Ready or Not Really Like SWAT 5; Great Early Access Launch
Ready or Not debuted in Steam's Early Access and turned out to be a success. The first reviews are very positive - many people describe the title as S.W.A.T. 5. Yesterday Void Interactive's game was played by almost 15 thousand people at the same time.
- On 17 December Ready or Not was released in Early Access on Steam;
- The tactical shooter from Void Interactive proved to be a success - out of over four thousand reviews on Valve's platform, as many as 96% are positive, and players describe the title as S.W.A.T. 5;
- During the last 24 hours the game was played by up to 14,990 people at the same time.
The spiritual successor to the S.W.A.T. series., the tactical FPS Ready or Not, hit Early Access on Steam on December 17 and turned out to be a success. The title collected over four thousand reviews from users of Valve's platform over the weekend, and their average is overwhelmingly positive at 96%. Players praise the animation, sound design and realism, not without reason, describing the game created by Void Interactive as S.W.A.T. 5. Here are some sample opinions (original spelling):
"Look, I am not exaggerating here when I say this but, Ready or Not is genuinely one of the most thrilling, nerve-wrecking, exciting and best games I have played so far this year. For someone like me that grew up playing SWAT 4 pretty much every day after school on my dad's old Dell PC this game brings back a lot of nostalgia for me which makes it even better. I think I speak for all of us that played SWAT 4 when I say we have all been waiting and seething for a similar title that can scratch that itch - Ready or Not does just that. The game is fantastic in every single aspect. I also love how punishing and difficult it can be at times. The margin for error is very small, which just adds to the realism," writes h8koN-.
"The game we all have been waiting since the release of SWAT4!," writes Froues.
Overall: 8/10
"Sets out to be a SWAT simulator with a realistic shooter feel, does that well. Has some issues that need refining, and much content is missing. The police station feels like I joined a cult or some Judge Dredd universe where cops use tons of candles for some reason. Many missions are still unavailable. I'd hope fire arms get added and more customization gets added to because as it stands it is somewhat barebones (mostly on the gear and gun customization side, there's enough diversity in the firearm list to keep me occupied for now). It is early access though, so maybe future updates will fix these shortcomings," writes OwO Bowman.
The game is available in two editions: "standard" and Supporter edition. Purchasers of the latter could recently test Ready or Not, even before the start of Early Access. Their impressions coincided with the statements of Steam users. There are various bugs in the game, and the AI is far from perfect, but Void Interactive has created a solid foundation that fans of the S.W.A.T. series should test right now. Although probably not everyone will be satisfied right away, as evidenced by the few negative reviews, such as this one (original spelling):
"Needs a lot of work to attain the worth of its price tag.
Ready or Not has a number things going for it, inter alia, great optimisation, rich audio design and good graphics.
What it sorely lacks is content and solid gameplay. As of now, there is very little to keep yourself busy with: 3 small and 2 big-ish maps and a few gadgets/weapons to try out. Some of these gadgets, for instance, the taser, not even being enjoyable to use, as enemies don't react to them appropriately. [...] Overall, the gameplay department leaves a lot to be desired. There are no unique scenarios or mechanics, and the AI is annoyingly silly but inhumanly accurate. Compared to SWAT 4 - the game RoN draws much of its inspiration from - this game is hugely stagnating and fails to make any meaningful improvements to the formula. In 16 bloody years," writes Guardian_Angel.
Let the numbers be the measure of the success achieved by Void Interactive, however. In the last 24 hours Ready or Not was player by 14,990 people at the same time (see screenshot above). This may not be as many as in the case of Early Access for Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, but the tactical shooter genre also has to be described as more niche than the combination of RPG and strategy offered by TaleWorlds. In other words, fans of the S.W.A.T. series have been waiting for the fifth part for over sixteen years, and it seems like they finally got it.
