Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3

Setting

The game takes place in modern-day with a series of conflicts between three hostile factions. A proxy war and a civil war in Georgia also begin. Players take control of American Marine Captain named Jonathan "Jon" North as he proceeds to Georgia to find and eliminate its intruder, with whom he shares a dark past, in order to prevent another Cold War.

Gameplay

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is a modern-day first-person tactical shooter, similar to its predecessors. The game is designed to be less linear than Ghost Warrior and Ghost Warrior 2, since the title is the first in the series to feature an open world, which can be freely explored by players. The open world is scattered with different activities and side missions which are known as "war crimes". These can be completed by players if they are not playing the main missions. According to CI Games, the title is designed to be accessible for both players who are new to the franchise or the genre, while tactical enough for more hardcore players.

The game is based on three different pillars: target, execute, and survive. Players are allowed to use different approaches to complete missions and defeat enemies, as maps are now larger and more open-ended. For instance, players can utilize stealth and melee combat to kill enemies, in gun and run style, or use the weapons or gadgets provided, like sniper rifles, to snipe enemies from a long distance.

The game's objectives will not be shown on the mini-map provided to players. Players are required to find them by completing intel-gathering missions. Players can also use a drone, which is one of the newest additions to the series and can be controlled by players, to scan and survey the environment, and to detect enemies. The drone can also be used to hack enemies' electronic equipment and weapons, and to create distractions. However, there are risks when players are using the drone, as enemies may become alerted when they spot it. As one of the game's core experiences is sniping, the accuracy of long-range shots is affected by various factors, such as calibration of the rifle's scope, weather, wind speed, distance, gravity, and the protagonist's breathing strength and rate. As a result, players have to plan, adapt, and react to the game's environments to alter these factors.

Navigation is enhanced in Ghost Warrior 3. Players can carry out some “extreme navigation” movements, according to the game's developer, such as free-running, parkouring, climbing ledges, and rappelling. Players can activate Scout Mode, which is an ability of the game's protagonist to highlight places of interest and detect explosives such as mines. Players can also make use of the mode to find a new sniping spot during missions. The game also focuses on realism; as a result, the open-world features a dynamic weather system and day-night cycle. Players can make use of these situations to create tactical advantages.

In addition, players can travel to a "safe house" where they can collect supplies and resources like first-aid kits and ammunition for weapons. These safe houses also act as fast travel points for players for easy navigation of the world. In addition, players can craft and modify their weapons and bullets. These upgrades can improve the weapons' efficiency and accuracy. When not playing missions, players can interact with a neutral faction, which may or may not help players in completing missions. Safe house is a safe place in the world where the player can choose equipment, sleep to a designated hour, craft, buy items in the shop and start missions. There are several safe houses on each map, and player needs to discover them to be able to use them. There will be loot waiting or new weapons to equip in newly discovered safe houses. Player can fast travel to a safe houses from any place in the world (fast travel is disabled after entering a mission area).

Weapon Cache is a place where the player can change his loadouts. Primary weapons, secondary weapons, side-arms, gadgets, camouflages, and armors can be equipped here from the stock.

Here players can also modify weapons with currently unlocked attachments, or upgrade camo and backpack. New attachments, weapons and gadgets can be unlocked by completing missions, but also found distributed on outposts or out in the world. Once unlocked, the player can buy them from the shop.

Player can buy in here ammo, gadgets, med-kits and armor using game currency if subscribed to battlefield premium also unlocks audio.

At the workbench player is able to craft regular and special bullets, gadgets and medkits using resources found in the world. There are 5 kinds of resources, each used in different proportions to craft different equipment.

After choosing a mission, the mission area will be visible on the map, and a GPS path will be displayed. Various points of interest, which player discovered earlier, will also be checked on the map. Road to the mission area leads through open maps, where the player can encounter events, points of interest, hunt for animals etc. Which route the player chooses is up to him.

The player has its own car for exploration. It will be there whenever he exits a safe house, or travel to previously discovered fast travel points. The player can use it to quickly get across map areas. Enemies can spot the player, even when he is inside the vehicle, so being careful is still required. A traffic system is generated on roads on all maps, so the player can see other non-aggressive vehicles travelling along the roads. On more heavily secured areas, the roads will be patrolled by armored vehicles.

Development

The game is developed by CI Games, which also developed the game's predecessors. While the previous games were not a critical success, the company considered the series a commercial success, as they sold over 5.5 million copies collectively.

Announced on December 16, 2014 and regarded as "the best sniper experience for PC and next-gen consoles" by CI Games, the game's first gameplay footage was shown during E3 2015, while the first gameplay was uploaded to CI Games' YouTube channel on July 22, 2015.

The game's budget and scale are significantly expanded and are larger than that of its predecessors, and the title is the first entry in the series to have a AAA production scale. The game's creative director is Paul B. Robinson, a military veteran who also has a 20-year career in game development. The lead narrative designer is Jess Lebow, who had worked on franchises like League of Legends, Guild Wars and Far Cry. According to CI Games, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 laid the foundation for the game's development.