Sniper Elite 4

This is story related and cannot be missed. To unlock this achievement, you need to play each of the main campaign missions on Authentic Plus difficulty. This difficulty is available right from the start. It is suggested playing through the missions multiple times on a lower difficulty until you feel comfortable where everything is and how enemies react.

Since the items you pick up are fewer than if playing on a lower difficulty, it is recommended that your loadout includes two medkits and two bandages. Also for your last perk (extra ammo/carry more items), it's suggested you go with extra ammo since that is harder to come by as well.

As a reminder, the handicaps for playing on Authentic difficulty are:

• No HUD (ammo, health, stamina)
• No radar/minimap
• Objectives do not appear on the map or in the mission (they are still listed when you press in the map)
• Enemies are stronger and more aggressive, take more damage, do not show up on map
• You take more damage
• While you can still tag (to see enemy distance and information), there is no icon above tagged enemies or objects
• No empty lung or aim assist (pressing holds your breath and steadies your aim but it does not zoom in, give you a reticle or give you a lung meter)
• No zooming with scope or binoculars
• Iron sights reticule doesn’t turn red when you are close enough
• Realistic bullet drop and crosswinds (you can still use and to adjust the range of your scope)
• When playing co-op, friendly fire is on (take damage when shot by teammate)

In addition to the list above, when playing on Authentic Plus, you have added constraints:

• There are no checkpoints or auto-saves during a mission; if you die, you revert back to the beginning of the mission
  • There actually is just one checkpoint in the last mission; it occurs just before advancing to the final objective
• There are no yellow or red directional arrows to inform you if you are being or have been detected
  • If you listen carefully, you might notice changes to the music and sounds of the game when you have been seen but not located and when you are fully detected. Listening for these cues will determine if it is safe to continue or not
• Enemies will not call off a search if they do not find you immediately; once they’re alerted, either by directly seeing you or finding a dead body, they stay alerted until you kill them or they’ve killed you
• While there is still sound masking, there is no on-screen notification when you are clear to take a shot
  • However, if you have vibration on, your controller will shake when you are able to shoot and not be detected
• Limited button prompts (for example: to Vault, to Drop Down, to Emerge, etc.)
• No on-screen kill notification (XP earned, type of kill, etc.)
• When picking up ammo and items (from the environment or looting dead enemies), a list does not appear on-screen
  • The ammo and items you pick up will be fewer than on lower difficulties

As with Authentic, it is recommended that you do not attempt this difficulty on your first playthrough. When you do attempt it, your focus should solely be on completing each mission and not creating any manual saves while doing it (for “Better than the Best”). Collectible hunting, optional objectives and cumulative achievements should not be attempted on this difficulty.

This difficulty is even more sadistic than Authentic. If Authentic wasn’t challenging enough, on this difficulty there are no detection notifications, enemies stay alerted and if you die, you restart the mission. The same strategies should be used for this difficulty as they were for Authentic: use suppressed ammo whenever possible, kill silently and only when necessary and make sure that if you do kill someone, you hide the body.

It is recommended that you do not rush through these missions. Since you should only be completing the primary objectives, avoid all non-essential areas. You may have to take a more roundabout approach to your target, but in the end it will pay off if you remain undetected. Remember that enemies and objectives do not show up on the map, so be extremely careful. If playing in co-op, stick together and watch each other’s backs. This difficulty is extremely hard, but not impossible if you play smartly.

Speaking of co-op, there are both advantages and disadvantages to playing with a partner. The most obvious advantage is when one of you is downed, the other player can revive them. Also, while tag icons do not appear, you can still tag enemies to see how far away they are (and information about them). One player can act as a spotter and the other can adjust the range on their scope for a better shot. However, one disadvantage to playing in co-op is when you hold your breath, while there is no zoom, reticule or lung meter (the same with Authentic), there is also no slo-mo to make the shot easier. Playing solo there is.

Note: Any difficulty achievement still locked after completing the game on Authentic Plus will also unlock.