical fan fiction, it makes a compelling argument.
The story itself is superficial but serviceable. Harry is a more charismatic lead than Karl Fairburne ever was, but so is a ham sandwich. Luckily, both leads come with an equal serving of cheese. The supporting cast does little more than brief us in mission cutscenes and is not around long enough to grow into anything more than a familiar voice. Narratively, they provide just enough to move Harry from sandbox to sandbox, with mission objectives doing the heavy lifting in showing how the threat is progressing.
“Sniper Elite: Resistance relies heavily on the series’ tried-and-true formula, showing signs of wear despite its fresh coat of paint.”
Thematic ties to the French Resistance are similarly light, mostly existing as a way to introduce a new skills-based arcade mode called Propaganda Challenges. These challenges are unlocked by collecting posters found throughout the campaign. The challenges are small, repeatable levels that limit a player’s arsenal and task them with killing as many Nazis as possible before the mission timer runs out. The challenges are broken into three categories: stealth, combat and sniping. By using the requisite skill for each challenge, players rack up extra points and add time to their mission clock.
Reaching the score threshold of a challenge unlocks new weapons, hats and character skins that can be used during the campaign. It is a fun addition to the series that helps break up the methodical pace of the campaign but could have used more missions or extra rewards to incentivize trying again for a higher score. I unlocked all the prizes after completing most challenges with lowly bronze-level rankings.
The campaign proper features a total of seven new maps. They follow the same sprawling sandbox design used in Sniper Elite 5 but are not as grand in scale. The new locations may not be as large, but there is more room for creativity in how players can explore and exploit their layouts. Each map is loaded with labyrinthine streets, secret tunnels, zip lines and scalable pipes. However, there is still a reliance on white paint and destructible boards to indicate which paths are open for exploration. The result is a world that looks large but feels small and is obviously ripe for modernization.
It would be dismissive to call Sniper Elite: Resistance a mere reskin, but it is difficult to call it a refresh. Other than a new man behind the trigger and a Eurocentric arsenal of weapons, nothing of substance has been added. The Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy took a similar path but remained fresh by continuously improving its gameplay and retroactively enhancing earlier titles. It is a step Sniper Elite: Resistance could have benefited from.
Sniper Elite: Resistance is every bit as good as Sniper Elite 5, but it skirts the line between DLC and a standalone game too closely. For fans simply looking for a fresh canvas to splatter Nazi anatomy against, Sniper Elite: Resistance will do just fine. But players hoping for a classic setup with new twists will have to keep waiting for a proper sequel.
