Sniper Elite: A Deep Dive into Resistance Mechanics and Gameplay

Not every title needs to emulate IO Interactive’s Hitman, but some could benefit from incorporating more of that game’s impressive elements. This is a realization that Get up seemed to grasp back during the development of Sniper Elite 3 in 2014, when the series transitioned from linear stages in tightly packed, war-ravaged streets to a significantly more expansive exploration of duty—allowing players greater freedom in how they approach objectives and complete missions. The series has even flirted with creating some outrageous, Agent 47-like scenarios where players can eliminate Nazis. Sniper Elite: Resistance brings back this tried-and-true formula for the fourth time in 11 years, and even though it remains enjoyable, I can’t help but sense a strong feeling of déjà vu as I navigate this campaign through the French countryside.

Sniper Elite is a third-person shooter set during World War II, and like other entries in the franchise, it can be played in first-person while aiming. The series has established a reputation for its intricate ballistic physics model that takes into account factors like wind, bullet drop, and positioning, along with its signature feature: the X-ray killcam. This feature showcases, in slow motion, the gruesome effects of each bullet as it tears through Nazis in vivid detail, both internally and externally. As seen in previous Sniper Elite games, a well-placed shot can perform gruesome acts, such as shooting out their eyes, rupturing their hearts, or even obliterating their genitals, among other spectacular displays of marksmanship.

Like its forerunners, the game is an entertaining and realistic shooter when it comes to sniping mechanics, although I have grown fatigued with the killcam feature. At this point, I often skip it, or at least adjust my settings to minimize the number of times I see those highlight reels of long-range executions. I’ve got the gist by now; while it’s impressive technology, it becomes excessive over the course of a mission, which usually takes me around two hours to complete as I prefer stealthily finishing my objectives rather than watching highlight reels of my long-range shots.

Sniper Elite: Resistance shifts the spotlight from the main series protagonist, Karl Fairburne, to a character previously referred to as Player 2 in the co-op campaign, Harry Hawker. As a British soldier, Hawker’s missions involve performing similar feats for which Fairburne has long been decorated: infiltrating heavily fortified Nazi positions, sabotaging submarines, trucks, or missile sites, and dismantling the mental faculties of every fascist he encounters along the way.

In an era when fascism is experiencing a resurgence in certain parts of the world, it can feel cathartic to simulate such vivid Nazi annihilation. Yet, Sniper Elite has never taken the effort to flesh out its villains beyond the archetype of the “bad guys,” similar to how some titles portray zombies or aliens. They come across as cartoonish, and in a way, that’s acceptable—if somewhat unexciting—since the storyline has never been a significant aspect of these games anyway.

Each mission begins with a primary objective, but you’ll encounter optional targets as you explore, a high-value target who can often be creatively eliminated—such as planting a rat-shaped bomb in the kitchen for him to shoot and trigger—and other useful secrets and techniques, like weapon workbenches and alternative starting points for revisited missions. No Sniper Elite protagonist is particularly durable, so while you could rush through each expansive area and complete your objectives in under 20 minutes if you truly wanted to, I doubt it would be either enjoyable or straightforward—initially, the heroes tend to die quickly. Instead, a careful, stealthy approach is clearly what the game hopes you will choose, although it attempts to provide you with the tools to engage in loud combat if you wish to do so as well.

This is a challenge that Resistance faces, and it remains a familiar battle. Outside of sniping, the gunplay is not particularly impressive. Aiming around corners can be frustrating, with Hawker occasionally failing to stick to walls as he should. Aiming in first-person with weapons such as SMGs and pistols also feels sluggish and cumbersome, while the reticle in third-person is often unforgiving, rarely narrowing in a way that assures accuracy. Even navigating over low objects, like railings or fences, proves to be unpredictably inconsistent; some walls I can effortlessly climb, while others that appear to be of similar height do not allow me to jump.over them. These aspects in the damage result in me feeling skeptical about the industry at events. If chaos ensues, I might find comfort in a nearby concealment item, yet in Resistance, similar to many of these games, that’s not always the reality.

In part, Get up has positioned itself in a difficult situation. Clearly, the team is smaller and facing fewer resources compared to numerous titles in the shooter genre, yet each game appears to be quite polished and performs well enough that it would be easy to view the squad as competing within the AAA realm even though it really is not. Historically, I have excused some of the quirks and lack of refinement for this reason. Get up is a team already exceeding expectations to some extent, but releasing so many sequels that genuinely feel so similar to one another at this stage begins to resemble an issue we observe in the sports gaming sphere. A lack of innovation from one title to the next stands out prominently.

This is most strikingly highlighted in Resistance’s skill tree, which resembles that of Sniper Elite 5 (SE5). It’s not just annoying to revisit the same abilities as before for players to unlock; it is further hampered by the fact that this skill tree was not particularly compelling from the outset. Many of its abilities I find useless, such as increasing my health regeneration while sprinting, and the tree also lacks certain skills I clearly desire, like enabling a faster crouch-walking speed. Anyone who has engaged with a few of these games and has a basic understanding of in-game progression systems would likely come up with ideas that could have enriched Resistance’s skill tree. Perhaps they even attempted to improve upon SE5’s skill tree, which might have been disappointing, yet what’s even worse is to recycle one that was already in existence.

Similar design choices appear elsewhere as well, such as Missions 1 and 4 of the campaign taking place on the same map, although Mission 4 at least offers you more areas to explore within that map. Further into the campaign, one mission reuses much of the same assets and fundamental environments as an earlier mission in SE5 to the extent that I had to double-check whether it was set in the same exact location. (It’s not.) It is acknowledged that the story unfolds in France as Hawker’s narrative coincides with Fairburne’s journey in SE5 elsewhere in the country, yet with decisions like these on display, it starts to feel as though Resistance, down to its naming convention that refrains from using numbers, is more of an extensive standalone expansion linked to SE5 rather than an authentic sequel.

To the team’s credit, and partly what contributes to its representation as a more resource-rich studio, there is much to do outside the single-player campaign. Like many of these games, Resistance’s campaign can be fully experienced in two-player co-op, including adversarial lobbies. Not everything shines in co-op, yet many titles do, and this is one of them, provided you find a teammate with a similar playstyle. The game also features an Invasion mode reminiscent of Deathloop or Dark Souls, where you can invade another player’s ongoing campaign and hunt them down as an opponent.

This is the game’s most exciting mode, as the stakes of each choice made by either participant become significantly heightened. Making noise, drawing attention from enemies, or missing shots will evoke a painful grimace as you attempt to outwit or outlast your adversary. Frankly, this series hasn’t received enough recognition for how cool this mode is. The expansive maps, with their numerous viable routes and strategies to employ, truly make this feel like the game’s hidden gem. Even when the campaign occasionally feels overly familiar, Invasion mode breathes new life into it with greater excitement. As always, if the idea of being invaded irks you, you can simply deactivate this option or leave it available solely to friends.

Sniper Elite also includes team-based PvP modes and wave-based PvE modes. I may have only recently begun playing these in SE5 last month, so although I’m not a long-standing player, I’ve come to discover, alongside Resistance, that there’s generally a little more magic here as well. The simplest of modes is No Cr