The Sniper Elite series has evolved over the years, at first it was just about the shooting, but the more recent games have you acting more like Sam Fisher, just in World War 2. Sniper Elite: Resistance is a unique game in a few ways, first you don’t play as Karl Fairburne and it is the first time the series has been given a subtitle. The game is also taking place at the same time as Sniper Elite 5, so with all that going on, can you scope out some fun?

Much like the other games in the series, there is a story here, but as I said before, this time you are someone else. In fact, you are Harry Hawker, who series fans will know as someone who has supported Fairburne through the other games, he now gets a chance to step into the spotlight, metaphorically of course. Hawker has been tasked by the SOE to make contact with the French Resistance, and assist them with their plans and the first mission, is to extract a Nazi turncoat. While that mission does not go as planned, it does lead to a larger plot involving chemical weapons, but for the sake of spoilers I won’t say anything beyond that.

The games biggest strength in its story is that there is not one singular tale to be told, across the missions you will discover side quests to undertake, which expand the narrative. These missions will often come with a little backstory on what is going on and why dealing with it will help out the Resistance and the Allies. In addition you can also meet new characters, discover letters and documents, all of which help flesh out the story, so the more you explore a location, the richer a narrative tale you will discover. Even if you don’t find everything, I didn’t, the main story is solid, it is not as strong as some WW2 movies or tv shows, but its plot gives you a reason to venture into the many locations. Perhaps the weirdest part of the story is Hawker himself, in the few cutscenes he is in, he comes off as a try hard, but in game he is witty and fun, so its an odd juxtaposition. Even with that, it is a solid narrative and depending on your dedication to completion, you should get a lot out of it.

Without fail though, the star of the series is the gameplay and if you have played Sniper Elite 5, then you are already familiar with what is on offer. Outside of the new Propaganda missions, everything else in this game exists in Sniper Elite 5, you could just think of this as a standalone expansion because of that. If the gameplay of Sniper Elite 5 was not for you, there is nothing here that is going to change your mind, though Hawker might. The missions always start out simple, get into a location, find or destroy something and then get out of there. The challenge comes in from which direction you approach your objective from and how you deal with the enemies in your way. The first mission in this game was simple, take out some AA guns, so that the air force could drop some bombs and blow up a dam. Where things became a challenge for me is I was so used to just running and gunning, that I kept getting spotted and then had to evade the enemy. I will admit that I died quite a lot in this mission, but eventually I did get into the groove and found myself getting to the end and then moved onto to the next. When one of the missions had me return to the dam, I was prepared for it and dominated, after a few tense moments, but it came down to just how much I had memorized that map in the first place. Without a doubt though, my favourite mission took place on a stormy night, because the sound masking feature meant that when there was a crack of thunder, I was free to take a shot without alerting those around me.

Due to the early access nature of the review period, I was not able to try out the Invasion, co-op or multiplayer modes, but I imagine they will be just like the last game. I did however try out some of the Propaganda Missions, which are only unlocked once you find the posters of the resistance in each location. These missions vary, so each one will have a different challenge, but the thing they all have in common is a timer. The challenge can be taking out a certain number of enemies or remain undetected. You can replay them as often as you like, so if you get stuck in the campaign, or just want to see how you might have improved, you can jump in here and try for a better score. Completing the mission will unlock special rewards, which you can then take back into the campaign or other modes.

The gun upgrade system is just as robust here as it was in 5, each time you start a new mission, outside of the first, you can select your weapon and gadget loadout. You can opt to just stick with the basics that the game suggests, but you can also tweak just every part of it, well mostly. You can add a different stock, change the grip, scope type and even the bullets you take with you. In each map there are a number of workbenches where you can tweak things, so if you have taken in armour piercing rounds but instead find yourself needing subsonic rounds, that is where you can change them. If you want to get into the numbers, you can expand out the guns details and that will show you that if you swap out the barrel of a gun, you might get a slightly faster fire rate, but the recoil would increase. Honestly, I never worried about those details too much, .26ms increase to a reload time is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but if you want to dive deep you can.

All that effort for the gun management does come together when you engage in combat. Before we get to the sniping, I am happy to report that the pistols and machine guns behave very well, meaning that if you get into a firefight you won’t be left out. After a few missions, I found a pistol upgrade bench and was able to unlock a scope for my pistol, which let me take out enemies much closer to me, with a less powerful gun. Of course, for those enemies that were far away from me, the trusty sniper rifle was used and that did lead to some fun moments. The sound masking system I mentioned earlier saved me a few times, but there were also just as many times where I didn’t even bother with it and just took a shot where I could. The games accessibility settings means that if you don’t want to deal with wind and bullet drop you don’t have to, but it is a fun test of skill to take those into consideration.

The gameplay is solid, but as I said most of everything is carrying across from the last game, which is why I was saddened to see just how many graphical issues there were in this game. Please don’t misunderstand, the game looks good, the fifth mission was a real highlight with its destroyed town, but there are so many issues that mar the experience. These issues are thankfully not impactful to the gameplay, but they are annoying. They are flickering textures, shadows that load in and out and a LOD that feels way to small for the size of the maps. Harry himself also looks weird, there are times when we see his face, usually in the kill cam moments, where it just feels like he is from the Xbox 360 generation not the current one. Speaking of the kill cam, it still looks as gory as ever, and while I turned down the frequency, it was always so satisfying when it would trigger on a shot that was hundreds of meters away.

The locations are stunning, as I said before the destroyed town really sells the WW2 setting, but there is more than just that. The opening mission is set at a dam, one side of it is more farm and the other is more forest, with the giant space between and it works. Each of the maps has a core part to it, usually a giant building that things are based around and learning what is around is important to your success. I spent almost 3 hours in one mission as I was really trying to be stealthy and learn all I could and I had a blast doing so. It didn’t hurt that the mission had me army crawling across a train bridge while picking off snipers who were getting in my way.

On the audio side of things, there isn’t a lot to report about. The voice work is good, but nothing truly special, Hawker is given a big boost in that he doesn’t sound like GI Jock that Fairburne is. The voices for the rest of the characters are good, but nothing truly special stands out, the Resistance sounds fine, but your contact with them is somewhat limited, so no one, outside of Carillon really stands out. The music is good, it does not quite reach the same highs as something like Medal of Honor, but when you get spotted, it ramps up to drive the tension home.

Sniper Elite: Resistance is a good game, if you take things slow, you will find a nice tactical shooter that lets you approach things how you like. If you try to run and gun however, you are going to be swarmed by enemies and left fighting to survive, and while that has its appeals, it does go against the ethos of the series. The maps are large and offer a lot of chances for exploration and if you are going to try and avoid killing, you will need to discover all the little nooks and crannies each map has. The biggest problem the game has is that it feels like more of an expansion for Sniper Elite 5, which is not a bad thing per say, but it just gives everything a too familiar tone. If you have never been a fan of the series, there is nothing here that will change your mind, but if you are a fan then you are in for a good time.