Sniper Elite 5 adds a competitive twist to campaign co-op

One thing is for sure about the new Sniper Elite 5 trailer: That’s the most sinister oration by an Allied head of government I’ve ever heard. Is that supposed to be Churchill? It sounds like Emperor Palpatine.

Anyway, Rebellion is bringing Sniper Elite 5 to consoles and PC in 2022, with a twist: competitive campaign multiplayer. In Invasion Mode, demonstrated at the end of the trailer above, players can drop into one another’s missions as an enemy Axis sniper focused on tracking down and eliminating Karl Fairburne, the player protagonist. The player controlling Fairburne gains another objective for the mission: eliminate the enemy sniper. A news release from Rebellion is careful to call the multiplayer opponent the “Axis Sniper,” so whoever that is isn’t literally on the Nazi side. Maybe they’re shooting for Fascist Italy.

Invasion Mode will also give both players special abilities. Allied players will gain the Eagle Eyes perk, which marks the Axis Sniper’s last known location on the map if they should happen to spot them. Axis Snipers can issue the “Stay Sharp” command to NPC units, raising their awareness and increasing the challenge for their allied opponent.

As Sniper Elite 5 is set in occupied France, Fairburne can also use “invasion phones,” found across the map, to get intel from resistance fighters and update the Axis Sniper’s latest position. Of course, those phones can be booby-trapped, and using them can raise the alarm and reveal the Allied player’s location.

Invasion Mode will also be available for Sniper Elite 5’s co-operative campaign, meaning that the lone Axis Sniper gets to take on two Allies working together to finish the job. That means greater rewards are on the table for the bad guy, but everyone gets an XP boost for having Invasion mode enabled and participating in the round.

Sniper Elite 5, announced in December, will launch sometime in 2022 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC via the Epic Games Store, Steam, and Microsoft Store, and Xbox One and Xbox Series X. This time, Rebellion sends iron-willed, steely-eyed, and lantern-jawed hero Karl Fairburne into France to bust up the Nazis’ Atlantikwall defenses and singlehandedly pave the way to D-Day.

Rebellion hasn’t given Sniper Elite 5 a specific launch date or window, but the game will be a same-day release on Xbox Game Pass for both consoles and PC.