Sniper Elite

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Mostly Positive · 77%Mostly Positive · 77%2009

$7.99

US Steam price, checked 5 h ago

The verdict

A janky 2005 WWII sniper game with satisfying ballistics and bullet cam, but ice-skating movement and erratic AI. Skip it unless you want nostalgia or series history.

Great for

Nostalgic fans and series completionists who tolerate old-school jank and use community fixes

Main risk

Ice-skating movement, awkward controls and unfair AI make it frustrating by modern standards

What players love

Nostalgia and series origin

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“This was one of those childhood games I loved watching my brother play.”
Steam review · 15.1 h played ↗

“the original Sniper Elite still is as thrilling and entertaining as it was back in the day”
Steam review · 18.5 h played ↗

Satisfying ballistics and bullet cam

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“Bullet drop, wind, heart-rate, everything influences every shot you take”
Steam review · 22.2 h played ↗

“the cinematic shots that follow the bullet when you hit an enemy from far away and get a killing shot, were almost always fun and kind of a hype moment”
Steam review · 14.3 h played ↗

“There's breath-holding, gravity, wind direction and heart-rate which if too high, prevents you from holding your breath.”
Steam review · 3.4 h played ↗

Tactical, challenging and flexible missions

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews

“You can sneak around, go in guns blazing, or use a mix of both.”
Steam review · 41.7 h played ↗

“it can be made as easy as some may need to play or as hard as some prefer to have challenge to make it.”
Steam review · 69.2 h played ↗

Gritty WWII Berlin atmosphere and sound

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews

“It really feels like you're in ww2 as a sniper. Planes fly overhead, Russians fight the Germans, tanks role around, artillery fires in the distance.”
Steam review · 4.4 h played ↗

“Soundtrack is really good. Very menacing and daunting.”
Steam review · 16.3 h played ↗

Cheap and fun for its age

Mentioned in ~1 in 17 positive reviews

“Bought it for below 1$ and had fun playing it on modern hardware.”
Steam review · 16.6 h played ↗

What players complain about

Aged, clunky controls and mechanics

Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews

“They're not only clunky and unintuitive but downright frustrating, and there's no way to adapt them for a controller.”
Steam review · 2.9 h played ↗

“It's impossible to play this today. It needs a remaster.”
Steam review · translated · 8.8 h played ↗

Ice-skating movement and scroll-wheel speed

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews

“Even if you press stop, or walk backwards, you will still need 5-8m just to fully stop.”
Steam review · 0.5 h played ↗

“Why the hell do I control how fast I run with the scroll wheel?”
Steam review · 0.6 h played ↗

“It's like I'm playing a racing game - the character skids and almost drifts when running.”
Steam review · translated · 6.4 h played ↗

Inconsistent, cheating enemy AI and broken stealth

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“There are multiple points spread out in the entire game where you just cross an invisible trigger and some enemy spawns in who is automatically alerted to your exact location.”
Steam review · 46.8 h played ↗

“The Reichstag level shows this pretty well, i can't count how many times i have been blasted by the MG42 gunners on top of the Reichstag, while i'm a kilometer away on the ground.”
Steam review · 7 h played ↗

Skip it for later games in the series

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“If you're looking to get into Sniper Elite just start at V2.”
Steam review · 1.4 h played ↗

“I recommend skipping this game in favor of Sniper Elite V2, which is technically a remake/reboot of this game and is 10x better.”
Steam review · 6.5 h played ↗

Intrusive tutorial popups

Mentioned in ~1 in 12 negative reviews

“i literally got about 50 pop ups during the first mission telling me about every single basic tip in the game”
Steam review · 0.7 h played ↗

“Pop ups coming and freaking pausing game how many times died because Ive to click ok and my aim gets messed up”
Steam review · 3.1 h played ↗

Won't launch or breaks on modern PCs

Mentioned in ~1 in 12 negative reviews

“then i would get stuck on the rebellion splashscreen no matter what i did. literally unplayable.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗

“Doesn't work without mods, freezes in the main menu.”
Steam review · translated · 0.4 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Playable

Minimum

OSWindows XP / Vista

Processor1GHz Pentium CPU or equivalent

Memory256Mb RAM

GraphicsGeForce2 32Mb or equivalent

Storage4Gb free hard disk space

OSWindows XP / Vista

Processor1GHz Pentium CPU or equivalent

Memory256Mb RAM

GraphicsGeForce2 32Mb or equivalent

Storage4Gb free hard disk space

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