Which scope offers the sharpest shot in Sniper Elite VR? Find out in our Sniper Elite VR graphics comparison!
Rebellion and Just Add Water’s anticipated VR FPS is a rare thing, releasing day and date across PSVR, Quest and PC on July 8. Usually we see platforms staggered in VR, which made us very intrigued to see how each version held up. Check out our video below, running three versions. One is on Quest 2, another is on PSVR via PS5 (so likely comparable to PS4 Pro quality), and then on SteamVR with medium graphics settings.
Sniper Elite VR Graphics Comparison
Most of what we’ve played of the game so far is on PC and, truthfully, from what we’d seen we weren’t sure the PSVR and Quest versions could really keep up. But, based on the opening four levels above, it’s a pretty positive first impression. All three versions of the game have all the same features; killcam shots, zoomable scopes and interactive environmental objects right down shotgun shells.
With the Quest version, you’re getting some of the usual drawbacks like very saturated color schemes. Even then, though, I was still noticing impressive tiny details in the standalone release, like sniper bullets deforming as they hit bone and fly out of an enemy’s body. Plus, the headset’s higher resolution actually makes it look sharper than the PSVR release, even though the latter is ultimately more detailed.
But be on the lookout for some other interesting differences. Vistas, killcams, explosions all offer different experiences across all three versions, and we take a look at gun models and other elements, too.
And, yes, we’re playing the PSVR version with the Aim controller. It should give you a good idea of how it changes up the flow of gameplay.
We haven’t taken a look at the game on the original Quest or PS4 yet, but we’ll report back if there’s anything to talk about on that front.
What do you make of our Sniper Elite VR graphics comparison? Let us know in the comments below!
We sit down with Rebellion to talk about bringing WW2 to headsets in Sniper Elite VR.
Sniper Elite VR changes up the series formula in some expected ways. There’s the weapon handling, no longer assigned to simple button presses and stick movements but instead dependent on your physical movements; a steady hand to aim down the scope or a good throwing arm to lob a grenade. There’s also the brilliantly gory evolution of the killcam, in which shards of splintered bone fly at you like some kind of twisted 4D ride at a theme park.
But, for Rebellion’s Steve Bristow, the question of how VR changes the Sniper Elite experience is a little more philosophical.
“You know that thing that you get with war photographers?” Bristow asks over web call. “You ask a war photographer how they can do what they do and it’s because they’re able to compartmentalize their view of the world through the lens. They look through the viewfinder and it detaches them from the scene.
“And I think that happens to a certain extent with a Sniper game as well. You look at yourself– play it differently or you place yourself differently in the scene. And I think the VR experience of sniping, for me anyway, really clarified that, that I’m there in the scene and a part of the scene rather than just watching it through a window. And then I raise my scope and I’m getting that kind of viewfinder view of the world, which is at once visceral and powerful and also somehow sort of emotionally detached from it at the same time.”
Sniper Elite VR — and the series at large — is a little too preoccupied with hilariously brutal kill animations to ever really catch war at its most harrowing, but I think I get at least some sense of what Bristow means whenever I huddle behind cover, gunfire clanging off of the railings to one side, or survey a wider battle from the safety of a sniper nest. There’s something decidedly gamey about then pulling up your scope, like you’re turning the scene into a shooting gallery, and then pulling to trigger to watch a well-placed shot bring a bloody end to an enemy (or “punctuate”, in Bristow’s unintentionally pun-tastic own words).
It’s an interesting way to frame a game that brings a lot more realism to the sniper series. As you’ve probably seen in this week’s gameplay videos, Sniper Elite VR isn’t exactly a simulation-style experience, but Rebellion and JAW have put in a lot of work to realize every element of a traditional game in the series natively in VR. You cannot, I’ve found, just mindlessly breeze through Sniper Elite VR half-heartedly. Its long-range assassinations require genuine concentration and a degree of physical discipline to pull off.
In Bristow’s mind, “if you don’t play the game with a reasonable technique of actually holding your breath a bit and squeezing the trigger it’s hard to hit those long shots. It does matter. And there’s a good reason that if you’re trained to fire a rifle there’s a technique that makes a difference, and those techniques to a certain extent apply with this game. So there’s a degree of sort of physical authenticity with this game that you just can’t get through a controller.”
This authenticity can make playing the game tricky, yes, but it also gets right to the heart of how VR augments the experience. In a sense, the player’s own body is an extension of the controller. But getting the game to feel ‘right’ also requires at least some compensation on that front because, as Bristow points out, players haven’t had the 18 months of training it takes to actually pull off a 100-meter headshot.
To that extent, Rebellion and JAW do just a bit of the work for you. “To begin with, when we had, let’s call it a completely mechanically authentic process with the reload, I was dropping bullets the whole time and thinking that I’d reloaded the rifle and lifting it and not firing it because it wasn’t properly reloaded,” Bristow explains. “So, yes, we kind of started leaning towards making this mechanically work and then we added support for the gap between the player’s understanding of that works and the limitations of a motion control system where you’re unable to use your sense of touch to determine how well you’ve done your reload.”
As I wrote in my preview earlier this week, I think the game straddles this line quite nicely, but there are other challenges yet to be solved. The response to our first gameplay video (also earlier this week) was that lots of players didn’t want to see the game’s intrusive UI elements, like an indicator for when noise is being masked, or if an enemy is about to spot you. You can turn all of that off (as seen in our follow-up gameplay), but this, Bristow thinks, is a far more difficult balance to achieve.
“I would very much rather that we didn’t have to sort of lean on those techniques,” he says, “I would like a more sophisticated version of that in some future version of this. But in practice, if you go for a completely naturalistic approach to that, like somebody turns around and just goes “Huh?” and you have to guess whether or not they’ve spotted you, that gets really frustrating really quickly. You have to kind of abstract the systems of stealth a little bit in gameplay terms, I think. And I don’t think that’s any different with VR.”
Sniper Elite VR doesn’t have all the answers, then, but that’s kind of the point. “When we first started work on Battlezone, I spent a few months designing that game without having ever put a headset on. And so that revelatory moment of finally getting into VR, I’m going: “Well that was a waste of three months, I’m going to have to start completely over again. All of my assumptions about this were wrong.”
“That still kind of goes on to some extent. You can mentally simulate how you think the game’s going to feel and then you put it in action and it’s like “Oh, we need to change this.” So that, particularly around player interactions and systems that we use for that, they require a lot of iteration to get them to work well. And that still takes up a big chunk of development time.”
Time well spent, though. Just as Schell Games learns with every new interaction it builds into I Expect You To Die, Rebellion and JAW get a headstart on ‘what’s next’ with every design issue they’ve tackled in Sniper Elite VR. That leaves the future open to more ambitious possibilities and other areas to flesh out.
“I can’t wait to move onto the next one, if that ever happens, because we’ve learned so much in the development of this to be able to start from a more solid footing and then exploit the other areas of the game,” Bristow says. “That’s a really exciting idea.”
Sniper Elite VR releases on July 8 for Quest, PSVR and PC VR. On Quest and PC it’ll cost £22.99/$29.99/€29.99 and on PSVR it costs £24.99/$29.99/€29.99.
After all the virtual reality (VR) excitement last month thanks to E3 2021 July kicks off with a proper assortment of videogame releases. There are long-awaited titles finally surfacing, others getting a SteamVR port and a rather unusual brand tie-in. So as VRFocus likes to do every Friday, here’s our roundup of VR titles arriving next week.
Kellogg’s Gut Bacteria Reef – Nakatomi
It’s not often you see cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s appear in a videogame list but here we are, with an educational VR experience about the gut. Kellogg’s Gut Bacteria Reef enables viewers to “travel into the gut in a virtual submarine to uncover the inner workings of the gut ecosystem for the very first time.”
An interactive sci-fi movie where you play a detective who becomes embroiled in a case involving a serial killer. Try to find the killer and stop the next murder in this futuristic tale.
Certainly the biggest VR title to launch this week considering its available for most headsets, Sniper Elite VR brings Rebellion’s renowned WWII series into VR with visceral bone-breaking realism. Head to Sicily to help the Italian resistance fight the Nazi’s armed with your trusty sniper rifle and a whole host of other weapons. And yes, the notorious X-ray Kill-Cam remains.
For a more light-hearted, comic adventure there’s always the return of crime-fighting duo Sam & Max. In Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual! you join the team as a new recruit, ready to take on all manner of challenging obstacle courses and monster-slaying to prove you’re up to the job.
Originally released for Oculus Quest earlier this year now it’s the turn of PC VR headsets on Steam. An official franchise tie-in with the films, Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever is an arcade-style shooter testing your aim and speed across a variety of zombie-filled courses. Get two headshots in a row to activate slow-mo, giving you more time to rack up those kills and points to unlock more goodies.
We’re back with another look at next week’s big release, Sniper Elite VR. Today, we’re taking a look at one of the game’s sniper missions with some new options.
In our last video we showed one of the game’s larger maps with full UI options, regular killcam and without the camera riding the bullet whenever the killcam activates. For this mission, we’ve completely turned off all HUD elements save for the indicator when using the Focus mode (which is on by default in the Normal difficulty mode). You can also see what it’s like to ride a bullet into an enemy’s skull, if that’s a thing that interests you.
New Sniper Elite VR Gameplay
This is again recorded on PC and taken from one of the early levels in the game’s campaign.
Check back tomorrow when we’ll be talking to Rebellion and JAW about the making of Sniper Elite VR, and we’ll have more gameplay before the week is out, too. Also make sure to check out our list of four things the game seems to be getting right based on what we’ve played so far.
Two years on from its initial reveal, Sniper Elite VR is finally gearing up for launch next week.
But is it going to be any good?
It’s a little too early for us to answer that question just yet, but we’ve had some time with the single-player campaign on PC and can touch on some of the things the game does seem to be getting right, at least so far. Namely, Rebellion and Just Add Water have done a good job creating an experience that has elements of authenticity without becoming too overwhelming for players, and it’s realized some of the series’ staple features in VR really well, too.
Here are four promising aspects from what we’ve played so far.
Weapon Balancing And Handling
No, Sniper Elite VR doesn’t quite have the most realistic physics or authentic weapon handling you’ll find in VR. But it does do a very decent job balancing between that believability and making the game accessible for players of all types. In terms of the sniping itself, that means holding a rifle with two hands (unless you’re using PSVR’s Aim Controller), keeping them steady as you look through the scope and then, for most types of weapons, pulling back the bolt between shots. It starts off feeling tricky but, after a little time, the motion becomes second nature.
Pistols, machine guns and shotguns, meanwhile, all have their own quirks too. Reloading generally involves physically grabbing the old clip, removing it, then inserting a new one before pulling back a pin. Plus there are no red dot sights or lasers to help aim – you’ll be relying entirely on iron sights that can make even simple shots pretty easy to miss. You can use a focus indicator to summon an artificial sight if you choose, but it still keeps your aim pretty broad. Weapons thrash around if you don’t steady them with a second hand, too.
Again, you eventually learn to compensate for all of this, making for an experience that does a good job capturing the erratic weapons of the time without leaning into simulation-style realism. But it also gives Sniper’s gunplay a methodical pace; there’s not much use running and gunning when you’re fumbling about with ammo outside of cover. On the harder difficulties at least, it’s much better to hunker down, trade shots and get back behind a wall when reloading, only moving on when you know it’s safe to.
Customizing Immersion And Authenticity
Based on yesterday’s gameplay video, lots of people want to know just how far customization goes when it comes to the game’s UI. One of the really nice touches Just Add Water and Rebellion have worked on is letting you choose just how immersive and authentic the experience can be. So, yes, there are the usual comfort options from vignettes to teleportation for those that want it. But that also extends right down to adjusting how much of the UI the game shows you, allowing you to completely remove objective markers are stelath notifications. It’s a great touch for those that don’t want to interrupt the experience in any way.
And that extends right the way up to the sniping itself. The game’s difficulty modes will directly impact weapon ballistics. Play on Easy and you’ll get a simplified, straight-shooting experience but, on Normal, you’ll have to account for bullet drop and other factors. Hard mode, meanwhile, demands lethal precision and anticipation without much help from the game itself. Oh and, yes, you can customize how often you see the X-Ray Killcam and whether or not you ride the bullet into your poor enemy’s skull. More on that in a bit.
Stealth
Stealth is very hard to do in VR. In a lot of games, the illusion can quickly crumble when you’re discovered and enemy AI starts running around like a group of headless chickens trying to decide what to do about it. Sniper Elite VR’s stealth mechanics may not be especially in-depth, but that simplicity — from what we’ve played — helps keep stealth cohesive and a legitimate playstyle even after you’ve been found out.
A select few weapons in your arsenal are silenced, allowing you start off many of the levels in a ghost state. From there you can pick off enemies sequentially or just completely avoid them until you’re found. Crouching behind cover and leaning out to survey the area is as effective here as it is in any other VR game.
Plus, the game does a great job of communicating when someone’s investigating anything strange with alert meters and status indicators. If you are discovered you’ll see a ‘Cover Blown’ message, but it’s possible to get back into hiding and clear the alert, too. Again, we might not be talking Metal Gear levels of sophistication, but it’s pretty promising from what we’ve played.
Killcams
Killcams are a staple of the Sniper Elite series but we did wonder if Rebellion and Just Add Waters would attempt then in VR. Fortunately, they’ve pulled them off pretty brilliantly; you can choose to either follow the bullet or cut straight to the character model, where you’ll get an uncomfortably close look at the damage your shot did to an enemy’s eye/rib cage/heart/unmentionables. Bits of bone shatter into tiny little pieces right in front of you making it both hard to watch and yet somehow strangely hard to look away at the same time. You’ll see a little more of what we mean later this week.
Don’t want to be cutting away to the killcam every other shot? Don’t worry – you can turn it off or even just make them less frequent.
So do Rebellion and Just Add Water hit a bullseye with Sniper Elite VR? You’ll have to wait until our full review next week to find out. Until then, we’ve got more content for the game planned this week as part of Upload Access. Check back for more gameplay and an interview with the developers soon.
Surprise! We’re kicking off a week-long mini-Upload Access with Rebellion’s Sniper Elite VR, and it starts with some exclusive gameplay.
We’ve recorded over 12 minutes of footage from the upcoming VR shooter below. This is taken from around midway through the game’s campaign in a level that nicely mixes some of the different playstyles. It’s running on SteamVR.
Sniper Elite VR Gameplay
For starters, we’ve got a look at some of the sniping, which relies on a steady hand and excellent timing. A plane overhead gives players a moment to strike by masking the sound of gunfire, letting you pick off targets without giving up your position. And, of course, there’s plenty of the game’s bloody glorious X-RAY killcam.
You can also see some of the stealth mechanics at work here – not every level of Sniper Elite VR will allow you to sneak around, but it’s often best to stay silent for as long as possible. But, when you’re inevitably discovered, you’ll also have more than enough firepower at your disposal to stand your ground. The game replicates a number of WW2-era weapons, with realistic reloading and hefty weapon handling.
We’ve got more to come from Sniper Elite VR later this week. Check back for an interview with Rebellion and co-developer, Just Add Water, soon. We’ll have more gameplay to show towards the end of the week too.
Sniper Elite VR hits Quest, PSVR and PC VR on July 8 – what did you make of our Sniper Elite VR gameplay? Let us know in the comments below!
Sniper Elite VR is ramping up for release on all major VR headsets on July 8th, and we’re steadily getting a closer look at the game from developer Rebellion. In the last week the studio has dropped a new gameplay trailer and a breakdown offering fresh details about the game.
Rather than a port, Sniper Elite VR is a brand new made-for-VR title based on Rebellion’s long-running Sniper Elite franchise. In a recently released breakdown video, the studio confirmed that players won’t be playing as the series’ usual protagonist, Karl Fairburne, but instead will be stepping into the shoes of an Italian soldier who is recounting his harrowing war stories.
The video further explains that the game will have 18 missions, and the studio is promising replayability as players will be able to decide if they want to be stealthy or go in guns ablazin’. On that note, beyond being able to use sniper rifles, SMGs, pistols, shotguns, and explosives, it looks like melee will be a possibility too, as long as you can find a hammer to crack skulls.
What do you know—a perfect transition to talk about the game’s famous skull-shattering X-ray kill cam, which will indeed be included in Sniper Elite VR, albeit in a more comfort-friendly way. While non-VR versions of the game would have the camera follow the bullet all the way to the target, it looks like the VR version will use some smart cuts to make the transition less jarring while still giving you a close-up of the gruesome destruction.
Image courtesy Rebellion
Rebellion is also promising a range of locomotion options including smooth movement and teleport.
The studio also recently revealed another fresh, but brief, glimpse of Sniper Elite VR gameplay, but it’s an age-restricted video so you’ll have to go directly to YouTube to check it out.
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Image courtesy Rebellion
Image courtesy Rebellion
Image courtesy Rebellion
Image courtesy Rebellion
Sniper Elite VR is set for a July 8th release date on all major headsets: Oculus Quest/Rift, PSVR (with Aim support), and SteamVR.
We finally know that Sniper Elite VR is coming to headsets next month but — we hear you ask — where’s the X-Ray kill cam?
Wonder no more.
The team at Rebellion debuted a new trailer for the upcoming VR shooter at today’s Upload VR Showcase. We get a quick look at more of the explosive action from the game’s single-player campaign. Stay tuned right up until the end, though, to get a first look at gaming’s goriest kill cam back in action.
If you thought that was gruesome, just wait until you see it in VR. Developed with the help of Just Add Water and Coatsink, Sniper Elite VR will see players sign up to the Italian resistance during the height of the second world war. You’ll carry out stealthy assassination missions and use an assortment of WW2-era weaponry in made-for-VR combat. The game was first announced a few years back and has quite a few VR fans looking forward to it.
Sniper Elite VR arrives on July 8th for Oculus Quest, PSVR and PC VR headsets. Are you looking forward to the game? Let us know in the comments below!
Let’s face it, there hasn’t been a lot of ‘big’ VR games this year.
True, there have been some absolutely great titles – Demeo, Carve Snowboarding, Wraith and Floor Plan 2 among others were all hugely enjoyable. But, Hitman 3 aside, there’s been a lack of blockbuster content for headsets that really gets everyone talking. That drought looks to end this summer.
So here’s our full VR Summer Preview listing all the big titles coming up in the next few months. This is for all platforms so whether you’re on Quest, PSVR or PC, there’s something for you. We’ll keep this list updated with new dates as they come in – including any announcements at our VR Showcase this weekend!
VR Summer Preview
After The Fall – TBA (Quest, PSVR, PC VR)
Vertigo Games’ Arizona Sunshine follow-up is finally shaping up to freeze over our summer. After The Fall takes place in a frosty post-apocalyptic LA in which up to four players venture out into the wastes to take on hordes of zombies. A focus on persistent content has us hoping this co-op shooter becomes a staple in our libraries.
Arashi: Castles Of Sin – TBA (PSVR)
Announced just last week, Arashi looks a little like Tenchu in VR. You infiltrate six castles captured by bandits, using stealth to silently take down opponents or going loud and engaging them in melee combat. Oh, and did we mention you have a pet wolf?
Captain ToonHead vs the Punks From Outer Space – TBA (Quest, PSVR, PC VR)
A Saturday morning cartoon-infused mix of shooter and tower defense. CaptainToonhead promises ridiculous weaponry and a crazy assortment of enemies.
Fracked – TBA (PSVR)
nDreams’ follow-up to Phantom: Covert Ops looks like a surprisingly agile shooter. Explosive stunts are at the heart of this PSVR exclusive, which sees you making daring leaps, shooting down ski slopes and, well, just shooting too.
Green Hell VR – Q3 2021 (PC)
A full VR conversion of grizzly survival game, Green Hell, is due to reach PC VR this summer. Gather resources and fend for yourself in the heat of the jungle, where just about everything is looking for a piece of you. An Oculus Quest port will arrive later on in the year, too.
Larcenauts – TBA (Quest, PC VR)
Impulse Gear returns with a very different kind of shooter to Farpoint. Larcenauts is a team-based shooter in the vein of Overwatch with two teams of six battling it out using an array of unique character classes. Cross-play between Quest and PC is confirmed, too.
Lone Echo 2 – TBA (Rift)
What could very well be Facebook’s last PC-only game finally arrives after much delay. After the epic cliffhanger to 2017’s Lone Echo we’ve been dying to get back to Jack and Olivia and explore their strange new surroundings alongside them.
Song In The Smoke – TBA (Quest, PSVR, PC VR)
An intriguing-looking survival game, Song & Smoke mixes genre staples with a visual style designed with the help of industry legend Katsuya Terada. There’s still a lot to learn about Song In The Smoke, and we can’t wait to see more.
Sniper Elite VR – July 8 (Quest, PSVR, PC VR)
Sniper Elite VR went weirdly silent for a moment there, but we’re happy to see it’s finally on its way to all platforms next month. This is Rebellion’s first shot at a full VR FPS set in its popular franchise – and there’s endless opportunity for them to make good.
Wanderer – TBA (PSVR, PC VR)
This incredibly polished and promising escape room game has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of our most anticipated VR titles since it was officially revealed a few months back. Wanderer’s time-traveling mechanic looks thoughtfully implemented, with interactions that really take advantage of the medium.
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Tempestfall – TBA (Quest, PC VR)
Carbon Studio brings its gesture-based combat system from The Wizards over to the Warhammer universe. Tempestfall will have you wielding a mighty sword against undead forces – it’s not to be confused with the recently-released Battle Sister, either.
Winds & Leaves – July 27 (PSVR)
Winds & Leaves is a peaceful game about reconnecting with nature. You’ll grow a forest and care for it as it expands. We’re hoping this one gives us the tranquil vibes of Paper Beast.
What VR games are you looking forward to this summer? Let us know in the comments below!
As one of VRFocus’ most anticipated virtual reality (VR) titles of 2021, expectations for Sniper Elite VR have been high since its unveiling back in 2019. A combined effort between Rebellion, Just Add Water and Coatsink, this week they’ve announced that the iconic sniping franchise will be heading to most VR headsets next month.
Sniper Elite VR has been built specifically for VR rather than porting one of the previous editions over, whilst the narrative stays within the franchise as it’s set prior to Sniper Elite 4. The 18-mission, single-player campaign places you in the shoes of an Italian partisan during WWII, helping his fellow countrymen deal with the Nazi’s. Each mission is told through the recollection of his harrowing memories.
Just like the rest of the series, Sniper Elite VR has been built for action as well as realism with an arsenal of weapons at your disposal. While you can always choose to have a sniper rifle by your side, missions also allow you to mix things up with SMGs, pistols, shotguns, grenades and explosives depending on the situation, all authentic to the era. Naturally, this wouldn’t be a Sniper Elite videogame without notorious X-ray Kill-Cam, adding a visceral view of your devastating shots.
The teams have ensured Sniper Elite VR should be as comfortable as possible for most players by providing a suite of locomotion options. From continuous locomotion for the most immersive experience to the ever comfortable teleportation, you’ll be able to tweak the settings to comfortably outmanoeuvre enemy troops and vehicles.
It seems like a long time ago since VRFocusfirst demoed Sniper Elite VRtwo years ago during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2019, suitably impressed by what was shown so early on. Just like the demo, the PlayStation VR version will support the PlayStation Aim controller for natural rifle-wielding as well as PlayStation Move which will provide realistic weapon reloading.
Sniper Elite VR will see a multiplatform launch for PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest and Rift, HTC Vive and Valve Index on 8th July 2021. Check out the new gameplay trailer below, and for further updates on the title, keep reading VRFocus.
