Sniper Elite 5: The Trap
“Invasion” is a unique gameplay mode featured in the Sniper Elite 5 single player campaign. It allows another player to enter your game as a German Sniper Jäger. While you are busy playing through the campaign mission, dealing with the various objectives and enemy NPCs, the Sniper Jäger tries to hunt you down. Once another player “invades” your game, you can no longer load a previously saved game. You either turn the tables on the enemy Sniper Jäger and kill them, complete your mission which ends the game, or they kill you. Both teams can use invasion phones to learn about the other players’ locations. The phones are located at various key points on the map. However, using them to find the enemy will also tip them off to your whereabouts. The invading Sniper Jäger has a different set of skills to the main player. They do not have the focus ability which shows hidden enemies as silhouettes. However, the Sniper Jäger can tag other German NPCs and use them as an alarm system.
Invasion mode is a purely optional game mechanic that can be toggled on or off. However, leaving it offers a completely new dynamic to Sniper Elite 5 and this asymmetrical form of PVP can be extremely tense and enjoyable. An onscreen message clearly alerts a player to an enemy invasion and it is then up to them as to how they address the situation. I always make a conscious decision to cease progress with the mission and to find a defensive location. The enemy Sniper Jäger can often determine where you are on the map without using the invasion phones. This can be done by checking what objectives have been completed (e.g. has a specific target been killed or destroyed) as well as whether any NPCs are dead or on alert. Often simply using the binoculars or listening for gun fire will prove useful. Too many players make the mistake of not addressing an invasion threat and just continuing with their mission. Situational awareness is paramount.
There are many YouTube videos about invasion mode. All too often, the invaders are successful mainly because the player they’re hunting is too focused upon proceeding through their campaign and not using their full range of skills. As mentioned previously, the Allied player has a skill called focus which quietens ambient noise and allows them to perceive enemies close by. These appear as silhouettes if there is an object blocking them from direct line of sight. This skill, if used properly, means that it is very difficult for an enemy Sniper Jäger to sneak up on you. Hence an Allied player in a strong defensive position can see any approaching Sniper Jäger and shoot them through a door or the floor. The Sniper Jäger does not have a comparable skill. There are also restrictions on their loadouts which limits how much explosives they can carry and prohibits them from armour piercing ammunition. However, they can place German NPCs on alert and they will aid the Sniper Jäger if a firefight begins.
After watching numerous videos where the invading Sniper Jäger was victorious, I decided to devise a strategy that would potentially wrongfoot anyone invading my game. The idea was to create an environment which favoured my defensive gameplay and to booby trap all the locations that an invading Sniper Jäger would go to for intelligence. So I chose mission 6, Libération, which has three French villages located at the South, West and North of the map. I systematically cleared out all NPCs but purposely left three objectives incomplete, inferring that I’m moving towards the North of the map to complete the mission. I placed decoys at several vantage points, to draw enemy fire and thus give away their position. I also booby trapped key invasion phones and buildings, as well as setting numerous non-lethal schu mines along key routes. These will not kill an enemy but will tag them, making them visible on the game map.
Having set my trap I have saved the game multiple times at different locations. I then load a save of my choice, turn on invasion mode and wait for an enemy player to arrive. The results have been most interesting. Less experienced players will often spawn and immediately go to specific locations expecting me there. The radio room in the Southern village, the Grande Maison to the South West or to the army camp at the Eastern bridge. More often than not, these players walk right into a booby trap. A single mine is insufficient for a kill but if you leave a block of TNT in the vicinity, the chain reaction is lethal. The experienced player is more cautious and will either hunt using cover continuously, or instead sit tight and wait for me to come to them. Sometimes it’s a waiting game to see who gets bored first. It is here that focus and armour piercing rounds certainly give the Allied player an advantage.
Some popular YouTubers don’t like players adopting a more defensive approach to invasion mode. Some will make spurious moral judgements about it not being in the “spirit of the game”. Others object because it makes them look bad when the tables are turned against them. Hence, you seldom see a video in which the content creator dies. I take the attitude that if you have the hubris to invade another player’s game then you don’t get to choose the rules of engagement. So far I have over sixty kills against invading Sniper Jägers. Half of those have been by using my “trap” method. I may in the next few days, pick a different mission and devise a new means to funnel invading Sniper Jägers into a suitable bottleneck. All of which keeps Sniper Elite 5 interesting while we await the sixth instalment of the game in spring 2025.
