Those who regularly frequent Steam have probably stumbled upon a first-person shooter calledReady or Notat least a handful of times. This game, which was developed by the Ireland-based studio Void Interactive, is one of the most popular titles on the storefront in recent memory. It has more than 180,000 user reviews on Steam, and it’s even attained a peak concurrent player count of over 50,000. Looking at the game’s screenshots, some may assume thatReady or Notis aCall of Duty-style military FPS, but it’s actually a tactical, slow-paced shooter, a far cry from many of the blisteringly fast FPS titles on the market.
Ready or Notwas released through Steam’s early access program in 2021, but it eventually received a full launch in late 2023. Since its initial debut, the game has only been playable on Windows PCs. However, that’s soon about to change. During the recent Twitch Galaxies showcase, Void Interactive revealed thatReady or Notwould finally make its way to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/Sin summer 2025, which would coincide with the release of a free new DLC for the game. WhenReady or Notis eventually launched on these platforms, it will likely fill aSWAT-shaped hole in many console gamers' hearts.
Ready or Not is Filling the Gap that SWAT Left on Consoles
Ready or Not is Heavily Inspired by the Now-Dormant SWAT Franchise
Ready or Notis a wholly original IP, but it’s technically a spiritual successor to Sierra Entertainment’s classicSWATfranchise. This series, which also goes by the namePolice Quest,puts players into the shoes of a SWAT officer, who is tasked with handling unscrupulous crime scenarios. The early entries in theSWATfranchise were basically just point-and-click adventure games, similar to other Sierra franchises, likeKing’s QuestandGabriel Knight. However,SWATeventually evolved into a mature FPS series, which ultimately became the basis of inspiration forReady or Not.
The first FPSSWATgame was 1999’sSWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle. Contrary to its name,SWAT 3had more in common withthe originalRainbow Sixgamesthan it did with any of itsPolice Questpredecessors. That said, the game broke many of the first-person shooter genre’s conventions at the time. Rather than being an arcadey, run-and-gun shooter, likeDOOMandDuke Nukem,SWAT 3emphasized realism and proper police protocols. The goal of the game wasn’t to kill as many enemies as possible, but instead to end a crime case with as few deaths as possible.
SWAT 3had a few direct follow-ups, one of them being a 2003game calledSWAT: Global Strike Team.This tactical shooter was developed by Argonaut Games, and it was the first installment in theSWATseries to be released on home consoles, namely the PS2 and Xbox. It, however, wasn’t able to matchSWAT 3in terms of quality and was largely met with poor reviews. AfterSWAT: Global Strike Team’s release, Sierra handed off theSWATfranchise to Irrational Games, the now-defunctstudio behind the originalBioShock. In 2005, Irrational releasedSWAT 4on Windows PCs, and it received widespread critical acclaim.
Since SWAT isn’t Available on Consoles, Ready or Not Will Be a Solid Alternative for PS and Xbox Players
Despite the critical success ofSWAT 4, theSWATfranchise died off shortly after its release. Since 2008, there hasn’t been a single new game in the franchise. Activision, who is the current owner of theSWATIP, hasn’t expressed any interest in reviving the series or remastering its most acclaimed entries for modern platforms. Although some of theSWATgames are still available for sale on PC storefrontslike Steam and GoG, none of them have been ported to modern PlayStation or Xbox systems. SinceReady or Notis pretty much the closest thing that fans will get to a modern-daySWATgame, however, it will probably be a viable-enough alternative for players on consoles.
