Fans of both World War II-era shooters and stealth sandboxes have reason to celebrate come January 2025 thanks to the impending release ofSniper Elite: Resistance. It is both a full game in Rebellion’sSniper Eliteseries and a companion piece toSniper Elite 5.Sniper Elite: Resistancefeatures a full single-player campaign that runs concurrent to Karl Fairburne’s journey and the return of fan-favorite multiplayer modes such as Axis Invasion.
Game Rant recently spoke with Rebellion’s lead level designer Beck Shaw following a hands-on preview of thethird mission ofSniper Elite: Resistance’s campaign. Shaw discussed designing the semi-open designs ofResistance, letting players tackle a level however they wish, and its connections toSniper Elite 5and the overall franchise.The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Setting Sniper Elite: Resistance Apart From Its Predecessor
Q: What would you say are the definitive features that separateSniper Elite: ResistancefromSniper Elite 5?
Shaw:Sniper Elite: Resistanceis more of the same asSniper Elite 5. Obviously, we like to continue to evolve in theSniper Eliteseries with each iteration, but that does take time. We felt there’s a little bit more for us to explore withSniper Elite: Resistanceover what we did inSniper Elite 5, so more locations set in France and a new character with Harry Hawker being the main protagonist.
We also added a few new little features here and there: a new grenade type, for example. There’s also the Propaganda Challenges, which is a whole new little game mode, which you can unlock and play through the campaign.
Q: Would you say thatSniper Elite: Resistanceis a great starting point for anyone interested in the franchise?
Shaw:I think so, yeah. I thinkSniper Elite 5andResistanceare a little bit more accessible over4, probably. The main reason for that is probably the weapon customization. you may really customize all the guns. You can have them loud, you can have them quiet, you can have them with big magazines so you’ve got loads of bullets.
I think a lot of players enjoy experimenting with weapon customization, just trying to tailor them to their play style or just trying something brand new. Maybe they’ve never done much sniping, so they’re picking the biggest rifle with the biggest scope. They’re massive magazines, they’ve got loads of bullets. I think allowing players to really tailor their guns to what they want to play like is a big selling point forSniper Elite 5andResistance.
Designing Sniper Elite: Resistance’s Levels to Cater to Multiple Playstyles
Q:Resistance’s preview build showcased a massive playground with plenty of options for tackling and reaching the mission’s main objectives. How challenging is it to craft semi-open levels with that degree of flexibility?
Shaw:It’s pretty challenging, but it’s also a nice challenge for the level designers. I think they enjoy just exploring all the different avenues we’ve got for attacking the objective, so like we’ve talked about, we can do sniping. We’ve got to ensure there are high points that players can go to so they can observe the objective, kind of plan how they want to tackle it: attack enemies, just seeing where they walk, trying to find all the explosives and stuff like that, and then just executing their path however they want. If they’ve attacked all the enemies, they might figure out, you know, “Okay, I can sneak through there when that guy’s there, and then wait for that guy to move there and then sneak around the corner.” Or even just, using that high point for sniping and just thinning out the numbers before you run down with your SMG.
We just need to ensure that each objective or POI kind of caters to a different player style. Make sure there are flanking routes, so players can fall back if they need to or sneak around the enemies. Ensure there are high points there forsnipingor open avenues so they can see a long way to get some of that sniping in there. Ensuring things like pickups are there, so they’ve got ammo if they do get stuck in the pinch. There are things like heavy weapons that we can place around as well, so if a tank turns up, you’ve got some rocket launchers over there, go and use those. It’s an interesting challenge, and there are a lot of different things we need to keep in mind with all the different play styles. But we do try to take care to cater to all play styles where we can.
Q: The third campaign mission on display inResistance’s preview build was a mostly clandestine affair with a tension-choked nighttime setting. What other kinds of missions can players expect inResistance?
Shaw:We’ve got a nice variety, I think. We’ve got some nice close-quarters ones, another built-up city in the daytime this time, but also one that’s got more height variation than that mission you were playing in the preview build. We’ve got open ones set in vineyards that have really long sightlines from a big château in the middle. Obviously, in the trailers, we’ve had a big dam on display as well, which is quite nice. I think we’ve got a nice variety in the game, both day and night, open or more close-quarters. I think that helps lend itself as well to a lot of different player styles. You might think, “Oh, this is going to be a stealthy mission, but I might try and change myself with a sniper rifle and be really loud and see what outcomes that will give me.”
Q: Trying out the systems and stress testing the preview build led to many, many deaths on my part. GivenResistance’s setting and tone, are most of the missions geared toward the slower “perfect stealth” approach?
Shaw:I wouldn’t say that they’re geared to any particular approach, really. As I mentioned before, we do try to cater to all approaches or play styles. If you do play slowly, you can definitely get through the mission without being seen if you take your time. But that could take you upwards of an hour or two hours potentially depending on how well you play. I think the run-and-gun playstyle is always viable as well. And if you want to do that, we always make sure that there’s enough cover for players or that there are enough pickups so they can replenish their ammo. You can always stop and loot the dead enemies as well, so I don’t necessarily think any map is really catered to one specific play style. We try to avoid that.
Sniper Elite: Resistance’s Inspirations and What Players Can Expect
Q: Were there any other prominent World War II-set games, other than previous titles in theSniper Eliteseries, that influencedSniper Elite: Resistanceand its parallel story to the events ofSniper Elite 5?
Shaw:We do play a variety of games when we’re doing reference gathering, so it could be anything fromCall of Duty, which is more run-and-gun and faster-paced thanSniper Elite, obviously, but they always have interesting objectives and set pieces, weapons…all that kind of stuff. But then there are alsoslower games likeHell Let Looseand evenCompany of Heroescan be a reference. We do play a multitude of games, not just those set during World War II, but things likeMetal Gear SolidandSplinter Cell.It could be anything really. We also watch movies and there are books as well. There are lots of reference history books we use too, not just the fiction stuff. We try to gather our references from multiple sources and we encourage the team to explore all these different forms of media to figure out if anything is interesting for objectives or locations that we might want to use.
Q:Sniper Elite 4and5each had lengthy campaigns with 8 and 9 missions, respectively. WillResistance’s campaign end up being a similar experience?
Shaw:Yeah, it’s asimilar length toSniper Elite 5. It’s got a full campaign in there, so we aren’t reusing any missions fromSniper Elite 5. We’ve got new locations and we’ve got multiplayer maps in there as well. Also, the Propaganda Challenges, which are new to the game as well.Axis Invasionis still in there, which is a fan favorite fromSniper Elite 5. Yeah, it’s a fullSniper Eliteexperience.
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