Ready or Not review — Stay on your toes, you might not be ready

Ready or Not is a tactical first-person shooter that was released in early access in 2021, officially launched back in December on Steam and just a few weeks ago on console. The GT squad and I have been hard at work mastering each level, taking down all the baddies and restoring peace to Los Sueños, or at least trying to. The game puts players into the boots of a SWAT team deployed throughout the city to take down trafficking rings, active shooters, and… suspicious content creators? It blends classic FPS gameplay with high-intensity action for those who have a craving for realism.

This isn’t your typical run-and-gun shooter. Instead, think more along the lines of games like CS2 and Rainbow Six, where the pace is slower and you have to strategize. Every detail, from who is in your squad to the number of magazines you’ll carry, has to be accounted for. On top of that, you are presented with a mission briefing before heading out, which gives you details on what to expect, objectives to complete, and different ways to approach the target. You also have to operate within the Rules of Engagement, or you’ll be heavily penalized if there are too many casualties or infractions, resulting in reduced scores and low officer morale. If your officers become too overburdened by their time in the field, they’ll be required to step out for recovery for a few missions and you’ll have to hire new officers to take their place. Some officers may even retire if they feel like the risk just isn’t worth the reward.

There’s a fairly decent range of weapons and other gear to equip, including options for a less-than-lethal approach should you want to really challenge yourself. I tried this out with some friends and we all equipped pepper pellet and bean bag weapons that serve more to disorient the enemy, forcing their surrender, though enough bean bags to the face will still kill a guy. The game uses a capped loadout system, meaning you can only carry so much. There are a total of 13 slots that you can equip, including everything from magazines to grenades to gadgets. This contributes even more to the planning and strategy needed before heading out to a mission.

When playing single player, you’ll need to focus on leading and guiding your squad. You can issue commands to have them check for dangers ahead, secure surrendering hostiles and civilians, and clear rooms. Leaning on this function will ensure success in each mission as the A.I. enemies do have a tendency to target the player character more so than your squad when you’re within view. This could definitely use some reworking as sometimes enemy A.I. will start shooting at you before you’ve even come into sight. With this being a full 1.0 launch, this really needs to get addressed as it also affects the immersion.

Of course, the multiplayer is really where the fun is. Assembling a squad of friends to take on each mission makes it much easier to communicate priorities and increase efficiency without having to worry about officer morale and resignations, though it can also lead to some hilarious mishaps, like when your fellow editor guns down your editor in chief in a poorly lit dirt tunnel (I’m looking at you, Henry). On the flip side, cross-platform matchmaking is a bit of a struggle to figure out. In order to invite players on other platforms, you have to be friends on Epic Games and then have that linked to your console account(s). It took us a solid ten minutes to get it figured out, but after that the experience was seamless.

Each mission is somewhat procedurally generated. You never know exactly what enemies you’ll face, though the same handful of enemy types are used in each mission, and their locations change with each playthrough, except for some main objective targets. This keeps players on their toes, adding even more to the intensity as you never fully know what you’re walking into, even if you’ve already been there a handful of times. 

While the game did launch on PC with significant performance issues, including stutters, crashes, and teleporting enemies, these appear to have been fixed since then. Additionally, the console launch appears to be free of technical issues, with the only exception being a little stuttering when arriving back at the police station after a mission.

The subject matter of the game will probably catch many off guard as it takes on many of the issues that we hear about all the time in the news. This game doesn’t hold back from the details of these situations and does nothing to dispel the discomfort that comes with confronting the harsh realities of its narrative. It may come as a small comfort to know that it’s not one continuous story that focuses on a single dark reality, however each mission on which you are dispatched comes with a grim backstory. The game can also be triggering to those who may be sensitive to some of these topics. 

The full discussion about whether or not games should even touch on these situations is one we’ll table for another time. However, while we obviously don’t want to glorify this kind of subject matter, it can serve to be an informative and thought-provoking experience. The gameplay is still enjoyable, even with the game’s technical issues. You also don’t have to dive into the backstories of each mission if you don’t want to. You can just as easily select the mission, get your loadout set up, and then head out. Playing with friends also helps to diffuse the tension as you can heckle each other and get up to shenanigans while you’re playing.

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