Searching for the best sniper games? Sniper games are all about perching on top of a building and punching holes through bad guys from a mile away with the help of a high-caliber rifle. Whether it’s the challenge of compensating for bullet drop or the simple pleasure of watching a group of enemies descend into panic as you pick the hapless goons off one by one – the best sniper games thrive off moments like these.
Sadly, there aren’t many FPS games that focus solely on making the player feel like the ultimate ghost warrior, but there are a huge number of sniper games like Counter Strike Global Offensive with realistic sniping mechanics to satisfy that itchy trigger finger of yours. Our sniper games list offers everything from military simulations to more laid-back experiences where you can afford to make the odd mistake or even ditch the sniper rifle entirely.
Here are the best sniper games:
Sniper Elite 5
After the fifth entry in the Sniper Elite series, it’s fair to say killing Nazis never gets old. Kyle Fairburne is up to his old tricks again as he attempts to take down the Nazis in France. The size of the maps has expanded once again in Sniper Elite 5, giving players more options than ever to plan their course of attack. Sniper Elite 5 features the perfect sandbox to test your sniping abilities, and you can tackle the entire campaign alongside a co-op partner.
Depending on what difficulty you’re playing on, you may enjoy the latest addition to the single-player campaign: invasions. If you want to add some spice to your campaign, you can allow rival players to join your game as they temporarily join the AI to bring you down. Don’t worry, this feature is completely optional, so you don’t have to worry about human players spoiling your game.
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Escape From Tarkov
Escape From Tarkov is many, many things. You enter a match with barebones gear and hope to kill and loot something more valuable before extracting. However, if you die, you lose everything, so ambushes and stealth tactics are dominant, making sniping in Escape From Tarkov a particularly viable strategy.
While you won’t be fighting over long enough distances for bullet drop to play a significant role, Escape From Tarkov pays a great deal of attention to armor and bullet calibers, so a powerful sniper rifle with some armor-piercing rounds is borderline unplayable. We highly recommend reading our Escape From Tarkov tips guide to help you leave the battlefield with all of your equipment intact.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
There’s plenty of sniper action to be had in the latest Ghost Recon from Ubisoft. Ghost Recon Breakpoint introduces the Sharpshooter class and a bunch of sniping perks to complement your loadout. This Ghost Recon Breakpoint class is built around sniping and includes class benefits such as ‘longer breath while aiming’ and bonuses using sniper rifles and DMR. The Ghost Recon Breakpoint best weapons include a number of highly accurate and fun-to-use snipers such as the TAC50, HTI, and Scorpio – found from loot drops, crates, and blueprints across the fictional island of Auroa.
Breakpoint also introduces tiered loot which adds extra perks to your gun, such as improving accuracy or mobility. You’re also able to upgrade your sniper rifle using the Ghost Recon Breakpoint gunsmith and spend old gun parts on improving your favorite sniper. If you’re planning to tackle open-world games like this solo, sniper rifles are our recommended choice. Check out our Ghost Recon Breakpoint review to see our verdict on this sniper game from 2019.
Arma 3
Being a sniper in Arma 3 is no mean feat. It’s a war simulator and as such it prides itself on painstaking realism – you’ll have to use a rangefinder, zero your scope, and steady your breath ahead of every long-range shot. You’ll also have to engage with extreme caution, as making your position known when you’re operating as a ghost behind enemy lines will get you killed very quickly.
Arma 3 is so realistic, in fact, that some snipers pair up with a spotter who handles all the sums for them and points out new targets. Unlike many sniper games, Arma 3 makes sniping a cooperative experience. Better still, there are loads of Arma 3 updates and expansions, so it’s never too late to fall in love with this military simulator.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
PUBG boasts a huge range of weapons, items, and vehicles for you to play with, and it’s even better now that it’s one of the best free PC games. Among these various tools of destruction, PUBG’s sniper rifles are the ultimate weapons. Their range and power make the snipers ideal for picking off players from a grassy knoll or rooftop, letting you instantly down a target from over a kilometer away if you can land a headshot.
That’s easier said than done, however, as you’ll need to factor in things like muzzle velocity, bullet drop, and travel time. which makes battle royale games like PUBG some of the most realistic sniper games on PC. Look at our PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds PC review from 2018 to understand how PUBG changed gaming when it first launched.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3
The Sniper: Ghost Warrior games are far from perfect, but the sniping mechanics are so finely tuned that it makes up for a lot of the series’ shortcomings. On the hardest difficulty, players need to account for the type of sniper they’re using, as well as the ammo type, the velocity of the wind, and much more. Yes, the game isn’t jam-packed with content, and some of the missions can be repetitive, but the feeling you get from nailing that perfect shot from miles away is practically unrivaled.
One of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2’s biggest weaknesses was its AI. If you alerted the AI in any way, these enemies would become fixated on your position even if you were completely hidden. Ghost Warrior 3 finally fixes this problem and introduces a massive open world to explore. The map is filled with optional missions, explosive red barrels, and countless enemies for you to snipe at every checkpoint.
Insurgency: Sandstorm
The original Insurgency offered a realistic albeit clunky modern FPS with some solid sniping mechanics. Insurgency: Sandstorm overhauls everything from graphics and animations, to sound design and weapon models, and the result is a multiplayer shooter that feels as authentic as Arma, especially when it comes to its powerful, one-hit-kill snipers. There’s not much in the way of bullet drop or travel time as most maps are very small, but the weapon models are impressively detailed, and small details like magnification effects when scoped in immerse you in the role of a marksman.
As so much of Insurgency: Sandstorm’s multiplayer focuses on large-scale attacks, playing a sniper in this FPS is all about cutting off flanking routes and holding lines of sight, so expect to pick a spot and stick to it for much of a match. Most multiplayer shooters move too fast to make holding a sniper’s nest worthwhile, but in Insurgency: Sandstorm it’s essential. Read our Insurgency Sandstorm review to see how this multiplayer shooter stacks up against the competition.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
Modern Warfare 2’s campaign features a spiritual successor to the infamous All Ghillied Up mission from Modern Wafare 1 back in 2007. This mission is one of the most iconic sniper missions of all time, and it’s been carefully reconstructed to work perfectly in the latest version of the IW engine. Read our Modern Warfare 2 review to see what we thought of Acitvision’s latest CoD outing.
MW2’s fantastic sniping experience extends to the multiplayer mode as well as the campaign, giving players access to their favorite weapons across both modes. Our best Modern Warfare 2 sniper rifle guide highlights which rifles are worth bringing with you on the battlefield for long-range combat.
SQUAD
While there isn’t a sniper role in Squad, there is a marksman class – and if you don’t think there’s a difference between the two then Squad probably isn’t for you. Squad’s gameplay is all about teamwork, and as such, there’s no room for lone wolf roles like snipers. A marksman’s job, on the other hand, is to accompany the fire team wherever they go, providing the team with a response to longer-range fire and generally extending their effective reach when attacking and defending.
Communication and team play are essential, even for prospective snipers. Engaging targets over 500 meters away will yield little success, but a high-magnification scope and superior stopping power ensure the marksman always has the upper hand in long-range skirmishes. Just the way it should be in sniper games.
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
There are lots of loadouts to choose from in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, but when you’re operating in a sandbox that’s roughly 200 square kilometers only a sniper rifle makes sense. Especially when you can command a squad of AI soldiers to do all the room-clearing and dirty work for you, leaving you free to take potshots at bad guys from the safety of a grassy knoll far, far away.
So far away, in fact, that it’s possible to kill enemies over 1,000 meters from you. There’s some considerable bullet drop to take into account but few things warm the cockles like picking off an entire enemy squad without them ever figuring out where you are. What else are sniper games for? Of course, because Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a war simulator, you’ll also have plenty of opportunities to pluck helicopters out of the sky with a single shot.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2
If you’re a talented sniper, you may appreciate the Warzone 2 Al Mazrah map as its large size is the perfect stage for picking off opponents. Close to 150 descend onto the island, giving players with the best Warzone 2 sniper rifle a great chance to seize the opportunity and score a number of easy kills.
With several of the best Warzone 2 guns to choose from and mod to your liking, you can pick players off from hundreds of meters away provided your aim is on point. Few multiplayer games allow for sniper shootouts quite like Warzone.
That’s your lot, a roundup of the best sniper games on PC. If, somehow, that hasn’t managed to slake your thirst then be sure to check out the best stealth games for more of this sort of thing. Some of these excellent titles have made their way onto our best PC games list if you want to check them out. You can stop holding your breath to steady your aim now, the list is finished.