Sniper Elite 4 looks set to be a "sniper's playground"

Sniper Elite 4 is Rebellion's latest instalment to the series and Gamereactor got the chance to speak with Rebellion's Head of Creative Tim Jones about the game and what it will offer.

We started by asking what main new things were being shown at E3. "We're showing the third level from the game, it's a massive huge environment, it's bigger than anything people will have played in Sniper Elite before", he said. "It's a big step up from the previous Sniper Elites and we've really pushed the scale of the environments, the length of the shots you can take and we've improved on all the game mechanics and everything that we can so I think people are going to have a good time with it".

The setting builds into this as well, being set in Italy in 1943 before the main allied invasion. "We've got the beautiful mountain valleys and forests, fishing villages, you know, like rural towns and monasteries and huge variety of different environments, you know, more variety than we've ever had in Sniper Elite before and I think people are really going to get a kick out of it - it's certainly a great sniper's playground". All of the objectives within each map, he added, can be completed in multiple different ways are there are a lot of additional challenges for completionists as well.

In terms of hardcore fans and what they can expect Jones said "we've brought more attention to detail into every aspect of the game. We've completely reworked the AI to behave more believably like they detect corpses and they'll go over to investigate them". Also included is a "huge swathe of World War Two weaponry in there and over the course of the game you can upgrade and gain XP - you can use that to upgrade your weapons and customise your experience somewhat and increase your skillset as well, so there's a lot of depth there for players to really get into".

Of course we had to discuss the spectacle of the game including the famous killcams the series is known for. "The killcams are obviously like a fan favourite and people really get into that so we've taken the opportunity to really increase the level of detail we've been able to do with the internal organs, with the skeletons, like the way they procedurally break according to where the bullet might hit, whatever angle it might be at". A new feature is the addition of killcams to traps as well as melee and stealth kills, however. "When you attack someone up close with the melee and you take them out with a knife then you'll get a killcam for that".

In terms of the sniping subgenre of shooters and where the future lies, Jones said "there's always new things to be found, I mean I remember a time when people thought the idea of a game focussed just around sniping would be, you know, too limiting but like, you know, that's far from the case. Whenever you sort of focus down on something core that you really want to focus on then you're always finding new details, things that, like, add meaning to the experience, give it more focus and helps it stand out from other shooters".

Sniper Elite 4 is due on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on February 14 next year.