VOID Interactive's hardcore tactical first-person shooter game Ready or Not is finally launching out of early access later today, around 10 AM Pacific Time.
The game was originally announced six years ago, although it has been in development even earlier than that (since June 2016). Pre-orders started in March 2019 for a Q4 2020 launch window, but there was a delay. Ready or Not eventually reached Steam Early Access in December 2021, nearly two years ago. It immediately made the news both for becoming a top seller on Valve's digital store and for a planned school shooting level.
Another controversy ensued in June 2022, when Ready or Not was briefly removed from Steam due to a copyright infringement caused by materials added with the Night Club map. The game quickly returned available on Steam once those materials were removed, though.
Despite these situations, the game remained extremely popular among fans. It still has a 91% approval rating from users, and estimates based on Steam data put its sales between 2.82 and 4.04 million units.
The 1.0 update is obviously a big deal for VOID Interactive. Fans can expect the following additions:
- Commander Mode: A full, immersive single-player mode offering an insight into the high-stakes reality of SWAT officers. Players take the role of a Los Sueños Police Department SWAT commander dispatched to defuse various high-risk scenarios including hostage situations, active bomb threats, barricaded suspects, and more.
- Significantly expanded number of missions.
- Complete overhaul of prior missions.
- Additional content, customization, and quality-of-life improvements.
The SWAT AI has also received various enhancements, as detailed in the Ready or Not video log below. There are now twelve different SWAT voices for NPCs featuring over 18K voiced lines. They will be more intelligent while positioning on the battlefield, and players may also take advantage of brand new individual teammate commands (clearing a room without backup, swapping positions with a squadmate) as well as commands to use non-lethal gadgets like pepper spray or taser.
For now, Ready or Not remains a PC exclusive. VOID Interactive said it was interested in potential console releases, even going as far as expressing excitement for the haptics feedback enabled by the PS5's DualSense controllers. However, nothing came of it yet.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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