As part of a covert US Rangers operation to weaken the Atlantikwall fortifications along the coast of Brittany, Karl makes contact with the French Resistance. Soon they uncover a secret Nazi project that threatens to end the war before the Allies can even invade Europe: Operation Kraken. It’s Karl’s mission to take out the high ranking Nazi officers and end Operation Kraken once and for all.

Based upon real-world locations from France in 1944, the new game maps are the largest and most immersive in the franchise’s history. The game's new traversal system offers players an even greater sandbox of options when it comes to taking out their targets. Players can even invite a friend to help them on their mission with enhanced co-operative gameplay options.

Sniper Elite 5 continues the franchise’s unparalleled tactical sniping experience complete with incredible ballistics and an enhanced kill cam, taking the genre-defining feature to the next level. New customization options allow you to adjust your rifle, other weapons and ammo to suit the mission and your play style.

The new Invasion Mode which allows players to drop into each other’s Campaign to take the role of an Axis Sniper with high rewards on offer.

The new CGI trailer was created by Rebellion VFX. Based at Rebellion Film Studios in Didcot, Rebellion VFX has been formed from industry leading visual effects supervisors, artists and developers. The team specialises in full CG environment builds, FX, Compositing, Environment Set Extension and Virtual Production set builds with projects utilising both offline rendered and real-time rendered, game engine methodology. The on-site capability is further enhanced by Rebellion’s award-winning motion capture and full performance capture facilities, Audiomotion.

He Sun, Head of Rebellion VFX, said: “It has been a real pleasure for Rebellion VFX to be collaborating with the Sniper Elite brand, to be involved in working on such a title was a real privilege. We wanted to create a trailer that evoked a gritty and down-to-earth feeling in its cinematography, as if it was shot with a film crew on a real location. Technically, we relished the challenge of implementing USD (Universal Scene Description) pipeline in our offline rendering workflow. It was an enjoyable creative process with the whole which will hopefully be enjoyed by our passionate community of Sniper Elite fans too.”

Invasion Mode will bring a whole new dimension to the game’s intense drama and add increased diversity to the tactics that players will have to employ in order to complete their mission. The invading Axis Sniper will have the sole aim to eliminate the player while the Allied Sniper will gain an extra objective: take out the invader. Invasion Mode will also be available in co-operative play increasing the challenge for the Axis invader as they now have two Allies to track down, but offering greater rewards.

Chris Kingsley, CTO at Rebellion, commented: “Invasion Mode is a fantastic addition to the gameplay experience of Sniper Elite 5. A human controlled invader can act in ways that are so diverse and unpredictable, which adds to the challenge and ramps up the tension even further. The player will be informed that an invading Axis Sniper has joined their game and from that point on it becomes an extremely intense, high stakes game of cat and mouse.”

Chris continued: “For those players who just want a solo gameplay experience there will be the option to switch Invasion Mode off, but we recommend that everyone gives it a try at some point. We have been having a lot of fun with it in the studio, jumping into each other’s games and finding innovative, stealthy ways to take each other out.”

Invasion Mode will enable some unique skills for both players. The Axis invader can use of the AI Axis forces to help locate the Allied player. Tagging an Axis soldier will enable ‘Eagle Eyes’ which means that if that soldier spots the Allied Sniper then their last known location will be displayed on the map. The Axis Sniper can also instruct nearby soldiers to ‘Stay Sharp’, increasing their awareness. For the Allied Sniper, each level has invasion phones scattered around the map which the player can use to discover the last known location of their opponent. But beware, as not only can these phones be booby trapped, but overuse will raise suspicions and reveal the player’s location.

Successful Axis Snipers will be rewarded with weapons, items and skin unlocks while Allied Snipers can earn weapon and character skins by killing their opponent. You will also be awarded with additional XP for having Invasion Mode enabled.

Key Features:

• Expansive Campaign – Real-world locations have been captured using photogrammetry to recreate a living, immersive environment, and multiple infiltration and extraction points along with kill list targets provide a whole new perspective on each mission. Take on the Nazi plot solo or work with a partner, with improved co-op mechanics allowing you to share ammo and items, give orders and heal each other.
• Advanced gunplay physics and traversal – Use ziplines, slide down slopes and shimmy along ledges to reach the perfect vantage point, or to sneak past a sharp-eyed lookout. Factor in rifle stock and barrel options along with gravity, wind and heart rate while you line up your sights on the target.
• High caliber customization – Use workbenches to customize and upgrade virtually every aspect of your weapon. Change scopes, stocks, barrels, magazines and more. Rifles, secondary weapons and pistols all have a huge variety of options. On top of that, you can select the ammo to suit your target, from armor-piercing right down to non-lethal.
• Invasion mode drop-in PVP – You can invade another player’s Campaign as an Axis sniper and engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse, providing a new dimension to the challenge as you stalk your prey. Alternatively, as Karl, you can call for assistance and have a second sniper drop in to help you out of a tricky situation.
• Tense adversarial multiplayer – Customize your character and loadout and earn XP, medals and ribbons as you take on intensely competitive 16-player battles that will really test your sharpshooting skills. If co-op’s more your style, you can team up with up to three other players against waves of enemies in Survival mode.
• Enhanced kill cam – More realistic and grisly than ever, the trademark X-ray kill cam returns, showing you the true destructive power of each shot. Bones deflect bullets unpredictably, ripping a new path through enemy bodies. SMGs and pistols can also trigger kill cams, including multiple shots in dramatic slow motion.

Sniper Elite 5 is coming to on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and PC (Epic / Steam / Windows Store) in 2022.