Sniper Elite: Resistance Review – More of the Same but Tons of Fun

Killing Nazis is as enjoyable as ever in Rebellion's latest stealth tactical shooter.

Posted By | On 28th, Jan. 2025

Sniper Elite: Resistance Review – More of the Same but Tons of Fun

Rarely has the phase “more of the same” been more true of a game than it is for Sniper Elite: Resistance– and I love that about it. I’ve been a Sniper Elite fan for a while now, and 2022’s Sniper Elite 5 in particular was a new high point for the series. It had its jank and its rough edges, sure enough, but in spite of its lower budget, it managed to deliver one of the best and most engaging tactical stealth shooter experiences in years. Sniper Elite: Resistance makes the deliberate decision to not stray too far from its predecessor. Billed as a spinoff, it builds on Sniper Elite 5’s foundation by delivering another meaty chunk of new content across solo and multiplayer offerings, in an experience that feels familiar, but – thanks to the strong gameplay core and Rebellion’s excellent design sensibilities – still continues to impress.

For the first time in Sniper Elite history, in Resistance, you don’t play as series protagonist Karl Fairburne, with British SOE agent Harry Hawker instead stepping into the limelight. Set parallel to the events of Sniper Elite 5, the game sees Harry heading to Occupied France, where his mission is to work with the Resistance to uncover and foil Nazi plans for a new secret superweapon that can turn the tide of the war. story has never been what you come to Sniper Elite for, of course, and Resistance is unsurprisingly underwhelming in this area. None of the characters stand out in anyway, the writing is serviceable at best, and the voice acting isn’t much different.

"Sniper Elite: Resistance makes the deliberate decision to not stray too far from its predecessor. Billed as a spinoff, it builds on Sniper Elite 5’s foundation by delivering another meaty chunk of new content across solo and multiplayer offerings, in an experience that feels familiar, but – thanks to the strong gameplay core and Rebellion’s excellent design sensibilities – still continues to impress."

But that’s really all secondary (if that), because what Sniper Elite is about is putting players in large, open, intricately designed maps and arming them with a vast and varied repertoire of emergent stealth tools. In that area, Sniper Elite: Resistance is predictably excellent. Just like its predecessor, each of its missions sees players heading to a new location, and experiencing the variety and design of these maps is easily one of the game’s biggest strengths from beginning to end. Not only does the game excel at believably bringing its historical setting to life with an impressive level of detail, navigating each of these locations also remains a constant source of enjoyment. Skirting the edges of a town as you use your binoculars to conduct recon from the countryside before moving in like a stealthy marksman- that’s what makes Sniper Elite tick, and Resistance delivers that in spades.

Whether you’re slowly making your way across a heavily defended dam or moving under the cover of darkness through a dense town, making your way through Sniper Elite: Resistance’s maps never gets boring. Something else that contributes to that is the sheer amount of options the game usually tends to afford. Each map comes with its own healthy offerings of optional content, collectibles, and the like, in addition to your main quests, and how you undertake any of those activities is left entirely up to you. More often than not, every situation can be approached in a variety of different ways. Whether you’re trying to infiltrate a building, assassinate a specific target, or distract a foe, there’s always multiple ways to go about any task. That’s always been one of Sniper Elite’s biggest strengths, and Resistance continues to benefit from it.

Exploration is also enjoyable purely on the back off discovery. As you make your way through the immaculately designed maps, you can stumble upon secret paths into main quest areas, hidden locations with special quests and challenges, new intel from a conversation between soldiers that you eavesdrop on, workbenches where you can kit out your weapons with a variety of customization options, and more. You can easily spend 2-3 hours in a single map, if not more, and at least in my experience, it all feels sufficiently rewarding.

sniper elite resistance

"Skirting the edges of a town as you use your binoculars to conduct recon from the countryside before moving in like a stealthy marksman- that’s what makes Sniper Elite tick, and Resistance delivers that in spades."

The core stealth mechanics also shine, which isn’t surprising either, given the series’ track record. From tight enemy AI to robust emergent mechanics, Resistance makes sleuthing around Nazi-occupied maps an entire blast. It does all of it in almost completely familiar ways, admittedly, because next to nothing that the game does from a gameplay perspective is going to be new to anyone who played Sniper Elite 5. But as I mentioned at the outset of this review, Sniper Elite 5 was a great stealth game in its own right, so I have absolute no issues with Resistance doing more of the same.

Of course, that does mean that the game is bogged down by the same issues as Sniper Elite 5 as well. For instance, movement can often feel sluggish and imprecise – especially when you’re trying to take cover or do environmental interactions like climbing or vaulting – while I have also run into a couple of minor animations bugs and glitches here and there. Admittedly, the shooting mechanics have seen improvements, with all the guns in the game now feeling much tighter to shoot. Of course, you’ll be using your sniper rifles more than any of your other weapons, and sniping continues to feel typically spectacular. Locking a target in your crosshairs from across a massive distance, judging the distance, holding your breath, firing a shot, and then watching the series’ trademark ultra-gory x-ray kills in glorious, cinematic slow-motion- no matter how many times I do that in a Sniper Elite game, I don’t think I’m ever going to get bored of it.

Outside of a single-player campaign that’s somewhat shorter than Sniper Elite 5 at roughly 10-15 hours in length (depending on your play style), Resistance has plenty more on offer as well. Again, the “more of the same” descriptor fits the game like a shoe in this area. Sniper Elite 5’s Invasion mode, its ability to play the campaign co-op, and its PvP multiplayer component all return with new content offerings in Resistance. Personally, I’ve always felt the series’ campaigns to be their highlight, but Sniper Elite’s multiplayer can be a special brand of fun with its tactical sniper battles across intricately designed maps, so the opportunity to do more of that is appreciated, to say the least. In addition, the game also introduces new Propaganda missions, which are bite-sized challenge missions that are by no means unmissable, but do add their own little doses of tactical fun, courtesy of a varying roster of objectives related to stealth, sniping, and more.

sniper elite resistance

"Sniper Elite: Resistance doesn’t claim to make the sort of significant leaps forward that you would expect from a mainline numbered entry, but in building on the excellent bones of Sniper Elite 5, it nonetheless manages to craft an experience that fans of the stealth genre shouldn’t miss."

Sniper Elite: Resistance doesn’t pull up any trees with anything that it does, but that has never been what this series has been about. Rebellion’s World War 2 franchise has always been perfectly happy to leave the flash and pomp to others, instead delivering spectacular level design, emergent systems, compelling stealth, and tactical shooting time and time again. That’s exactly what its newest outing does. As a spinoff, Sniper Elite: Resistance obviously doesn’t claim to make the sort of significant leaps forward that you would expect from a mainline numbered entry, but in building on the excellent bones of Sniper Elite 5, it nonetheless manages to craft an experience that fans of the stealth genre shouldn’t miss.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.


THE GOOD

Excellent level design makes every make a joy to explore; Abundance of optional content; Affords a range of options in approaching objectives however you see fit; Tightly implemented, complex stealth mechanics; Shooting mechanics have seen some improvements; Offers a healthy amount of content across all of its solo and multiplayer modes.

THE BAD

Story, writing, and voice acting are passable at best; Movement can be occasionally stiff; Some minor technical issues here and there.

Final Verdict:
GREAT
Sniper Elite: Resistance delivers more of the excellent tactical stealth shooting action that Sniper Elite 5 boasted three years ago. It might be a familiar experience, but for genre fans, it's still an easy recommendation.
A copy of this game was provided by Developer/Publisher/Distributor/PR Agency for review purposes. Click here to know more about our Reviews Policy.

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