Staying hidden | Hints Sniper Elite III Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Sniper Elite III does not enforce a stealthy approach. However, this playstyle is highly recommended, as getting yourself exposed will cause unnecessary and unwanted enemy focus on your character (as well as snipers!), and, in extreme cases, may lead to sudden enemy reinforcements, making your mission a lot harder.
The best method to get rid of enemies silently, is to use melee combat (close-quarter takedown) after getting behind their backs. You must, however, make sure that the enemy won't notice your approach, as he may defend himself from the takedown and begin his counteroffensive. If you don't want to risk a direct contact with the enemy, it's generally safer to rely on short-ranged weapons with a silencer attached to them, like the Welrod pistol, which is available to the player from the very beginning of the game.
In the case of your sniper rifle, the matter is a lot more complicated, as a shot from it can be heard by enemies with ease. The solution to this problem, is to look around the map for various objects of the environment, which, given a special condition is met, will allow you to drown out the sounds of your shots. It can either be a generator (which can be seen on the above screenshot), loudspeakers, or an active artillery. Note - the noise generated by a given device is symbolized with an icon of a speaker, which can be seen in the top of the screen. You must make your shot before everything goes back to normal (that is, for instance, when a generator turns off).
Eliminated enemies can be left intact in the place you've killed them, or you can try to relocate their bodies. If you choose the second option, look around for wells, empty buildings, and other places which aren't visited by the enemy soldiers. Hiding bodies isn't really mandatory in this game, because even if an enemy notices the body of his ally, he won't turn on the alarm inside of the base / encampment, but will come to analyze the situation. It can be beneficial to let an enemy discover a body, as he will disconnect from the rest of his allies, allowing you to easily eliminate him.
Note - regardless of whether you intent to hide body of a certain enemy or not, it's recommended that you at least search it (by pressing and holding the proper button). Thanks to that, you will frequently find some ammo or grenades, as well as (though very rarely) upgrades to the main character's equipment.
The current state of alert of nearby enemy forces can be checked by looking at the icons appearing above their heads - unless they are turned off when you are playing on a higher difficulty level. The yellow color informs you if a given watchman is nervous, and you can be pretty sure that he will start to scan the nearby area, or he will embark in the direction of a gunfire, or a dead body. The red color means, that the enemy is aware of your presence - those types of enemies should be dealt with as soon as possible.
Using elements of your surroundings to drown out the sounds of your gunfire isn't always available to you. If you want to make more use of your sniper rifle, or if you've made a mistake when timing your shot with a generator noise, you should know about a few tips that can help you to adapt to how the enemies will react on your actions. After hearing your gunshot for the first time, the enemies will jump behind cover, oblivious of where the shot came from (unless you were noticed). Each succeeding shot not only informs them of your position (the blue bar in the bottom left corner of the screen will fill up), but they can decide to attack you.
It's generally a good idea to change your position after each shot. Run away from the place in which you've made your last attack, stopping only when the yellow exclamation mark in the bottom left corner of the screen disappears. After changing your firing position, you should wait for the previously mentioned blue bar to completely dry out.