Whereas most serious historians dismiss the potential effects of Nazi wonder weapons in the course ofWorld War 2, there is no doubting the contribution of Allied special forces and local resistance fighters working behind enemy lines.
Sniper Elite: Resistancetries to reconcile that fascination with what-if weapons with a tribute to the shadow warriors bringing the war to Hitler in occupied France.
You play the role of SOE agent Harry Hawker as he works with the French Resistance to foil a Nazi plan to deploy a secret weapon that could tip the scale in Germany’s favor.
Sniper Elite: Resistancestrikes a pleasant balance between being hard and being fun, and gives youa combat workoutdespite being a stealth game first and foremost.
This preview is based on the third mission of the campaign.Sniper Elite: Resistanceis out January 30th, 2025, but owners of the Deluxe Edition get a 2-day headstart.
Sniper Elite’s Latest Chapter
In case you are unfamiliar with the series,Sniper Eliteis a game aboutshooting things from far outand getting profound satisfaction in return.
In recent years, the franchise has gone for more grounded premises, with the last three titles following the Allied progress to liberate Northern Africa, Italy, and France.
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Because let’s face it, sometimes going loud and proud is too much fun to pass on.
As the name implies,Sniper Elite: Resistanceputs you to work with the French Resistance in 1944, just likeSniper Elite 5.
Though you are an expert in “remote work” with your sniper rifle,the game gives you many tools to kill, incapacitate, and distract enemiesfrom various distances.
Presentation Matters
Launching the mission sends you into an elegantly-crafted video describing your objectives and laying them out on a map.
The main objective is to investigate the presence of a Nazi super weapon based on a Resistance tip and destroy it if possible.
The secondary goals are to find the source’s whereabouts after it went silent and to put a local collaborator to sleep.
The mission takes place in Lyon, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and the game did it justice.
Sniper Elite: Resistancedoes not try to be a hyper-realistic GPU slayer, focusing instead on down-to-earth visuals and an oddly pleasant anatomical model when you place a shot just right.
The interface designers at Rebellion deserve all the love in the world.Everything you interact with is clean, looks good, and fits the art direction.
Though this was my first hands-on encounter with the franchise, navigating both the in-game and settings menus was as natural as it gets.
A Sniper’s Puzzle
The controls inSniper Eliteare smooth and responsive, though it was occasionally frustrating to identify what places you can vault over.
How you move affects the enemy’s ability tospot you. I was pleasantly surprised thatcrouch-walking did not make me disappear if I was in sight. It was also nice to see the foliage work as intended.
What makesSniper Elite: Resistancefun is that you need toget creative, as you cannot get away with just sitting in the same spot sniping away.
I learned that the hard way, andthere may or may not be footage of me dying what felt like 100 times as I tried to snipe my way outof situations that I clearly should not have.
The frustration you get inSniper Eliteis special because you know that, deep down, it is your fault things went wrong.
At the same time, the catharsis you get when everything slots into place makes every missed shot worth it.
Scheming In Motion
Picture the scene: I needed to cross the Saône river, but the bridge was crawling with Germans.
I took refuge in the abandoned Resistance safehouse, cleared out the German presence on the second floor, and then devised a plan.
There was scaffolding by the window facing the river, so that was my way out. I mined the entrance and the staircase to the second floor, then took out my rifle.
At the far end of the bridge was an alarm to call in reinforcements, with two soldiers standing by it. To the right was a sniper.
My first shot targeted the alarm switch, disabling it from around 180 meters. The noise alerted the German patrols on both ends of the bridge, and the sniper across it.
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High-stakes Hide and Seek
As the German troops converged on where they heard gunfire, a Gestapo pointman triggered the landmine, blowing himself up in the process.
Meanwhile, I popped up again and hit the sniper before he could inflict a similar fate on me.
The stage was set now: the bridge patrols were moving into the building, the alarm was off, and the sniper was dead.
I jumped out of the window onto the scaffolding, then bolted across the bridge, taking out any stragglers before finding a quiet spot on the other side.
This kind of set piece plays out dozens of times in any mission, and the fact that it is your original solution makes success more rewarding.
Minor Headaches
As with every game, there are design quirks that I could have lived without.
Harry’s constant monologuing over every small action occasionally gets frustrating. Yes lad, a sidearm, I know. It’s the third pistol we’ve picked up today; get on with it.
There are some gripes about weapons, too. The dispersion of submachine guns bothered me a bit.
The game wants you to use those as a last resort, which is fair, but unloading a 32-round STEN magazine from 15 meters away while crouched and having almost all rounds miss feels unnecessary.
I must confess that I grew envious of the Gestapo officers holed up at the Terminus Hotel, as some of them packed a silenced version of the semi-auto Walther P38 pistol.
Us poor SOE sods have to contend with the Welrod, a bolt-action suppressed pistol that very often cannot penetrate German steel helmets inSniper Elite: Resistance.
I sometimes found myself chasing melee kills because I was not confident that the Welrod would do the job without giving out my position.
The Parting Shot
Sniper Elite: Resistanceis fun. This is a smart game that gives you all the tools and freedom you need to achieve success.
Yes, dying sucks, but Harry Walker is too busy making the other guys die to do so himself once you get the hang of it.
It was nice to see a game this polished a few months ahead of its planned release, and I am eagerly awaiting January to come to see how a .303 bullet interacts with a human brain again.
Sniper Elite: Resistance Release Date Trailer
Sniper Elite: Resistance shoots out July 22, 2025 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
