After a busy 1943 spent in occupied Italy, you’d imagine SOE crackshot Karl Fairburne would have some well-deserved R&R headed his way. Turns out, no: he’s headed to France for another round of airholing Nazi officers in Sniper Elite 5. The sniper game series is set to continue, with the next entry due out in 2022.
Developer Rebellion says this time out, Karl is leading a US Ranger squad whose goal it is to weaken the German defenses in Brittany. While there, he links up with the French resistance movement and learns of a secret Nazi project called Operation Kraken. It’s up to Karl and his new pals to put an end to Kraken before it can scuttle the Allies’ plans to invade France.
Rebellion says Sniper Elite 5’s maps are based on real-world locations in France, and they’re the biggest the series has seen yet. They feature multiple infiltration and exfil points, which give players more creative freedom for planning their assassination missions each time. With improved co-op implementation, you can opt to bring a friend along and share items, give commands to each other, and even patch each other up after scrapes with enemy forces.
Here’s the trailer:
There are some additional new twists to the Sniper Elite formula this time, too: workbenches not only let you customise your weapons and trap loadouts, you can also pick specific ammo types to suit your target. There’s also a new invasion mechanic, similar to the one in Deathloop, that allows you to invade another player’s game as an Axis sniper – but if this happens to you, you can call for help to tilt the odds in your favour.
Of course, the trademark kill-cam returns, and this time you can trigger it with pistols and SMGs. Rebellion says it’s gorier than ever this time around, “showing you the true destructive power of each shot.”
Sniper Elite 5 arrives sometime in 2022, and it’ll be available on both Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as on Game Pass and the Windows Store.