Sniper Elite 5 is already proving to be the series' best and most successful entry in the franchise after reaching the number one spot in the UK sales charts at the end of May 2022. The stealth shooter has been around for 17 years and continued to evolve with every entry.
It wasn't until the fourth game in the series that embraced the open-world mission design. Sniper Elite 5 goes several steps further by giving players more freedom and bigger maps to play around in. Is this sniping sandbox worth jumping into? Let's take look at the best and worst things about the game.
8 Loved: The Sniper Mechanics
Sniper Elite 4 already established itself as the best sniper game available on modern consoles. Sniper Elite 5 offers the player more opportunities and even more ways to take down enemies by having more open sandboxes than ever before.
Of course, Sniper Elite 5's major selling point is the Mortal Kombat-like X-Ray kill-cam. These kill cams are not only entertaining but incredibly graphic as it shows the bullets piercing an enemy's head, lung, heart, and more. There's a sense of nail-biting tension involved for those brief moments after the bullet leaves the chamber of the rifle in hopes of hitting the target and not revealing one's location.
7 Loved: The Sandbox Nature
Before Sniper Elite 4, the series missions were linear compared to the open-world landscapes that the fourth entry introduced. They are a long way from corridor shooters like the Call of Duty as they still offered the player multiple ways to take down targets in a fight.
However, it was Sniper Elite 4 that offered players a better sandbox experience by offering multiple ways to complete missions. Sniper Elite 5 expands on these mechanics even further with varied landscapes, beaches, and built-up towns and villages. The multiple approaches are reminiscent of the Hitman trilogy in the way those games offer no "right way" to complete a mission objective.
6 Loved: The Stealth Mechanics
In the absence of a follow-up to Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid, Sniper Elite 5 fills that void nicely. The gravelly-voiced protagonist Karl Fairburne AKA "The Shadow" more than has an air of Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher about him. This is also reflected in his abilities in the game too.
Fairburne has lots of options at his disposal when it comes to taking down enemies. One can take the non-lethal approach to missions using wooden bullets or Schu mines which are explosives that knock enemies out instead of killing them. Fairburne is good at taking his enemies down in close quarters by using both lethal and non-lethal methods.
5 Loved: Free Flowing Gameplay
Before Sniper Elite 4, the series was quite hardcore in its approach to stealth. While one could fight back if they alerted the guards or made a mistake along the way it was much easier to reload the last save and try the mission objectives again without getting caught.
The open world of Sniper Elite 4 changed the way players approached missions but it was still easier to start again instead of running away to hide. Sniper Elite 5 improves on this by making it just as fun to fight one's way out of a situation as it does to use the silent approach. The gameplay flows naturally from stealth to action and it's just as satisfying being forced to think on the fly and find new paths and approaches to missions.
4 Loved: The Moral Dilemmas
It's very easy to play Sniper Elite 5 like a full-blown Nazi killing machine. However, the game does an amazing job of tapping into the player's conscience by showing that many of the soldiers encountered on the battlefield are just men that have been forced to fight. Highlighting an enemy through the scope or the binoculars will give players some insight into their character and activities.
Whether it's coming across an enemy soldier that's missing their children or a watchman that's been feeding a stray dog, these descriptions have been designed to show the human side of these soldiers. For some players, it can make killing these fighters feel like a moral dilemma and even encourage a close-quarters non-lethal encounter.
3 Loved: The PS5's Haptic Feedback
Sniper Elite 5 is already an immersive experience on any system it's played, but the PS5 offers the bonus of PS5's Dual Sense controller and its haptic feedback. The haptic vibrations feel great when switching and aiming rifles.
The trigger button's resistance as one is about to take their shot is a significantly more immersive experience than simply feeling a regular controller's vibration or click. It's subtle by design but far more engaging for the player.
2 Loved: The Presentation
The Sniper Elite series has often been considered a AA game. The games always looked more than adequate but compared to some of the big-budget open-world games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Ghost of Tsushima.
When it comes to the top-of-the-line visuals Sniper Elite 5 still falls short of excellence but this is still the best series has ever looked. The labyrinthine towns look better than ever, the water effects are significantly improved, and the facial capture looks great. Where it does match up to any of the AAA games is its sound design. Especially, with a good soundbar or headphones to enhance the experience even further.
1 Didn't Love: The Cover System
Mechanically, Sniper Elite 5 is the best stealth game on modern systems next to the Hitman series. It does, however, suffer from a clumsy cover system that doesn't always react the way one wants it to and can often leave Karl exposed in a combat situation.
Sniper Elite 5 doesn't have the same satisfying snap to cover in the same way that Splinter Cell: Blacklist does. Once in cover, it can also be tricky trying to get out of it if Karl is pinned down and flanked by enemy soldiers. It's not a game-breaking issue and with some practice, one can master the game's mechanics over time.
Sniper Elite 5 is available now for the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.