Ready or Not (video game)

Ready or Not
Developer(s)	VOID Interactive
Publisher(s)	VOID Interactive
Engine	Unreal Engine 5
Platform(s)	Windows
Release	December 13, 2023
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, tactical shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Ready or Not is a 2023 tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by Ireland-based VOID Interactive and released for Microsoft Windows. Ready or Not follows the operations of a police SWAT team in the fictional American city of Los Sueños in the midst of a violent crime wave.

Ready or Not was released through Steam early access on December 17, 2021, before it was officially released on December 13, 2023. The game was well-received for its atmosphere and gameplay and has been considered a spiritual successor to the similar SWAT series by Sierra Entertainment.

Gameplay

An in-game screenshot of a SWAT team preparing to breach a room in close-quarters combat

An in-game screenshot of Ready Or Not's Home Invasion DLC

In Ready or Not, the player takes the role of an American police tactical unit leader within the Los Sueños Police Department (LSPD) pitted against criminals. The player deals with various types of situations, such as robberies, mass shootings, and sex trafficking. As a tactical shooter, realism is a central pillar of gameplay, with both players and enemies being killed in only a few shots. Tactical strategies and careful planning are emphasized.

The player is given a wide selection of rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and handguns to choose from, with extensive customization options for sights, rail attachments, suppressors, and other attachments. Equipment such as stun grenades, stinger grenades, fiberscopes, ballistic shields, and breaching devices are key items available for the player and their team to equip and use. As the player is part of a police unit, apprehending suspects alive is greatly encouraged; therefore, a variety of less-lethal weapons such as tasers, riot guns, and pepper spray are available as alternatives to lethal force, and players are awarded more points for arresting suspects instead of incapacitating or killing them. However, some less-lethal weapons such as beanbag shotguns can incapacitate or kill people depending on how it is used. In order to score the highest grade (S) on a mission, all suspects and civilians must be detained alive and unharmed which is only possible by using less-lethal equipment.

All weapons and equipment are available to the player at the beginning of the game. The player can unlock further cosmetic items when they complete specific requirements, such as completing a specific mission with a B rating or beating the game on Ironman mode. Players can also unlock evidence for each mission which provides more context to the specific missions they score on. The higher the player scores on the mission, the more evidence is available for that mission.

In single player, the player commands a squad of four SWAT members which is split into two teams, or elements, red and blue. The player can command the entire team (gold) at once to perform actions, or order elements separately from each other. AI teammates will follow the instruction of the player, such as breaching a room, but will also act independently without player input in some situations such as shooting active threats and arresting suspects.

Suspects have a variety of behaviors when encountered by the player such as faking their deaths when shot, pretending to surrender and then pulling out a weapon, and using bystanders as human shields. Their equipment can vary from using knives and old handguns, to being equipped with body armor and modern military weapons. Ready Or Not recommends players to fire at the suspect's center of mass when using lethal force.

Fire discipline becomes especially essential to completing missions, as players who shoot restrained suspects, civilians, or AI team members will be engaged by police as punishment for violating those rules and ethics within the universe of the game.

Modes

Missions are played in single player with AI teammates, or cooperatively with up to 5 players through online multiplayer. A competitive player versus player mode is planned for sometime after the 1.0 release.

Four single player modes are available at the start, those being the Commander, Quick Play, Ironman Mode, and Training.

Training is a tutorial that takes place in the firing range of the LSPD station that teaches players the basics of the game, such as using basic equipment and how to issue commands.

Commander is the main single player mode. The player manages a SWAT team and after every mission, the mental states of officers will deteriorate. Mental state deterioration rate depends on a variety of factors, such as killing suspects instead of arresting them or if a fellow SWAT team member dies. Team members can be sent to therapy by the player or forced into therapy if their mental state gets too low, making them unavailable to deploy for some time. Only three team members can be in therapy at once. If a team member fails to have their stress levels reduced, they will resign. If individual team members are used for long enough, they will eventually unlock a trait which will alter the team dynamic such as increasing the overall accuracy of the team or making suspects more likely to surrender.

Ironman Mode is the same as Commander Mode, however if the player dies their entire progress is reset from the beginning.

Quick Play removes the management system from Commander, but otherwise plays the same. Since the management system is removed, team members will not have access to traits.

Plot

Characters and Setting

The player plays as Commander David “Judge” Beaumont, who has been assigned to command D Platoon of the LSPD SWAT Team to respond to the massive surge of violent crime in the city. Taking place in the mid 2020s, Los Sueños is under a state of rapid decline. The city experiences a lot of criminal activity, widespread homelessness, corruption, dilapitaded streets and public areas, and obvious building and infrastructure deterioration.

Story

While the base game does not have a linear story, multiple levels are interconnected with each other to provide an overarching story. Additional story context is provided through environmental storytelling, audio logs found through the missions, mission briefings, and mission evidence earned through scoring.

Thank You, Come Again + Twisted Nerve

LSPD SWAT responds to a gas station robbery, where the suspects are believed to be under the influence of methamphetamine who planned to rob an armored car making a drop off in order to fuel their addiction. The suspects are defeated by the SWAT team. Later on, LSPD SWAT raids a couple of residential houses which are involved with the production and distribution of meth. Evidence shows that the criminal organization Los Locos Del Pacificos gang were the ones behind the drug lab operations.

23 Megabytes A Second + Sinuous Trail + The Spider + Valley of the Dolls

LSPD SWAT responds to a call where the caller, internet streamer Michael Williams, claims he shot and killed his mother, and is holding his brother hostage. Upon breaching the apartment building, an illegal crypto mining server is found. The mother and brother are also found alive, which suggests the call to police was a swatting. Williams is arrested, and a search of his room finds indecent and prohibited images of minors. Hard drives are seized and searched, which point to a data center run by technology company Mindjot as a distribution center for child pornography. After LSPD SWAT raids the Mindjot datacenter, images on hard drives from the raid are analyzed and lead to a talent agency called Brixley Talent Time, which only works with children. The raid on the talent agency finds wire transfers from an offshore account going to the talent agency going back six years, and determined to be from adult film director Amos Voll. LSPD SWAT raids Voll's mansion and arrests Voll. They discover child pornography sets, a darkroom where Voll develops photographs of children, a room full of half buried barrels that presumably contain the dissolved corpses of children, and a shrine Voll made of his own daughter for his own sexual gratification.

Ides of March + Sins of the Father

LSPD SWAT responds to a domestic terrorist group known as "The Left Behind," a group of disillusioned military veterans who feel they have been betrayed by the institutions they once served. The group has barricaded themselves in an apartment building after attempting to assassinate presidential candidate Senator Fremont, who proposed a new bill that would cut funding for the VA hospital. LSPD SWAT successfully takes down the terrorists. The next day, Senator Fremont and his family are moved to a hotel under protective custody of the Secret Service, but The Left Behind activates sleeper agents within the Secret Service security detail. The sleeper agents take Senator Fremont and his family hostage. LSPD SWAT successfully takes down all the suspects and secure the Senator and his family.

A Lethal Obsession

Former United States Intelligence Agency (the in-game equivalent to the CIA) agent Gerard Scott ambushes a group of officers, leaving three dead and three in critical condition. LSPD SWAT tracks him down to his cabin, and take down Scott and his associates. A search of the house reveals boxes of stolen federal documents, anti-government schizophrenic drawings, bomb making materials, and weaponized ricin experiements. An audio log found in the cabin suggests Scott knows Judge and his background to some extent, and believes Judge and himself are a part of some bigger conspiracy.

Neon Tomb + Relapse

LSPD SWAT responds to a mass shooting at the Neon nightclub by "The Hand", a Islamic terrorist group based in Yemen that carried out the shooting in response to the US military conducting airstrikes targeting them in Yemen. LSPD SWAT takes down the terrorists and arrest Zahir "Quadamah" Asadullah alive (regardless if he is killed during the level), who is in charge of the US chapter of The Hand. Quadamah is transported to the correctional facility, but is severly beaten by correctional officers and is then transffered to Coastal Grove Medical Center. Members of The Hand attack the hospital to free Quadamah, killing anyone they see. LSPD SWAT goes on scene, stops the attack, disarms bombs planted by The Hand, and recapture Quadamah.

Greased Palms

Two detectives from the Criminal Investigation Unit go to the Los Sueños Postal Service to talk to a Federal Investigation and Security Agency (the in-game equivalent to the FBI) Customs Inspector named Jack Adams, but are attacked by the Los Locos gang. LSPD SWAT goes into the scene, with orders from FISA to apprehend Adams alive as he is the prime suspect of weapons trafficking. On scene, Adams and his accomplices are arrested and a large number of smuggled weapons are found.

Rust Belt

A Los Locos human smuggling operation has been located and the gang is planning to move a large amount of people, products, and cash. When LSPD SWAT goes on scene, they encounter a vast tunnel system that eventually leads to a barge in a large underground cavern that is used to transport goods through the border. Mexican passports are also found in one of the houses that hides the entrance to the tunnel system.

Elephant

Four students carry out a mass shooting at Watt Community College. LSPD SWAT responds, takes out the shooters, and disarms two homemade bombs. Mission evidence shows that at least two of the shooters suffered from depression and were on anti-depressants during the shooting.

Carriers of the Vine

Members of the "Carriers of the Vine", an all-women pagan and misandrist cult, assault a man at a convinece store and flee to their compound. Two police officers go to the cult's compound and are fired upon, resulting in the death of one officer and the other officer under fire. LSPD SWAT is deployed to the compound, but neither of the first responding officers are found. On scene, the cult leader, Elaine Raskin, is apprehended, who is a former USIA agent. A torture room is found at the back of the compound. Mission evidence shows a box containing photographs of known missing persons, and a document showing that Raskins was involved in some sort of top-secret psychological warfare operation. The document shows that the USIA planned to or has already implemented a subject, known as "Target Gamma One," into a leadership position in "the department" and would have his performance monitored. On the back of this document, "Beaumont" is written in red ink, which is Judge's last name.

Ends Of The Earth + Buy Cheap, Buy Twice + Hide And Seek

Sons of a Vietnamese family are selling illegal firearms converted to fire in full auto using 3D printed parts, and are using the funds to pay for their mother's lung cancer medical treatment. LSPD SWAT raids the home, subdues everyone in the house including Los Locos gang members who are present, and finds the 3D printing factory in the attic.

The sons were getting the firearms they were modifying from Caesar's Cars, a front for weapon trafficking for Los Locos and the Russian Mafia. Later on, detectives perform a routine warrant service on the dealership, but are fired upon by the occupants. LSPD SWAT rushes in and secures the area to perserve any evidence and resuce an undercover agent, who is later found dead. At the scene, illegal weapons are found along with both intact and shredded documents relating to human trafficking.

With evidence found at the dealership, a planned arms deal is discovered at Port Hokan and is believed that most, if not all, of the illegal transactions come out of the port. LSPD, ATF, and FISA conduct a joint operation and raid the port. LSPD SWAT is tasked with securing Terminal A of the port. There, weapon shipments are discovered but a human trafficking auction room is located as well, with anonymous buyers watching online who quickly turn off their computers once they see the SWAT team. Judge opens one of the shipping containers and finds a group of naked sex trafficking victims. As Judge reports this finding to his command, an unnamed FISA Commander suddenly cuts in over the radio and orders Judge to close the container and ignore the victims or face punishment, claiming that the victims are a part of an ongoing FISA investigation. Judge begrudgingly complies with the order and tells the FISA Commander that they'll talk about it later, to which the FISA Commander responds with "No, we wont be. FISA out."

Home Invasion DLC

Home Invasion released on July 23, 2024. The release also upgraded Ready Or Not to Unreal Engine 5.

The DLC missions are available to play once all of the base game missions are completed. Three missions are included, which takes place after Los Sueños has experienced a Category 5 hurricane. Three new weapons and multiple customization items are also included.

The DLC missions are as follows:

• Dorms: A dilapidated dorm building has been taken over by homeless people and drug addicts, and the building needs to be cleared out.
• Narcos: An undercover agent has be compromised, and must be rescued from the Los Locos Del Pacificos gang.
• Lawmaker: Eco-terrorists have taken an oil lobbyist and his family hostage in his home.

Development

Development began in June 2016 and a reveal trailer was released on YouTube on May 3, 2017. An alpha version of the game was made available on August 19, 2019 for owners of the Supporter Edition under a non-disclosure agreement. Supporters and select YouTubers were invited to a PvP test in April 2020 and were allowed to publish footage. The game was released on Steam Early Access on December 17, 2021.

At The Game Awards 2023, VOID Interactive announced that the 1.0 version was released on December 13, 2023. The full release includes a mission dealing with swatting and illegal crypto mining. The 1.0 release also addresses overhauls to the effectiveness of less-lethal equipment, mental health in law enforcement, inter-agency cooperation, and officer personality traits. Similar to SWAT 3, Ready Or Not 's 1.0 release will include sophisticated AI that performs actions such as restraining suspects and taking cover autonomously rather than relying on player input.

VOID Interactive planned to release two DLCs by Spring and Summer 2024, respectively; the former having the title of Home Invasion.

Publishing issues

A partnership with Team17 to publish the game under their label was announced on March 22, 2021. On December 20, 2021, VOID Interactive announced that their partnership with Team17 had ended and that they would no longer be publishing the game. Speculation suggested that this was due to the developers teasing a school shooting level on Reddit one day prior, although this was denied by VOID.

On June 16, 2022, Ready or Not was delisted from Steam after a takedown request was issued against the game for trademark infringement relating to a level set in a nightclub. Though media reports suggested it was connected to the level's release date—June 12, the anniversary of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting (VOID did not comment on why this date was chosen)—it was noted that the name of the in-game nightclub, "Pryzm", was also the name of a British nightclub chain owned by Rekom UK. The game returned to Steam on June 18 with the infringing elements removed.

Reception

Ready or Not currently has a score of 79 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favourable reviews". It was the best selling game on Steam in the week after its release, and has been favorably described as a spiritual successor to the SWAT series and early Rainbow Six games.

Ethan Gach, writing an early review for Kotaku, called Ready or Not a "tactical horror game" and "an unsettling SWAT fantasy", praising its atmosphere but also criticizing it as tasteless due to insensitivity towards police brutality and jarring tonal shifts between crude humor and dark drama. Gach also highlighted apparent references to alt-right memes such as redpill and the use of "Jogger" as a racist euphemism (in reference to Ahmaud Arbery). VOID responded to Gach's review, denying any connection to extremism, saying that the alleged dog whistles were coincidental, and stating they would remove the references in question.

In its review of the Home Invasion DLC, PC Gamer praised the gameplay and weapon additions while criticizing alleged class bias surrounding the Dorms level (where both the suspects and civilians are homeless individuals).

External links

• Official website
• VOID Interactive January 7, 2023 AMA (Afterparty AMA)
• VOID Interactive April 22, 2023 AMA
• VOID Interactive Law Enforcement AMA August 2, 2024