Over two decades, the Sniper Elite series has built a reputation as a dependable pillar of the stealth-action genre — offering players intricate environments, satisfying sniping mechanics, and plenty of tactical freedom. Sniper Elite: Resistance, a spinoff rather than a full-blown sequel, continues that legacy with confidence. It doesn’t try to reinvent the formula, but it certainly refines it in meaningful ways.
Story and Setting: A Classic Cat-and-Mouse Chase
The game places players in the boots of Harry Hawker, an SOE operative chasing down a Nazi super-weapon threatening to disrupt the D-Day offensive. Set in war-torn France, the narrative is straightforward and serves its purpose — providing context and motivation without overcomplicating the gameplay loop.
A Protagonist With Mixed Delivery
While the premise is serviceable, Hawker’s exaggerated cockney accent — clearly channeling Jason Statham — often feels jarring against the game’s grounded tone. The mismatch between voice and facial animation only widens the disconnect, slightly detracting from the otherwise immersive storytelling.
Gameplay: Choice and Variety at the Core
Sniper Elite: Resistance thrives where it always has — in letting players decide how they want to tackle a mission. Across nine missions, players are dropped into sprawling maps with multiple objectives and hidden side quests. Whether you prefer stealth, chaos, or a combination of both, the game accommodates your approach.
Loadouts and Tools to Shape Your Strategy
- Choose from a variety of rifles, pistols, and SMGs
- Customize weapons with unlockable attachments
- Utilize tools like traps, grenades, and decoys
The freedom to approach each mission creatively is reinforced by excellent environmental variety. From quaint French villages and medieval fortresses to train yards and underground bunkers, each level offers distinct challenges and visual flavor. Even when objective types start to feel repetitive — usually boiling down to stealing intel, blowing something up, or assassinating a target — the surrounding gameplay opportunities keep things fresh.
Axis Invasion: A Returning Highlight
One of the standout features from Sniper Elite 5, Axis Invasion, makes a return here — and it’s still a brilliant addition. The moment another player invades your session, the tone shifts dramatically. What was once a carefully planned mission turns into a tense one-on-one showdown. It’s a cat-and-mouse scenario that rewards patience, awareness, and creativity — often resulting in the game’s most thrilling moments.
Additional Modes for Replay Value
- Deathmatch and Survival modes for multiplayer variety
- Propaganda Challenges unlocked by discovering hidden posters
While modes like deathmatch and survival are fun diversions, they won’t hold your attention for long. The Propaganda Challenges — which range from stealth assassinations to time-based combat tasks — are solid distractions, but their simplicity means they likely won’t draw players back more than once per challenge.
Patience Pays Off: The Sniper Elite Experience
Resistance encourages — and rewards — patience. Newcomers might be tempted to charge in guns blazing, but veterans know the real satisfaction comes from careful planning. Surveying an area with binoculars, tagging enemy patrols, setting traps, and synchronizing a kill with the sound of a plane overhead — these small victories stack up into something far more rewarding than brute force combat.
Tools of the Trade
- Use mines and lures to control enemy behavior
- Time your shots with environmental distractions
- Blend long-range sniping with close-quarters tactics
When Axis Invasions kick in, this methodical approach becomes even more vital — and satisfying.
Technical Performance: A Few Bumps in the Road
Sniper Elite: Resistance doesn’t have the budget of a blockbuster, and it shows in certain areas. While the environments look solid and the lighting is atmospheric, character models and animations fall short. Faces are flat, expressionless, and particularly jarring in the game’s cinematic cutscenes, which rely on sepia-toned screenshots rather than fully animated sequences.
Performance Issues and AI Glitches
Occasional bugs — like being spotted through walls or enemies getting stuck on stairs — do exist. Most are minor annoyances rather than game-breaking flaws, and quick checkpoint reloads usually solve them. The good news? The iconic X-ray kill cam remains as brutal and satisfying as ever, rewarding perfectly lined-up shots with gruesome slow-mo impact sequences.
Final Verdict: A Familiar but Rewarding Experience
Sniper Elite: Resistance doesn’t shake up the formula. It doesn’t need to. This is a lean, tightly constructed stealth-action game that knows its strengths and leans into them. While the story and character work are underwhelming and there are some technical blemishes, the core gameplay — the sniping, the freedom, the slow-burning tension — remains incredibly satisfying.
With Axis Invasion continuing to be a standout feature and Propaganda Challenges adding modest replayability, there’s plenty to enjoy for fans and newcomers alike. It’s a smart addition to the series — not revolutionary, but absolutely worth playing, especially with its launch on Xbox Game Pass.
- Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Release Date: January 30
- Developer: Rebellion
- Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Rating: 8/10 — A polished and enjoyable installment that stays true to its roots while offering a few meaningful enhancements.
