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Ready or Not, here I come through the door with a lot of firepower, possibly to kill you. The successor, of sorts, to the widely regarded greatest tactical shooter of all time, SWAT 4, Ready or Not finally came out of Early Access at the tail end of last year. Set in a not-so-subtle nod to Los Angeles and America in general, Los Sueños is under the influence of gang warfare, drugs, and plenty of mental health issues that plague cities across the US and other portions of America.

Purposefully difficult, the tactical shooter brings what SWAT 4 had forward into a modern era, and arguably grounds itself a little more. Where SWAT went for a focused, Black and White, good vs evil, and sometimes cartoonish then depressingly grim and realistic feel, Ready or Not might be looking at shades of gray but also doesn’t have a clear message. The “story” is pulled in several directions, leaving you without a greater sense of scale to your actions. It doesn’t feel like a climax we’re continually building to but rather many smaller hills being climbed.

This sounds like a major criticism, but it’s not when I take into account the fact that each mission does contribute to a story. You may be responding to an active shooting at a gas station/diner that leads you to a later mission at a crack den. Alternatively, you might be swatting a Streamer who just happens to have illicit material of children on his hard drive and that leads you elsewhere. I did say that there are shades of gray, and while horrible things are going on in those missions, you have a politician being targeted by an armed militia that is full of disabled veterans.

Ready or Not is split into four modes. You have the campaign which has two direct modes, you have a “practice” mode, and you have multiplayer. The campaign is where I think the most interesting things happen, as you have a normal play-as-you-will mode and then an Ironman run. Both run similarly to each other, the only difference between Ironman and a typical save is that if you don’t fire first, you’ll end up with another name in the station’s memoriam. However, the difference between those modes and practice is where I think Ready or Not is carving a nice little spot for itself in being wonderfully horrific.

Not only do you end up with bullet wounds all over and some mental scarring from seeing that Streamer’s collection of anime dolls, but so do all of your team. A heavy morality system is at play, and if you go in and lose someone or take a lot of fire, you’ll end up with an unhappy, tense, and generally uneasy team to be working with. This can result in hesitation, brash decisions around civilians, and everything you don’t want when you are heading into a very dangerous situation. You don’t want to take a stressed team into a school with four active shooters.

This is where I think the actual missions become more important. The team’s mental state also depends on the success rate you happen to achieve: The first time I’ve cared to S rank anything. If you leave the evidence in the open, suspects and civies undetained, or don’t bother finding all that you were (and weren’t) briefed on, everyone starts doubting your abilities as the SWAT leader. This is a brilliant/bloody horrendous mechanic, depending on the map I’m playing on. Some maps are Hitman 3 (2021) sized, and then others are really tight Blood Money levels.

Two examples of the small tight levels would have to be “A Lethal Obsession” and “Ends of the Earth,” two very different but tight, focused levels. The first is a former USIA (FBI) agent turned conspiracy nut who has set up bombs around his hut in the woods. The latter is a normal duplex you’d find around Huntington Beach but on a cliff like it is Santa Monica. In theory, they are really focused and really simple, but traps and civilians prove to be the “issue” in getting those higher ranks and clean runs.

Meanwhile, there are larger, more complex levels such as “Ides of March,” “Valley of Dolls,” “Sins of the Father,” “Rust Belt,” and “Elephant.” In order they are: Highly armed disabled vets, a child pornographer, a politician’s family held hostage, an illegal migration set up, and lastly to round out this “charming” collection, a school shooting. It is labeled a community college but is also set up like a high school complete with lockers. That isn’t a bad thing, I think the taboo sections of SWAT and Ready or Not are very important to their identities.

Though to return to my main point about this second grouping of levels, they are a bit larger, they have more rooms, and in the event of “Elephant” a literal ticking time bomb (or three). The larger levels can pose a bit of frustration, especially in Ironman mode or in multiplayer which I’ll touch on here in a minute. Either they have final details you aren’t briefed on or evidence you need to pick up which means scouring multiple floors with no active threats when near completion. Unlike SWAT 4, you can opt for a soft exit, leaving unmarked evidence, but as I’ve said, in the campaign this is risky.

Higher scores result in an easier time for your crew, but if you can afford to let them go for a few days, you can send them to the station’s therapist. I’m sure the old man’s got a couple of programs for seeing a kid hooked on meth, shooting suspects at point-blank range with a shotgun, and generally a lot of the horrible stuff you’ll come across. You don’t have that luxury, as you command the crew through nightclubs where the bodies are stacked and through caves under the border where every twist is another threat. Don’t go firing stressed team members though, that makes it worse.

In theory, the missions are meant to be played over and over again, though some are larger (and more troublesome) than others. This is where I think multiplayer comes into the conversation, and though I am one who often shuns such things, we did get two keys for review, so I dragged David along with me. The thing is, the larger levels don’t work well when you have two players, and unlike Ready or Not’s 2005 counterpart, neither mods nor the base game offer bots for support at the time of writing.

“How about open lobbies?” I hear someone ask, but I think the experience of abuse for not playing something “right” trumps blindly trusting any community. Even the nicest ones that create wonderful mods (as Ready or Not has), often have the “you’re not playing it right” people. So with only the two of us, we went into a few levels early on and spent a few hours shouting, and in one case, shooting a man’s hands off with a shotgun at point-blank range. I’m not naming names, but I opt for a Heckler & Koch 416A5 or an MP5A3, just saying.

It’s not impossible to clear a gas station in a two-man team, it is just really hard! I’ve had a look around to see the opinion on the enemy AI since we took on the task of clearing out hellish places, and I don’t think we’re the only ones to say “Some of those shots were a little unfair.” I’ve already said it, Ready or Not is meant to be difficult in several ways simply as a result of what it is depicting, I get that. That doesn’t mean I didn’t hunt for mods to up armor’s durability and the carry slots, or make the AI fractionally less attentive.

We’ll get to player-made maps in a bit, but with MOD.io natively built-in, there is some ease to modding that other games could use. Especially when modding and playing multiplayer, which I’ve stated is a bit of a focus. That said, if you’re looking for something specific I’d suggest looking at Nexus, as the UI and overall experience can be a bit better. Putting aside the fact that seemingly not all mods are available natively in-game, I think if you know how easy it is to mod Ready or Not with external downloads, it seems easier to do than screw around with the sometimes awkward downloads of MOD.io.

There can be a little bit of a performance hitch, at least in mine and David’s experience. I’ve been a little bit more extensive, playing with different presets and options individually, and everything from low to ultra-mega sexiness can sometimes drop frames, sometimes in the tens. For the most part, it didn’t matter what the graphical settings were. It depended on a couple of things, from the maps and certain things enabled to whatever the AI was doing at any given time. One thing that can drop frame rates is pressing T for headcams, though the mirror gun rarely does.

We also encountered a few bugs. Some were easy to fix, others not so much. One was while modding, all AI voices outside of briefings and the station were muted, which is fixed by verifying the files via Steam. Another was the tutorial level bugging out when you have to do the execute command prompt, which is sort of fixed by having your team kill you and reloading from the checkpoint (which the pause menu doesn’t have). The last notable one was the non-host player opening the briefing, only to see a black screen on the little computer. There was no solution here.

There have been a few crashes in my experience as well. One happened when playing an Ironman campaign mission and I was a third through “Twisted Nerve.” Everything else seemed to be due to modding or trying to load modded maps, which is understandable, they aren’t made for Ready or Not specifically so the issue could be anything. Overall, with more than 60 hours of playtime, bugs, and crashes were a rather insignificant portion of the experience I (and I think David) have had.

This is a genuine marvel, especially given how brilliant the friendly AI of Ready or Not’s single-player works. For a 5-man team, you have single line formation, double formation, diamond, and wedge: Every single one of them (team members and formation) covers the angles necessary for clearing a room. I do mean clearing a room, unlike Call of Duty or otherwise, the AI will specifically follow the walls and check their corners. It isn’t perfect, “Valley of Dolls” has some large open windows to the mansion, chances are they’ll look into the room which is declared “clear” before turning to look out the windows.

Often it takes being shot for them to realize that there might be a danger behind them instead of recognizing that the great big windows are a problem. It might sound weird to point that out as an “issue,” but when a single shot can kill, there is a big difference between checking your angles/clearing a room and death. In campaign/Ironman saves it can send you into an entire spiral towards the end of the campaign. The team’s mental health is being obliterated by these “simple mistakes.”

The campaign itself is really good if a little lost in what it wants to say or do. Many of the levels are grouped into little stories (like a season of TV) but their climaxes never felt eventful enough. I can presume the FISA story will be concluded by a later expansion from VOID Interactive, but at the moment that wraps with a “look away” in mission 18, “Hide and Seek.” The story of illicit images of kids ends at a birthday party in the home of a known pornographer. While the Left Behind group felt almost too quick with only three main levels to it.

I don’t dislike Ready or Not. In fact, I think I’ve lumped more praise on it in the last 2,000 words than anything. VOID Interactive’s tactical shooter is the most modern and premier example of what Rainbow Six and SWAT became: An iceberg of a game, seemingly simple and small on top but incredibly deep below. Yes, you can run into a level and shoot everyone in sight that moves, but you’ll end up with a bunch of F grades and not properly progress. Yes, in the campaign it will negatively impact you heavily for doing so.

In terms of progression, there is little in the way of a sense of accomplishment. There are many unlocks and it does offer you different looks to your officer/team, but it is all cosmetic. This is usually a phrase used around free-to-play titles and I get that, though there is nothing microtransaction-like surrounding Ready or Not. Tattoos are rewarded for completing levels on S-rank, wrist-wear for A or higher, and other portions are unlocked by completing levels at C+ or higher ranks. Then of course you have some things that only unlock for completing every level.

The point is that you have any gun, weapon, or tool at your disposal from the word go. On the one hand, I want to say that is great, but on the other, I find it questionable. None of which talks about the fact you get a military-grade FAL (a battle rifle) for a simple bit of door kicking; the point against taking such heavy weapons is the real discussion of “over penetration.” You might not be able to be specific with your choice of ammo to the point of SOST ball, green tip, and otherwise, but you get the simple FMJs or armor-piercing rounds.

Being LEOs you want a round to hit someone and take them down, but not kill them or anyone on the other side. You are fighting drug dealers and gangsters, you are assaulting houses, hotel rooms, offices, nightclubs, and dockyards, it is so rare you’ll need to reach 200-400 meters and maintain penetration (we’ll laugh and move on) on any level. I’ve spent far too long doing this now to ignore that obvious point of catering to the players who don’t understand how special and interesting Ready or Not is.

Fans of the major first-person shooters can stick to the likes of Call of Duty for automatic weapons and turning someone’s insides into mince meat, Ready or Not is none of that. Ready or Not is a far more methodical experience that requires a moment of thought to every shot. As an example, with the Houthi rebels from “Neon Tomb” holding a hostage as a body shield, you need to take the shot because the AI won’t. There is a big difference between showering the “bad guys” in what you believe to be suppressive fire due to action flicks and responsibly neutralizing a threat.

On its own, Ready or Not is a fantastic breath of fresh air away from the typical “shoot it until it stops.” It is all about knowing when to take shots and commanding the pace. However, you can’t hold Ready or Not up on its own, as it truly is the successor to SWAT 4 that is desperately needed and welcomed after almost two decades. I have my problems with its multiplayer. The lack of friendly AI leaves some of us in a wanting position for a feature that could greatly help in the face of bomb threats, active shooters, and toxic people.

While the story of David “Judge” Beaumont and Los Sueños isn’t long on paper, I’ve put in over 60 hours between Ironman runs, normal campaign runs, and practice as I drill everything down to near perfection. As I’ve said in prior accounts on levels made to replay and I probably remarked something about not caring for in-game ranks and scores too, there are several levels in Ready or Not’s campaign that I do enjoy replaying for quicker times, higher scores, and better outcomes. I can’t quite figure out why, but I believe it is a result of scores and ranks playing into the gameplay loop.

Ultimately, Ready or Not could easily replace a modded SWAT 4 with the addition of another feature or two, or even having the right mods at play. I think VOID Interactive’s base they’ve built here is enough that could see modding, and heaven forbid Payday 2-like DLC, expanding on not only the story but the overall gameplay. Even with modding, Ready or Not is exceeding SWAT 4 in several respects, some of which are nitty-gritty and others are major steps forward. I think, outside of searching for PVP multiplayer, Ready or Not is the best option out there right now for tactics titles of this vein.

A PC review copy of Ready or Not was provided by VOID Interactive for this review.

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Ready or Not

$49.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Tying the ranks, scores, and times into gameplay to get me invested.
• Some taboo subjects many would run away from.
• A mostly realistic depiction of SWAT work in the US.
• Ability to do basic modding without the faff.
• Smart AI in singleplayer.

Cons

• A lack of friendly bots in multiplayer.
• Some of the taboo subjects could be cleaned up a little in the writing.
• Some performance issues.