REVIEW / Ready or Not (PC)

If you’ve always fantasized how SWAT teams carry out operations or had a hankering for a taste of SWAT training, Ready or Not is the game you want to check out. It is a very accurate depiction of a SWAT simulation: close-quarters tactics and team coordination. The atmosphere is always tense. You enter hostile rooms with flashing lights, shouting suspects, civilians frozen in fear, and that knowing every single action you take as the SWAT leader will affect everyone. 

Mechanics-wise, Ready or Not leans heavily into realism and tactical planning. Before each mission you prep gear, choose loadouts, decide your team and their roles, and think about how you’ll clear rooms. That planning phase and then execution gives genuine weight to every decision. It’s never run-and-gun; you often have to stack up, use flashbangs or shields, breach carefully, and coordinate door entries. When that discipline pays off, the feeling of accomplishment is intense.

However, the game is painfully inconsistent. The AI behaviour is often absurd. Sometimes enemies or teammates act tactically, but more often they behave like rubber-band caricatures. There are times when you execute a perfect breach, and your AI squad just stands there, doing nothing. Other times, enemies seem to have supernatural awareness and spot you through thin walls or corners and drop you instantly with no chance for reaction. That randomness kills the realistic immersion for me.

Progression and design-wise, the game tries to be serious and gritty. It’s set in a fictional American city where crime is spiraling, gangs and corruption are everywhere. You would think this has potential to explore tough stories, but the narrative tends to fade into the background. Missions blur into each other, and outside of a few standout moments, you’re mostly handling door-kicks, room clears, or shootouts. There is a framework of gangs, drug dens, criminal networks, but that framework rarely feels like a living world but rather rotating scenarios. I found myself caring more about “clearing the map” than what happened after. That’s a pity, because there’s a setup here for a compelling urban crime drama, but the delivery is spotty.

Difficulty in Ready or Not is another double-edged sword. On the normal or recommended difficulty, scenarios feel tense and dangerous in a satisfying way. But on harder settings (or in poorly balanced missions), the difficulty swings into cruel and unfair. Between inconsistent AI, unlucky sightlines, or teammates failing you, certain missions turn into long sessions of trial and error. Replaying the same room over and over until the AI or RNG “feels right” starts to feel less like realistic tactics and more like desperate grinding. I respect difficulty when it’s fair, but here, it often isn’t.

Multiplayer (or co-op) in Ready or Not adds an interesting dimension. With real players, the tactical aspect shines more. Communicating with friends, coordinating entries, and stacking shifts can feel cinematic and intense. But casual matchmaking tends to bring random players, often with run-and-gun attitudes that clash with the intended style. When you get a cohesive squad, the game hums. When you don’t,  it becomes chaotic and far less fun.

As for visuals and environment design, all I can say is that sometimes, the game nails it. Some maps with gritty drug dens, trashed apartments, tense hostage scenes evoke that grim, realistic vibe. Shadows, lighting, sound combine to create properly unsettling tension. Other times though, textures look muddy, lighting feels off, and it dips noticeably into dated territory which sours the immersion. On a few maps I honestly felt like I was tearing through an older shooter, not a modern tactical sim.

Another problem is the balance (or lack thereof) of mission design. A handful of missions work perfectly: balanced layout, tactical options, tension, rewarding stealth or precision. But too many rely on cheap enemy placement, poor sightline design, or unfair AI spawn/awareness which results in frustrating restarts, or low-reward run-and-gun conclusions. When that happens, the game feels like it’s punishing you for playing tactically rather than rewarding it.

So, after some hours with Ready or Not, what’s the verdict? It’s a passionate, gritty shooter with strong core ambitions: careful tactics, tension-filled missions, and a sense of realism you don’t often get. On its best days, it simulates a SWAT raid with intensity and gravity. On its worst days, it becomes a frustrating mixture of randomness, AI flubs, technical bugs, and design oversights.

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This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.