Nearly seventeen years have passed since the release of SWAT 4, the last authentic single-player Special Weapons and Tactics simulator. Have police officers become obsolete? Well, it could have in certain circles. Western publishing labels seem to suffer from the present political atmosphere in the United States of America. They usually steer clear of the subject of law enforcement acting as if it were the plague in an urban setting. At the moment, such games are unpleasant. This guideline does not apply to Rainbow Six: Siege as it is a pure multiplayer game, avoiding any potential conflicts with narrative. Right now, all we have are safe but ineffective games like Police Simulator: Patrol Officers. But what if traffic regulation doesn't satisfy you?

Putting Something in the Gap

The adventurous developer from New Zealand, Void Interactive, is hard at work on the solution to your problems. The realistic tactical first-person shooter game Ready or Not is set against the background of US political and economic unrest. That's what they said; praise be to their unwavering resolve! Team17 had intended to release it, but they withheld the game due to concerns about its potential future development. The developers discussed their ideas for the complete release and said they would not hesitate to include a SWAT operation that takes place in a school shooting scenario. And some committee freaked out about it, as was to be expected. Can you imagine if the studios had decided not to release films like as Heat, Training Day, SWAT, or the excellent Tropa de Elite due to the social issues they tackled?

Early Access but Packed with Features

But enough rambling, time for some ingress! Ready or Not is not scheduled for a console release, and is available now on Steam as an early access game. For its early stage, the game is remarkably feature-rich and reliable. It offers you and your AI officers personalization possibilities in addition to numerous full missions that you can play either alone or in online cooperative mode. There are still a lot of things to explain, such as the planning and logistics stage in its entirety, the positioning of snipers, the deployment of various tactical teams in the field, etc. It's even been discussed that negotiators may be used in certain cases as a pre-tactical reaction, though I'm not sure how that would work. The early access version lacks a campaign with a story, but the complete game will have one.

Currently, the game mimics a single attack package consisting of five SWAT personnel, with you acting as the element commander. There are several mission sites, some with multiple options for missions with different Rules of Engagement (RoEs). The most fundamental kind deals with hostages and barricaded suspects; you should only use fatal force when necessary. The second "tier" brings more armed attackers and makes them more deadly. Then there's the bomb threat, the roving active shooter who kills people on occasion, etc. Both lawbreakers and citizens respond to your presence. Some people scream and flee, while others take out hidden weapons and sometimes even start fire behind locked doors if they see SWAT scuttling about.

Go Slow and Easy

When you're not under time pressure to locate explosives or pursue an active shooter, a methodical approach is essential. Put a camera stick on each door if at all feasible in order to search for suspects and traps. After that, if you see danger on the other side, think about using a kick, shotgun blast, or C4 to burst the entryway. If you are entering a room with armed or dubious people, you also need to use flashbangs or other incapacitating devices. The majority of those jobs are within your reach, but it is preferable to provide commands via an easy-to-use context menu. Any veteran will feel completely at home in this system since it is eerily reminiscent of the classic SWAT games.

Most missions now lack much incentive for taking a covert approach. When gunshots and explosions occur outside of their local area, suspects often do not respond. They won't plan ahead, rush to reach you from a distance, or, if they're caught off guard, turn around and fire without warning. The worst that will likely happen is sporadic gunfire from within closed doors.

In the area of conflict, you have to arrest everyone. You may do it by pointing the pistol at them and verbally ordering them using a keybind. others will break and surrender, others will flee away in fear, but some will take out hidden weapons and show who they really are—tangos. Whether a civilian or not, everyone who surrenders has to be tagged and placed in handcuffs. This earns you points and advances the mission's goals. When the task is over, the game will assign you a grade depending on a number of variables. Any unlawful use of force will significantly reduce the total.

Non-Deadly Choice

A small amount of equipment modification is possible for you and your teammates with Ready or Not. You may equip different kinds of armor and equipment, add additional sights and attachments to your main weapons, and more. Even though employing tasers and beanbag shotguns is a non-lethal option, playing without automatic weaponry is far more difficult. Once you finish all the objectives in solo mode, there's a good five-person co-op option that's rather simple at the moment.

Although it isn't quite ready yet, Ready or Not already has a lot of promise. It provides something that a lot of people have been waiting for a while. Even if it's not (yet) as successful as Valheim, the player base is growing quickly since it sells like hotcakes. Its bright future is something I would definitely bet on if I were a betting man.