Ready or Not

Ready or Not is a tactical SWAT simulator from the Irish studio VOID Interactive, the spiritual successor to SWAT 4 (Irrational Games, 2005). The full release came out on December 13, 2023, after two years of early access. The story is set in the fictional American city of Los Sueños, where an LSPD SWAT team takes on cases that regular patrol officers cannot handle: hostage situations, cartel operations, a nightclub, cult estates.

There are two main modes built on one game core. Commander mode (single-player): you command a squad of four AI officers through a radial menu: split the group, breach a door, use gas or a flashbang, arrest or neutralize. After each mission, officers can deteriorate from killings instead of arrests and from harsh scenes. This is not decoration but a mechanic: you can send an officer to therapy, sideline them, or lose them. Online co-op for up to 5 players (the host and four friends) uses the same maps, but with real people, voice chaos, and mutual casualties from your own flashbangs.

The game loop is not at Call of Duty pace. Before a mission you read a short briefing: who the hostages are, who the suspects are, the floor plans, the priorities. The Rules of Engagement (rules on the use of force) are mandatory: you must first shout at a suspect to surrender, otherwise the officer takes a morale penalty. One bullet to an unprotected area is often death, and this applies equally to both sides. Choosing equipment before heading out (pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, non-lethal options such as the taser and pepper balls) makes up a third of a mission's success.

There are three paid add-ons at $9.99 each: Home Invasion (July 2024), residential neighborhoods after a Category 5 hurricane; Dark Waters (December 2024), maritime missions: a yacht with hostages, an oil rig, an island with drug trafficking; Boiling Point (March 2026), riots in Los Sueños, a bank robbery, City Hall, new weapons. There is also a free update, Los Sueños Stories (July 2025). The base key does not include the DLC.

In July 2025 the game was released on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. To pass console certification, VOID made content changes that also came to PC: some scenes were toned down. This caused a wave of negative reviews in late June and early July 2025. Two weeks later, sales recovered. At present the game is rated Mostly Positive at 76% (253,000+ reviews in total), and Recent Very Positive at 86% after Boiling Point. The Steam key activates only the PC version; progress does not sync with consoles.

Localization: the Russian interface and subtitles are official, while the voice-over is English only. For fans: the community ported the professional Russian voice-over from SWAT 4 (the 1C edition, early 2000s) into Ready or Not's voice categories, with more than 7,000 lines and several maintained mods on Nexus Mods. This is not AI, but archival audio from the spiritual predecessor. It is installed manually and is not an official VOID product.

Ready or Not is a realistic tactical SWAT simulator from VOID Interactive, the spiritual successor to SWAT 4. You command a squad of 4 officers in single-player or play co-op with up to 5 players. One bullet often decides the outcome. Russian interface and subtitles. Steam key.