'Sniper Elite 5' suggests not all Nazis were bad. F*ck that garbage.

There is no such thing as a good Nazi. Never has it been. It was hard to focus on anything else when I realized that the game gives you tools to help decide who is worth saving.

Rebellion's enduring series of World War II-set action games will be released on May 26. Rebellion embraced the violence and open-ended design that would guide each subsequent release in the series after the original Sniper Elite launched in 2005.

You can play each one on its own, and you will be treated to slow-motion, X-ray vision views of your bullets tearing through their targets. The Nazi forces arrayed against you are baked in mechanisms that help to humanize them. It sucks. It's just plain awful.

This is an acceptable way of dealing with a video game Nazi. Credit: Rebellion

I decided to put the game down about halfway through the campaign. The issue that's made continued progress such a chore for me is not related to the long plot of Sniper Elite 5. The way players are incentivized to use non-lethal approaches to combat is problematic in the latest sequel.

If you are not familiar with the series, it is helpful to think of it as a World War II spin on the hitman series. IO Interactive has a murder mousetrap that drops players into large, open maps deep behind enemy lines. The mission objectives are flexible and shifting as you look for intel on each map.

The kind of game that is commonly referred to as a "sandbox" is one where you are in the big world and have things that need to get done there, but the specific steps you take to complete a given mission are up to you. Being able to take a non-lethal approach makes it possible for expert players to complete a level with no alarms raised and no one killed other than the target.

The problem is that we are talking about Nazis. I have no interest in saving Nazi lives, and a game that makes reasons to do so is not something I care about. I make it a personal challenge to wipe every Nazi off the map before I move on to the next mission. It is a small act of emotional catharsis that has always felt to me like the reason people enjoy World War II-set shooting games. It is gratifying to destroy Nazis.

The fundamental appeal of being able to knock out foes using your hands or special purpose bullets is complicated by the fact that players are incentivized to use the new tools. As you level up in the game, skill points are spent to upgrade various abilities and improve your virtual soldier's survivability. The progression is powered by unlocked medals that you can earn for knocking a certain number of Nazis unconscious.

There are many other ways to level up, including a long list of medals that have nothing to do with the non-lethal game play. The less-than-fatal tools and actions can be ignored. It is hard to ignore the fact that they exist. Rebellion has offered a justification for including them.

I was looking for an explanation as to why a Nazi murder simulator would introduce a feature which immediately undermines its series-signature Kill Cams when I came across this video from a YouTuber called The Hidden Object Guru. It includes an explanation from Rebellion head of design, Jordan Woodward, as well as the video creator's own incredibly well-articulated breakdown of the issues I'm grappling with here.

According to Woodward, the addition of non-lethal tools is all about offering choice to the player and getting them to think about every decision they make in the game.

Even if I disagree with that approach, I can understand it. There are wonderfully unique player-authored experiences that can be found in games like Hitman. Rebellion has grown more confident in crafting an engaging and multi-dimensional video game sandbox as the latest Sniper Elite releases have moved in the same direction.

The way non-lethal mechanics clash with the emotional resonance of a Nazi murder simulator is profoundly upsetting. It feels good to kill Nazis, and bad to spare their lives. It was a gamified catharsis.

The substance is deeply disappointing, as Rebellion explains, and one of the things that makes Sniper Elite unique is that you get a small synopsis about their life once you focus on an artificial intelligence character.

He is talking about a feature flourish that was before Sniper Elite 5. Basic vitals and biographical info can be found on the screen when you spy an enemy through a sniper scope or binoculars. It was weird to see the occasional sympathetic Nazi in Sniper Elite 4, but as The Hidden Object Guru notes in his video, those Nazis were still threats that you could only deal with in one way: murder.

Woodward believes that the new game, "Sniper Elite 5," takes a step forward from that idea by giving players raw personal details about the Nazis they are targeting that could sway them away from pulling the gun. I am going to be very clear about this next part.

Nazis should not be depicted in your violent action game. Ever.

This is an acceptable way of dealing with a video game Nazi. Credit: Rebellion

It is mind incomprehensible that this needs to be said. The issue is not authenticity. The reality that people were conscripted into Hitler's service is not something that we should overlook. There is a time and a place for such considerations, and the video game series that isgraphically murder tons of Nazis is not one of them.

The addition of non-lethal approaches to combat is not good, but Woodward's explanation is what really knocks me off. There was a plan behind this decision. Context matters even if it was born out of a misguided desire to give players more options. Rebellion is in an awkward position because of the context. It is repugnant.

When this game folds into the social fabric of our messed-up society, what happens? I agree with The Hidden Object Guru that bigoted content creators will use the baked-in freedom of Sniper Elite 5 to decide which Nazis are good and which are bad. Do you think it will be a long time before someone flips the good/bad metric on its head and makes a video about the ones who are saving?

The lack of foresight is disappointing. The non-lethal twist and the reason for its inclusion is an absolute deal-breaker as someone who has been with the game for a long time. Rebellion should be ashamed for ceding even an inch of moral high ground to disgusting bigots.

UPDATE: May. 25, 2022, 7:56 a.m. EDT An earlier version of this story erroneously referred to Rebellion's head of design as Justin Woodward. His name is Jordan Woodward. The text has been updated to correct the error.