Ready or Not: SWAT 4's Spiritual Successor

A few years ago Void Interactive announced their desire to create a SWAT game similar to the much loved SWAT 4 and it's predecessors. Development was already underway and since, there have been a number of announcements and information releases showcasing the progress made.

However the latest, and in my opinion most exciting, piece of information to come out recently is an "Official Gameplay Trailer" from Void Interactive showing off a number of features and announces pre-order packages. Pre-order packages are pretty straight forward and break into two categories:

Standard: $39.99

- Full game

-Beta access available June 2020

Supporter: $119.99

- Full game

- Beta access available June 2020

- Alpha access available August 2019

- FBI HRT pack

- 25% discount on first expansion

- For the first 1000 pre-orders you will receive an official Ready or Not mousepad

Pretty clear and concise for anyone who has been missing the feel and play of the old SWAT games. Speaking of, I'll quickly breakdown some of the mechanics referenced in the video.

To give you an idea of what to expect, Void says the game is a blend of first person action and tactical strategy. This is something most anyone is common with if they have spent any time with Rainbow Six: Siege, or any similar style game recently. However the pace is in stark contrast to the explosive, guns blazing, shoot through walls style we are familiar with. There is a lot of emphasis on voice commands, intelligence gathering prior to entering a room, and less-lethal options to detain people and take them into custody. Not everything is about shooting and getting shot at here.

Two overall options are available to play the game, broken into cooperative mode to play with friends and take down suspects, or a PVP mode in which one element is the "Rouge Movement".

Something that really caught my ear though was the fact that it seems a lot has gone into developing at least a basic story to give these people some actual life and history. SWAT cops, beat cops, drug addicts, the drug dealers at the top of the food chain, and even children. You get to hear, see and experience all of their stories giving you some foundation for their actions and likely shaping your tactical decisions.

Void stated they have collaborated with law enforcement personnel to obtain the most authentic representation possible. In that vein you can customize personnel, weaponry, and armor itself can be customized to fit play styles. However, with bullet mapped trajectories and interactions, the right armor selection or style of teamwork can be vital to success.

A huge emphasis will be placed on using less lethal and "safe" options as opposed to just running guns blazing into every situation. Flahbangs, Tasers, sting ball grenades, pepper ball launchers, etc are all options to utilize. However, that doesn't mean every enemy will go along with your instructions, some will push the issue and force the combat. It adds to your tactical decision making skills in the moment and tests the abilities of you and your friends.

Stated in the video is the fact that each scenario in a level is "intelligently randomized" including suspect locations, traps, protection details, and more. You are provided a large set of tools to handle these situations including explosive breaching, lock picks, pole cameras, and the lethal and less lethal options listed above.

Overall, the video is just shy of eight minutes and showcases more information for the game than ever before. When you get a chance give it a look and get yourself excited for some nostalgia wrapped in a 2020 vibe!

I like the sound of this...I’ll keep an ear out, thanks!

Hopefully this will be what I wanted Siege to be, back when it was still Patriots. As much as I like siege, with all the characters and stuff it still bums me out we'll never get a campaign/story linking them all together. The premise was super cool.

But this looks awesome too as a fan of both R6 and SWAT

@reap3r160: I like R6 Siege, but I was a little disappointed with what it became shortly after seeing the Patriots trailer. It's not terrible by any means, but I was really hoping for something like this. Story, genuine team tactics, more than just guns and grenades at my disposal. I'm glad this is on the horizon though.

The super supporter edition just gives you a coupon on the expansion? The fuck?

Aside from that: Looks cool and I am interested. But I also remember Red Tango Down or whatever it was called that was supposed to be a R6/SWAT successor and even managed to screw up the comm rose, let alone things like door opening and gunplay. The kind of stuff that you would think is such a solved problem that nobody could screw it up. Admittedly, there was some other shit allegedly going on with that and a few Influencers acknowledged the game seemed to get a lot worse from the summer before release to release.

Still, it isn't this game's fault, but that still just makes me very wary. Here is to hoping this is as good as it looks.

Tangential: I would LOVE a source port of SWAT 3 that just fixed controls and the like. Because TDM in SWAT 3 is still one of the greatest experiences ever. Two teams spraying through walls at each other while rescuing/capturing hostages and dealing with AI suspects.

@gundato: Yeah, the 25% off coupon thing is a little odd to say the least. Especially if your putting up over $100 for supporting them. I'm hoping they work on opening doors and all that correctly. Let me throw my own door, or have a teammate do it if need be. Let me work the angles, clear everything from the outside, deploy bangs correctly. All the legitimately real-world tactical stuff that I think can really make this an awesome game.

Eeenteresting - it sounds like the dev team is trying to capture the feel of the old SWAT "get everyone out alive - including the suspects" gameplay that was revolutionary back in the day. Hope they pull it off!

Also, I remember there being huuuuuge backlash to SWAT 4 from the SWAT 3 community when the former was announced; has the vitriol cooled since then?

I still go back and play through SWAT 4 every few months. What an awesome gem of a game, and a truly unique type of gameplay that I don't think any other game has captured to this day. R6 Siege isn't even close in my opinion. I wish the devs luck on Ready or Not. Sadly, I vividly recall Takedown Red Sabre painting these same pictures and making these same promises. :(

I'm interested if it's at least half as good as Swat 4.
From the trailer it doesn't look like it, but it may be.

It kinda looks like they found the post process effects buttons and palmed the s*** out of them, i hope that doesn't bog down performance because visually the game doesn't look stunning, the last thing you want when checking out a niche game like this is low frame rates and loud heatsinks.
I love SWAT 4, but i'm currently wary of this game, the trailers aren't selling me on it.

As someone who played the shit out of SWAT 4, I am cautiously optimistic about Ready or Not's single player campaign, both alone and in co-op. Although, I will probably stick to Siege for my PVP fix.