Every Sniper Elite game, ranked
All 5 Sniper Elite games we hold, spanning 2009 to 2022: 3 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 59,822 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Sniper Elite 5 (GamingPickz Score 7.5), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Sniper Elite (2009) and follow the release-order timeline below.
- For the money: Sniper Elite gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Sniper Elite games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 3 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
3 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 3 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Nintendo
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
3 best Sniper Elite games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
Sniper Elite 5 at a glance Released 2022 Studio Rebellion Player sentiment 84% positive of 30,172 Critics 79/100 Price $49.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 85 GB Accessibility 8 declared features Raw 84% shrinks to 84.0 on 30,172 reviews, then blends with the 79 critic aggregate, giving 7.5.
What the data supports- Declares 8 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
- Cloud saves and cross-platform play, so progress follows you between machines.
Worth checking first- Carries in-game purchases. Check what they cost before committing.
- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Sniper Elite V2 at a glance Released 2012 Studio Rebellion Developments Player sentiment 88% positive of 25,465 Critics 66/100 Price Not listed Steam Deck unsupported Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 88% shrinks to 87.9 on 25,465 reviews, then blends with the 66 critic aggregate, giving 7.2.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 88 against 66. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 3
Sniper Elite
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
6.7GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceSniper Elite at a glance Released 2009 Studio Rebellion Player sentiment 76% positive of 4,185 Critics 76/100 Price $7.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 76% shrinks to 76.7 on 4,185 reviews, then blends with the 76 critic aggregate, giving 6.7.
Only the 3 Sniper Elite games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Sniper Elite game we can score is Sniper Elite 5 at 7.5. The lowest is Sniper Elite at 6.7, a 0.8-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2009 to 2022. The later entries score higher than the earlier ones: the series has been trending up.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Sniper Elite at $7.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Sniper Elite, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Sniper Elite entries on Steam:
- Playable: Sniper Elite, Sniper Elite 5
- Unsupported: Sniper Elite V2
Platforms across the series
Where the 5 Sniper Elite games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 4 of 5 |
| Nintendo | 1 of 5 |
The Sniper Elite series, game by game
Every Sniper Elite game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2009
Sniper Elite
6.7As World War II draws to a close, the first covert battles of the Cold War begin. Caught in the life and death struggle between Soviets and Germans in war-torn Berlin, you control the fate of a lone American OSS Sniper. (Steam)
- 2012
In the dark days of the end of World War Two amidst the ruins of Berlin, one bullet can change history… (Steam)
Plot
The protagonist is U. S. Army Second Lieutenant Karl Fairburne (Tom Clarke-Hill), a German-American OSS operative and skilled sniper who is inserted into Berlin in 1945, during the final days of World War II . (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Sniper Elite V2 received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . In a review for GamesRadar , Matt Hughes favourably compared V2 against the original Sniper Elite in regards to the mission structure and variety, stating that "V2 keeps the objectives varied and avoids tedium by condensing and refining the physical scope of the game". Matt Hughes presented the scenery of ruined Berlin in the game and wrote… (Wikipedia)
- 2022
The award-winning series returns as Karl Fairburne fights to uncover Project Kraken in 1944 France. The genre-defining authentic sniping, with enhanced kill cam, has never looked or felt better as you fight across immersive maps to stop the Nazi war machine in its tracks. (Steam)
Plot
Sniper Elite 5 takes place following the events of Sniper Elite 4, in 1944, a year before Sniper Elite V2 . SOE sniper Karl Fairburne is attached to an Army Ranger battalion in advance of Operation Overlord to assist with securing a beachhead and the village of Colline-Sur-Mer to help give the Americans a foothold and landing point in France. Upon arrival in the village and rendezvousing with resistance contact Charlie Barton, the Americans' submarine is… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Sniper Elite 5 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . EGM called Sniper Elite 5 "the best game in the series so far", citing its intricate level design, deep weapon customisation system, and satisfying gameplay as its strengths, while taking issue with its underdeveloped characters and story. Eurogamer felt that the title was "a true great of the genre" and "one of the most entertaining games… (Wikipedia)
- —
Sniper Elite 3
Metacritic 71No sourced description on file.
Plot
In June 1942, during the Battle of Gazala , American sniper Karl Fairburne (Tom Clarke-Hill) takes part in an effort by British troops to stop Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps from seizing the vital port city of Tobruk . Fairburne eliminates several German artillery positions, but the enemy takes the city and he is forced to abandon his fellow soldiers. Nevertheless, his performance in the battle brings him to the attention of British Naval Intelligence… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Sniper Elite III received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Hardcore Gamer s Matt Whittaker gave the game a 3/5, writing: "Though its stealth-based sniping gameplay can provide some exciting moments, Sniper Elite III is a decidedly mixed bag. Its abysmal narrative, outdated mission design, boring protagonist and weak non-campaign modes overshadow everything that it does well. (Wikipedia)
- —
Sniper Elite 4
Metacritic 79No sourced description on file.
Plot
Sniper Elite 4 is set in Italy in 1943 , in the immediate aftermath of the events in Sniper Elite III . Upon learning about rumours of a new Nazi weapon, the Royal Navy sends a freighter, the Orchidea , to the island of San Celini to investigate. The ship is quickly sunk by the new weapon – a radio guided anti-ship missile under the development of scientist Andreas Kessler and Heinz Böhm, a high ranking Nazi general that the Allies have little… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Sniper Elite 4 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Nick Plessas of EGM writes about "textbook plot" and "forgettable cast of characters". He praises sniping in the game, as it "takes more nuance and goes deeper than the point-and-shoot mechanics of other titles out there". (Wikipedia)
Sniper Elite, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Sniper Elite vs other series
How Sniper Elite stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Sniper Elite vs ARMA, Sniper Elite vs Just Cause, Sniper Elite vs Serious Sam, Sniper Elite vs Borderlands, Sniper Elite vs Crysis, Sniper Elite vs Dead Island, Sniper Elite vs Dishonored, Sniper Elite vs Max Payne, Sniper Elite vs Red Faction, Sniper Elite vs Sniper Ghost Warrior, Sniper Elite vs Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Sniper Elite vs Age of History, Sniper Elite vs America's Army, Sniper Elite vs Bright Memory, Sniper Elite vs Brothers in Arms, Sniper Elite vs Call to Arms, Sniper Elite vs Chivalry, Sniper Elite vs Day of Defeat, Sniper Elite vs eFootball PES, Sniper Elite vs Enlisted, Sniper Elite vs Euro Truck Simulator, Sniper Elite vs Forza Horizon, Sniper Elite vs Heaven Island, Sniper Elite vs Homefront, Sniper Elite vs Insurgency, Sniper Elite vs Jurassic World Evolution, Sniper Elite vs Metal Gear, Sniper Elite vs Payday, Sniper Elite vs POSTAL, Sniper Elite vs Project CARS, Sniper Elite vs RAGE, Sniper Elite vs Red Dead Redemption, Sniper Elite vs Red Orchestra, Sniper Elite vs Sea of Thieves, Sniper Elite vs Shadow Warrior, Sniper Elite vs Slime Rancher, Sniper Elite vs Sniper, Sniper Elite vs Squad, Sniper Elite vs Stronghold, Sniper Elite vs Thief, Sniper Elite vs Transport Fever, Sniper Elite vs Universe Sandbox, Sniper Elite vs World of Tanks, Sniper Elite vs Z1 Battle Royale, Sniper Elite vs Zombie Army
Common questions
How many Sniper Elite games are there?
We hold 5 Sniper Elite games in the catalogue, released between 2009 and 2022. 3 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Sniper Elite game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Sniper Elite 5 rates highest at 7.5. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Sniper Elite games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2009 to 2022. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
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