Over the course of 20 years, Sniper Elite has gradually become one of the leading series in the stealth-action genre, priding itself on offering players a great deal of freedom when it comes to approaching objectives and eliminating targets. Sniper Elite: Resistance is yet another entry that cements that core identity.
Technically a spinoff and not a fully-fledged mainline sequel, Sniper Elite: Resistance sees players assume the role of Harry Hawker, a Special Operations Executive agent tasked with hunting down a secret Nazi super-weapon that could jeopardize the imminent D-Day operation, a journey that takes Hawker across WW2-era France. In a nutshell, Sniper Elite: Resistance is everything fans would expect it to be; no more, but certainly no less.
Sniper Elite: Resistance Dev Talks Level Design, New and Returning Content, and More
The Best War Games speaks with Sniper Elite: Resistance lead level designer Beck Shaw about its mission design, its role in the overall franchise, and more.
Variation and Player Choice Remain Core Parts of Sniper Elite's Identity
As is the case with any previous entry in the long-running stealth series, Sniper Elite: Resistance's campaign is the real meat and potatoes of what's on offer. There are a total of nine missions in Sniper Elite: Resistance, which should take most players around 10 hours to beat, though that's highly dependent on their playstyle.
Something that's become increasingly evident over the years is just how much of a strength variety and player choice is in the Sniper Elite series, and those elements are present in full force in Sniper Elite: Resistance. Before players even begin a mission, they'll be prompted to customize their loadout. Players can choose from a wide range of sniper rifles, SMGs, and pistols, all of which have a plethora of unlockable attachments that all have tangible effects on weapon performance. Players can also unlock a bevy of tools, such as mines and decoys.
With their loadout selected, players drop into a fairly large open-ended map, and they're given at least three objectives off the bat, with a handful of secret side quests to be found via exploration. Just like the last few Sniper Elite entries, it's up to the player to complete these objectives however they see fit, approaching from a range of different entry points and using their customized arsenal to either sneak past enemies, go in guns blazing, or any mixture of the two.
This abundance of player freedom goes hand in hand with Sniper Elite: Resistance's wide mission variety. Most of Resistance's nine missions take players to very different locations, and most contain several large, explorable points of interest. For instance, one of Sniper Elite: Resistance's missions has players sneaking through the outskirts of an old French village, then a medieval castle-turned-Nazi-base, and then finally a secret underground weapons facility. Another mission has players exploring a multi-level hotel, its surrounding residential and shopping districts, and a nearby trainyard.
The variety packed into each of these missions helps to make each one feel distinct, and that's reinforced by some impressive environmental design. Sniper Elite: Resistance's locations strike a careful balance of feeling unique but grounded, with each stage having a realistic layout and authentic architecture and environmental detailing.
The dam from the first mission is reused later in the campaign, but it features a fairly different layout and includes an entire section of the map that was previously blocked off.
Objectives are less diverse, however. Most objectives in Sniper Elite: Resistance boil down to infiltrating a location, stealing some documents or destroying something, and fleeing the scene. And objectives that don't follow this pattern usually come down to just killing a high-value target. Thankfully, the variation in settings, gameplay opportunities, and narrative context surrounding these objectives helps to keep them engaging throughout the campaign's duration.
Likewise, Sniper Elite: Resistance's story is a tad one-note. As mentioned, Resistance's story sees players hunting down a Nazi super-weapon that results in a wild goose chase across France. Whilst it's an incredibly simple premise that doesn't really get expanded upon, for the purposes of character motivation, it's serviceable and functions sufficiently as a backdrop for Resistance's action.
Unlike its innocuous story, I found Sniper Elite: Resistance's protagonist to be a touch more obnoxious. For the entire duration of Resistance's story, Harry Hawker is putting on his best Jason Statham impression, and the harsh, overly gruff cockney accent often felt a bit out of place in the otherwise quite grounded setting and narrative. There's also a disconnect between the exaggerated accent and the character's facial model, which could just be a symptom of an issue I'll address a bit later.
Sniper Elite: Resistance is Yet Another Complete Sniper Elite Experience
But Sniper Elite: Resistance's 10-hour campaign is just one part of a very complete Sniper Elite experience. Introduced in Sniper Elite 5, Axis Invasion makes a triumphant return in Resistance, and it can quickly become the star of the show. For those unaware, Axis Invasion sees one real-life player invade another while in the middle of a mission.
From the instant the on-screen notification pops up and warns the player they've been invaded, an intense game of cat and mouse begins. If both players are relatively skilled, this can lead to some of the most memorable sequences of gameplay in Sniper Elite, with players having to suddenly use their toolset not just to complete their objectives, but to defeat a slowly approaching opponent as well, a process that almost always feels tense and satisfying regardless of the outcome.
Sniper Elite: Resistance is also home to a handful of other multiplayer modes, including deathmatch and survival, which likely won't be where most players spend their time, but they are nice inclusions nonetheless. Sniper Elite: Resistance also introduces a new Propaganda Challenge mode, unlocked by finding the corresponding posters hidden in each level.
These Propaganda Challenges include Stealth, Combat, and Sniping missions, most of which essentially ask players to defeat a certain number of enemies within a time limit, with each kill extending the time a la Resident Evil's Mercenaries mode. These challenges are a neat temporary distraction, but they don't feel substantial or varied enough to warrant any more than one playthrough each.
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In Sniper Elite: Resistance, Patience Is Key
While putting player choice first means that Sniper Elite: Resistance allows players to run and gun if they want to, long-time Sniper Elite fans know this isn't how you get the most out of the experience. And it's a learning curve that's important to address for any newcomers looking to jump into the series for the first time.
The best way to enjoy Sniper Elite: Resistance is for players to take their time. It might take a while for new players to adapt to the slower pace, but gradually, they'll start to feel the satisfaction that emerges from completing each phase of Sniper Elite: Resistance's gameplay loop; from scoping out an area with binoculars and tagging enemy patrols, to planning out the most efficient way to approach an objective, and slowly executing that plan step-by-step.
That sense of satisfaction grows stronger when players start to explore their diverse toolset, using lures to distract grouped enemies, using mines to catch investigating foes off-guard, and timing loud sniper shots with the sound mask of planes flying overhead, or even better, creating their own sound mask by sabotaging a vehicle or generator. And all of that preparation and strategic execution feels even more rewarding when a real player is thrown in the mix during an Axis Invasion.
For those willing to take their time, and those already accustomed to the series' routine, Sniper Elite: Resistance's gameplay loop will remain satisfying throughout its runtime.
A Technical Performance That Fans Have Come to Expect From Sniper Elite
Sniper Elite: Resistance is not a huge-budget AAA game, and that's certainly noticeable in some technical departments. While environments always look thoroughly detailed and the game's lighting does some heavy lifting when it comes to creating atmosphere, Resistance's character models don't quite match that level of quality. In particular, many faces in Sniper Elite: Resistance look surprisingly flat and lack the detail players have come to expect from the wider industry.
This issue is especially noticeable during Resistance's lackluster cinematics, which are just a series of sepia-toned screenshots presented as in-universe photographs. These screenshots show just how flat and inexpressive the game's facial models can be, with their stillness inviting players to scrutinize the details more so than they would during gameplay.
Sniper Elite: Resistance also has its fair share of awkward or unrefined animations. Sliding down a zipline is incredibly fast, which is useful in terms of gameplay, but feels a little jarring against the otherwise grounded moment-to-moment action. Stealth takedowns can also frequently lead to jarring breaks in immersion, with enemy character models jerking awkwardly to line up with a specific animation that doesn't match the player's current position.
But these issues are little more than nitpicks, and are quirks Sniper Elite fans have learned to overlook. None of these technical hiccups are likely to break immersion for too long or significantly impact the player's overall enjoyment. Sniper Elite: Resistance's enemy AI, on the other hand, might have a greater effect.
During my playthrough of Sniper Elite: Resistance, there were several instances of enemies seemingly detecting me through a wall. A key example of this came during the first mission, in which I was hanging from one of the flak turret platforms and was suddenly spotted by an enemy on the dam far in front of me, despite there being a giant steel cylinder between us.
Enemy AI would also frequently get stuck on parts of the scenery such as door frames, street curbs, and the top of stairs, and very occasionally, this clipping through the environment allowed them to see and shoot me through walls. These issues didn't impact the flow of gameplay too much (a simple revert to the last checkpoint always fixed things), and it's likely developer Rebellion will have fixed them by the time the game releases, but it's important to mention them just in case.
All that being said, Sniper Elite: Resistance's X-Ray bullet-cam is just as delightfully gross as fans expect it to be, still being a great incentive for players to line up shots properly.
Sniper Elite: Resistance will be a day-one Xbox Game Pass release, and it's a must-play for those who are already subscribed, and a strong reason to pick up a month-long subscription.
Sniper Elite: Resistance doesn't break new ground for the Sniper Elite franchise, nor does it break new ground for the stealth-action genre. But those weren't its intentions. What Sniper Elite: Resistance did intend to do was provide another fun, complete Sniper Elite experience that stays true to the aspects of the series fans have come to love, and it achieves exactly that.
- Released
- January 30, 2025
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language
- Developer(s)
- Rebellion Developments
- Publisher(s)
- Rebellion Entertainment
- Engine
- Asura
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Mission location variety
- Diverse arsenal of weapons and gadgets
- Sneaking and sniping are as satisfying as ever
- Axis invasion adds thrilling layer
- Occasional enemy AI issues
- Sub-par facial animations and textures
Sniper Elite: Resistance will release on January 30 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Best War Games was provided a PlayStation 5 code for this review.