Sniper Elite 5’s ‘Spy Academy’ is one of the best sandbox missions ever

It’s easy to write off the Sniper Elite series. It’s replete with slow-motion x-ray kill cams of testicles rupturing and eyeballs leaping out of shattered Nazi skulls. At a glance, it’s a relic of the early aughts video game obsession with gore, excess, and self-serious protagonists. It was a series I didn’t touch until recent. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the series is now available for purchase. Sniper Elite 5 Launched on Xbox Game Pass just a few weeks back. Now? I’m enthralled.

Sniper Elite 5 It is quite gory and extravagant, and the protagonist would feel right at home at a table of poker with Leon S. Kennedy and Cliff Bleszinski. But it’s also home to exquisite acts of level design. Its sandbox missions are so good, in fact, that I already count them among the best of Arkane Studios, IO Interactive, and Eidos-Montréal. They’re nothing short of mesmerizing, and I’ve spent the better part of the last three weeks scouring their every nook and cranny, continually marveling at the craft, cleverness, and audacity on display.

There’s the first mission, “The Atlantic Wall,” which sprawls across Normandy’s bucolic coastline, now made treacherous by the defenses of the Nazi war machine. There’s “Occupied Residence,” a series of dirt paths snaking through farmland on their way to a hulking chateau. There’s “War Factory,” a tangle of pipes and vents and furnaces. And then there’s “Spy Academy.”

Sniper Elite 5’s third mission opens in a quiet forest clearing, but the vista soon widens to a panoramic look at Beaumont-Saint-Denis. It’s a massive tidal island, with medieval walls rising out of the surrounding bay, their ramparts obscuring the lower reaches of a town, which slopes up to the spires of a gargantuan abbey. It’s all covered in algae and shrouded in fog. It’s breathtaking.

It’s based on Mont-Saint-Michel, the tidal island that also, incidentally, inspired The Lord of the Rings’ Minas Tirith and Dark Souls’ New Londo Ruins. But, none of the works included sniper rifles and Nazis. Rebellion Developments made Sniper Elite, which understood the task.

Photo: Rebellion Developments via Polygon

At the outset, “Spy Academy” is a shooting gallery. It’s low tide, and the soldiers patrolling the sandbanks have little to no cover once I let the first bullet fly. On the narrow, long causeway connecting the island with the point where I lay prone on an auspicious rock outcropping, the same holds true. Once I’ve thinned the enemy ranks, I continue using the causeway to my advantage: There’s a series of arches at its base, allowing me to leapfrog from north to south and back again as the Nazis investigate my every last known position. It’s a veritable coastline stroll as I make my way up into the foreboding town.

Rebellion then pulls me out of under the rug.

What began a sniper’s dream has become a sniper’s nightmare. As if it were a reverse Divine Comedy, I’ve left paradise for the fiery confines of hell. The streets of Beaumont-Saint-Denis are narrow, its sightlines are short, and it’s patrolled by what I can only describe as a fuckload of Nazis. I have one goal: to reach the top of the island, and steal a meeting with enemy officials. But no matter where I place myself — no matter where I “set up shop” — I am always exposed on at least one side. With my rifle on my back, silenced pistol raised to the corner of my vision, and my rifle in my hand, I begin my climb. As I approach the abbey, its pews provide me with the best cover.

I won’t spoil the rest of the mission — I don’t think I could, honestly. You are unlikely to follow the exact same path, which was terrifyingly slow and dangerous, as mine. But I will say that helicopters weren’t really a thing in 1944. You won’t have the luxury of an airlift from the roof of the church. Nazi-killing Germany requires that every climb be followed by a descend. The Nazis tend to be more vigilant during this part.

Photo: Rebellion Developments via Polygon

“Spy Academy” is one of those rare sandbox missions that recontextualizes what has come before it and forces you to reconsider what kind of game you’re actually playing. From a collection of French shooting galleries, it becomes an endless tactical stealth game that offers seemingly limitless possibilities. get shit done. “Spy Academy” rests comfortably in the sandbox-stealth pantheon of Dishonored II’s “Clockwork Mansion,” Hitman’s “World of Tomorrow,” and Metro Exodus’ “Volga.” It’s that good.

Part of me wishes Rebellion didn’t reveal its masterstroke so early in Sniper Elite 5. I am most aware of how cleverly it is placed. As the third mission, it’s late enough to have some tantalizing preamble, but early enough to stop you from forming bad habits. You will find the rest of the game a delicate mix between close-quarters fights and scenic shootouts. In this way, “Spy Academy” is both an invitation and a warning — a tutorial and a shock to the nerves.

Many sandbox missions have the feeling of being built entirely from scratch. The truth is that they most likely were. But “Spy Academy” feels as if it was Artfully sculpted — as if it was hewn from something too big to imagine. It’s as if Rebellion Developments came across a colossal mountain of digital limestone, chiseled away at its edges, and found this wonderful mission nestled beneath the surface. The stone’s brine-soaked stones are as impressive in their grandiosity as the detail they provide.