A Sniper Game Where The Goal Is Not To Shoot Anyone

Sniper rifles are one of my least favorite weapons in games– they require patience, confidence, and accuracy, none of which are my strongest skills. Recent game Sniper Dan doesn’t do away with those requirements, but in its childish aesthetic and twist on the usual sniper formula, it does make them a little less stressful.

Sniper Dan, out last week by Denki, is by its own admission more of a play on the hidden object game than on something like Hitman: Sniper. You play as Dan, who’s tasked with helping people with their problems using his sniper rifle. Sniper rifles are generally used to solve one particular problem–that of someone being alive–but here you use it to snap ropes, press buttons, and flip switches. In fact, you’re penalized if you hit anyone.

The hidden object game nature of things comes into play as you follow clues to figure out who and what could use your carefully-aimed bullets. I’ve played through the first two levels, where sometimes tasks are fairly obvious, such as tracing the pipes from a non-working fountain until I found the levers needed to get it running. Others I found a little trickier, such as one about a boat being stuck in a level that seemed full of stuck boats, or others clues that are jokey or open-ended. The game requires a lot of carefully scanning the environment, thinking about what might be out of place or what situation might need your help to get jump-started. If you’re really stuck, you can spend tickets on hints, which you can replenish at a cost between levels.

There are also some optional side tasks, such as lighting off fireworks or finding a Waldo-esque character hidden in the levels. I haven’t gone out of my way to pursue these goals, but they’ve been nice to come across when I’m carefully scoping my way through a level trying to parse a clue. Everything you do in a level earns you a rank and some currency, which you use at a shop between levels to decorate Dan’s office or upgrade his gear.

Nothing I encountered in those early levels was too tricky, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need skill. In one level, I needed to shoot a swing to get it rocking higher. Not only did I need to be careful not to hit the person onthe swing, but I also needed to avoid someone else riding on a spinning playground ride who moved quickly in and out of my reticule. The fact that these moments of careful timing get their tension from trying to not hit someone is really charming.

The whole premise, along with the bright colors and blocky characters, goes a long way in making Sniper Danfeel cheerful and fun, rather than some grim tale about mass murder. I like the way the whole thing feels a bit like overkill: Dan perched on high sniping things that the people on the ground could probably solve on their own, and the way that Dan opens doors or picks a spot on the map by shooting instead of just using his hands. I could read the game as a bit of a send-up of the self-seriousness of so many shooters, but it’s also a nice little game without that reading. Sniper Danis out now on PC and consoles.