Sniper Elite 5's first trailer shows series is still gross, will launch next year

The Sniper Elite series has found a comfortable 7/10 groove, ploughing the territory halfway between Hitman and Call Of Duty and planting seeds by letting you shoot the bollocks off a Nazi. The next in the series was officially revealed during this week's Game Awards, and you can find the first trailer below.

Snippy 5 advances the action from Italy 1943 to France 1944. You join a covert US Rangers operation in Brittany and discover a Nazi plan to end the war called Operation Kraken. Then you set about stopping it the only way you know how: by penetrating frail human bodies with small pieces of rapidly travelling metal. And knives.

Developers Rebellion do say that the game will feature the series' biggest maps so far, with new ways to traverse them including ziplines, ledge-shimmying, and the ability to slide down slopes. There's also new features in co-op mode so you can heal your pals, a wave-based survival mode for up to four players, and an Invasion mode that lets you infiltrate your friend's singleplayer games. That last one sounds rad if it turns into proper sniper battles, and not just racing after one another with SMGs.

I played a couple of earlier games in the Sniper Elite series, and I lost interest in them rapidly whenever my sneaking, sniping mission went awry. With enemies alerted, it was too easy to back myself into a corner and let the Nazis run brainlessly into my machinegun fire. Alec quite liked Sniper Elite 4, however, while struggling with its inconsistent tone. These are games where you get a lot of celebratory XP after causing really horrible, X-ray death animations, keep in mind.

Sniper Elite 5 will launch sometime next year, and it'll be a day one PC Game Pass release.