Sniper Elite 5 has a simple premise: a man with a gun has to kill a bunch of Nazis. To bring about this inevitable fate, players are given a variety of tools, key among them being the titular sniper rifle. While the game's formula is simple and straightforward, that's to its benefit. Standing beside increasingly complex shooters that are constantly introducing new ways to shoot a gun, Sniper Elite 5 sticks to what fans know and love.
The story of Sniper Elite 5 provides context between missions and nothing else. Whether players care about the details of the story is their choice. The big picture is tough to track unless the player is a World War 2 buff, but the protagonist's story is pretty easy to understand, and that's all someone needs to get through the game.
Rebellion does this in each Sniper Elite game for a specific reason: the players are coming for gameplay, not story. This tight focus serves the series well. With the story all but pushed aside, the gameplay shines through. Sniping is fun in this game. In our playthrough, we opted for a quick-scoping build centered on fast snipes during combat, which made for adrenaline-pumping moments and satisfying back-to-back takedowns. While this is likely only something that can be pulled off on easier difficulties, it was nonetheless enjoyable the entire time. The best part is that this was only one of several builds that can be pursued. The game rewards all types of playstyles with various achievements.
There are many other methods to kill Nazis, including throwable and placeable bombs, melee executions, SMGs and pistols, and even a rocket launcher. But these work better in tough situations where sniping is, somehow, not feasible. Ultimately, players will rely on their trustworthy sniper for the vast majority of the game. They will rarely find a situation that can't be solved with a well-placed shot and Sniper Elite's iconic kill cams make landing the perfect shot feel rewarding every time.
The learning curve is balanced and thoughtfully crafted; basic sniping mechanics are easy to pick up on lower difficulties. The nuances give players seeking a greater challenge a clear progression path to higher difficulties and later missions. Whatever approach players gravitate towards is fine as long as it results in dead Nazis. PVP fans will enjoy new multiplayer features. There's something for everyone to love in Sniper Elite 5.
That's further reflected in the accessibility options. In addition to various tweaks to difficulty, controls, and kill cams, the game provides plenty of options accounting for colorblindness, partial or complete deafness, and motion sickness. This level of customization allows anyone who wants a quick sniping romp a chance to enjoy what Sniper Elite 5 has to offer.
High quality defines the mission segments. Visuals are gorgeous and detailed thanks to the developer's use of photogrammetry, and the level design mixes aesthetics with gameplay well. There were some locations that were so gorgeously rendered that we stopped for a few minutes to appreciate their beauty. The game runs smoothly on next-gen hardware, and there were no game-breaking bugs. The only thing that hurts the gameplay is low mobility. Players cannot drive the various vehicles on the map, so they have to walk everywhere. Most maps are large, so this feels like a chore.
There are plenty of minor annoyances that pull away from the otherwise stellar gameplay, however. Level layout can get a bit wonky, and it's easy for players to walk in circles and get lost. As players get further into the game, verticality increases tenfold. Unfortunately, that means even more ways to get lost. Any ability outside of Empty Lung—the game's fancy term for slow motion aiming—is largely useless. Focus, a see-through-walls ability, is especially pointless due to the low range even when upgraded.
Clutter around the map will be responsible for a lot of reasonable shots getting blocked. This is likely by design, but it can get frustrating when players constantly have to move around to get a clear shot at enemies. Slopes are especially punishing unless players are aiming down them instead of up. Cover also gets in the way a lot, even when it seems like it shouldn't. There are many walls that theoretically could be shot over, but whether the game allows that is seemingly random. Scope aiming can get unwieldy at closer ranges until players master using the uptick permanently fastened to the center of the screen to pre-aim before actually aiming.
Enemy AI is a bit silly on lower difficulties, and players can exploit it easily. If enemies hear a gunshot, they will usually go investigate it. However, because they are often quite far away from where the gun was fired and they have to navigate the complex layout, players can run away until the enemies lose interest and then run back. Enemies are supposed to start investigating further if they find a body, but they rarely do. They also poke their heads out mid-combat, so headshots are easy to pull off even when close range. However, they are still strong enough to provide a decent challenge even on lower difficulties.
One odd design choice stuck out among various minor quibbles. When marking enemies with binoculars, players receive a ton of information about them. Some information is related to gameplay: how far they are from the player, whether others will hear a shot if that enemy is killed, and what weapons the enemy carries. However, players also learn not only the enemy's name but also a brief fact about them. This fact can range from them liking to sing to them losing family to the war.
In any other game, this would be great; these facts present a moral grayness to enemies and humanize them, making the player question whether their actions are justified. And it's likely this feature was added in to appease players who look for that moral grayness in the games they play. But in a game set in Nazi Germany, this approach falls flat. Nazis were infamous for their horrendous dehumanization of innocent people in their propaganda.
Given that this feature is present in previous versions of Sniper Elite, it's odd that nobody at Rebellion has questioned whether it needs to be included during the series' lifetime. It doesn't affect gameplay, but it does alter the player's perception of their enemies, even if marginally. "Kill Nazis because they're bad" is an uncomplicated premise, so it's weird that Rebellion complicates it in this small way.
Despite the minor issues and that odd design choice, Sniper Elite 5 is a fun game for newcomers to the series and longtime fans. It caters to a wide variety of gamers, providing both easy and difficult challenges that anyone can set up and then overcome in their own way. Overall, it's a high-quality game that further improves the stellar legacy of the entire series.
Sniper Elite 5 is available on May 26, 2022, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. GameRant received a PS5 code for this review.
Sniper Elite 5