Ready or Not review: Tense tactical shooter will make you squirm

I've never played SWAT 4. That's a weird way to open a review, but in Ready or Not's case it's worth noting as the closest touchstone to VOID interactive's first-person shooter, finally out of early access this week.

My closest point of comparison, in many ways, is Rainbow Six 3. In Ready or Not's best moments, it stacks up (pun intended) very favourably compared to that game I spent hours, and likely days, playing on the original Xbox.

The difference here is that rather than a hodgepodge of special forces soldiers, you're put in the boots of a Los Sueños armed response team leader very heavily inspired by the LAPD - something that may cause some consternation.

Breach and Clear

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The good thing is that controversy aside (I'll come to that soon), Ready or Not plays fantastically. Weapons have predictable recoil patterns, and your squad of five LSPD officers are equipped with a variety of tools for just about any situation.

A great example of this is how to approach a closed door. They can be booted in, but that's noisy and opens you up to a quick volley of gunfire from a waiting enemy (procedural generation moves them around to keep you guessing, mission after mission).

You can peek, or set up your team with an almost dizzying array of commands, ranging from opening and clearing, to flashbangs, to lethal explosives, to simply blowing the door up entirely.

It satisfies that same ideal of Rainbow Six 3 that I adored all those years ago, where a successful room clear with zero friendly casualties is a not-insubstantial win.

To its credit, Ready or Not leans on the difference between something like a Rainbow Six and a police-themed shooter by adding extra wrinkles. Enemies can be arrested, and there's evidence to be secured throughout. You can also make use of your team's bodycams via a picture-in-picture mode for scouting ahead, but given how fragile they are (and how dangerous enemies are), it often feels like doing so will leave you a team member down pretty quickly.

In one mission I ordered a squad member to secure a hostage, and in doing so the target revealed themselves to be a disguised suspect, lunging with a knife and injuring the officer before the LSPD gunned them down. Even in those moments that feel cut and dry, Ready or Not is always capable of springing surprises.

Danger Close (to home)

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Ready or Not's missions vary wildly, from a gas station holdup that kicks things off, all the way to warehouses and even a hospital. That's where much of my concern comes in while playing, though - sometimes it almost feels too real.

Call of Duty is a blockbuster video game where guns feel great to use, and a thick coat of jingoism does its best to highlight that you're the 'good guys', even when that involves the literal rewriting of history. And yet, throughout all of that, the big setpieces make it feel less like a wartime scenario and more like a popcorn action flick.

Ready or Not, despite being set within a single city very clearly analogous to LA as opposed to a warzone, is more stressful than any other shooter I've played in the last few years. It's a world where corners left unchecked are likely to be a death sentence, and where trauma is gamified by sending rattled squadmates to therapy at the click of a button.

Each mission's relatively open nature means they can be approached from any angle. Still, aside from the tension that reaches boiling point with every door opened and command issued, levels paralleling the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 (released on the same date during early access as the event's anniversary) feel downright obscene at times.

While I appreciate there needs to be a degree of horror to showcase these missions at their most realistic, the nightclub level, and the much-publicised appearance of a college shooter one, had me feeling more uncomfortable than anything I've played in recent memory. 

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Maybe it's being a parent, but pushing through rooms while my AI squadmates quip just feels insensitive given the sheer number of school shootings that occur in the US in any given calendar year.

Aside from the game's settings themselves, I have qualms with the way one mission plays out with a suspect suffering from symptoms of schizophrenia. While the mission is tense, and the suspect in question will attempt to sneak up on your squad, giving it a unique dynamic, I feel it leans too heavily on the overworked trope that ties mental health and horror together.

Your mileage may vary, but those of a certain disposition might be better off playing in co-op for more levity.

Squad up

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You'll likely want to team up, too, as Ready or Not's AI can be hit or miss. While I found enemies consistently challenging, helping ratchet up the tension, AI teammates were a little less easy to predict.

In relatively simple instances where you split the team, that can work fine, but more than once I saw a squad of four barge into a room, constantly treading on each other's toes and walking straight into fire. It doesn't happen all the time, but it is something to be aware of, particularly if you're in Commander Mode. 

This setup puts your squad through the wringer, moving from mission to mission and being rewarded by getting them out safely. It's challenging, made doubly so by adding the Ironman modifier for permadeath, but the unlockable perks never feel particularly game-changing. Passive buffs like additional armour are nice, but they're not drastically overhauling each run.

Between missions, you'll come back to your base of operations, and while the majority of Ready or Not is buttery smooth, this is the only place I noticed any slowdown, with a fair amount of frame rate drops. Thankfully when it comes to actual missions, Ready or Not is a good-looking game that performs very well indeed.

The Verdict

Ready or Not is a game that is designed to make players feel uncomfortable. In one way, its tense gunfights and the uncertainty of what's behind the next door achieve that in spades.

On the other, the locations and missions will cut a little too close to reality for some.

3.5/5

Reviewed on PC. Review code provided by the publisher.