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The safest way to clear rooms in Ready or Not is to slow the operation down: read the briefing, study the floor plan, control every door, gather information before entering, and let coordinated squad commands create the opening. Arrest compliant suspects, secure evidence, and use lethal force only when a suspect presents an immediate lethal threat under the mission’s rules of engagement.
This guide gives you a repeatable procedure for solo play with the AI squad and for co-op teams. It also explains which equipment buys you information and time, how to divide Red and Blue teams without losing cross-coverage, and what PC and PS5 players need to know before deployment.
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Ready or Not - Day 1 Edition – PlayStation 5 | $49.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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What makes Ready or Not different from a run-and-gun shooter
VOID Interactive describes Ready or Not as an intense tactical first-person shooter in which SWAT units defuse hostile situations. Its official summary is a useful description of the intended mindset: “Cover your six, clear your corners, apprehend the threats and rescue the innocent.” You are rewarded for controlling a scene, protecting civilians and teammates, and resolving threats with precision—not for reaching the next room fastest.
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That changes what “good aim” means. A fast reaction helps, but information, angles, door control and communication usually decide whether an entry is clean. A room that looks empty can still contain a suspect behind a door, a civilian who panics, or a second angle that is outside your first officer’s view. Treat each threshold as a small tactical problem rather than as an invitation to sprint inside.
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- Take Command: Ready or Not delivers an immersive SWAT experience. Equip your team with authentic weapons and gear, deploy into high-stakes, real-world inspired missions to secure locations concealing unknown criminal threats and potential civilians.
- The Weight of the Badge: Shoulder the weight of being a SWAT commander entrusted with confronting Los Sueňos’ criminal corruption and stopping it from overwhelming the city’s citizens. Every tactical decision matters, every outcome is yours to bear.
- True Tactical Gameplay: Ready or Not is a true tactical shooter. Every mission is a high-stakes, life-or-death operation. Strategically forge your squad of elite SWAT officers, equip them with the right weapons and gear for the mission, position your team to tactically breach criminal strongholds and quickly identify and neutralize threats in tense, life threatening scenarios.
- Your Mission is the Story: Ready or Not confronts you with a raw, unflinching mirror of real-world crime, exposing the horrors of human trafficking, drug running, illegal arms dealing, militant extremism, and terrorism through interwoven storylines that span multiple missions.
- Cross-Comradery: Team up with friends to stem the tide of crime infesting the city. Enhanced with crossplay, Ready or Not supports up to five players in a co-operative tactical experience on all platforms. Communicate effectively to increase your tactical precision, watch your squad’s back, and successfully complete your mission.
- Information: Know the objective, likely occupants and available approaches before you commit.
- Angles: Expose as little of the team as possible and clear the nearest dangerous corner first.
- Control: Use doors, wedges and deliberate positioning to prevent a flank or an uncontrolled escape.
- Communication: Give the AI or human teammates one clear task at a time.
- Compliance: Give suspects a chance to surrender and preserve evidence whenever the situation allows.
Prepare in the tactical tablet before moving
Open the chest-mounted tactical tablet before deployment and listen to the briefing. VOID identifies the tablet as the place for mission information, objectives, intelligence and floor plans. Skipping this step leaves you guessing about where you must go and what “success” requires.
Read the objective as an engagement plan
Separate the mission into three questions: what must be completed, who must be protected, and what evidence or weapons must be secured. A mission can require arrests, rescues, evidence collection or a combination. Your route and equipment should support those requirements rather than simply maximizing firepower.
Trace the floor plan
Use the map to identify the main entry, alternate approaches, narrow corridors, stairways and rooms that can be reached from more than one direction. Mark the places where an opened door could expose your rear. Those are good candidates for a wedge or for a teammate to cover while the main stack advances.
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Intel will not remove uncertainty, but it helps you decide where to spend time. Expect civilians to move unpredictably and suspects to use doors and hallways as cover. Plan a route that gives you a fallback position instead of one that forces the entire team into a dead end.
Choose a beginner loadout for information and control
A useful beginner loadout is not the one with the largest magazine. It is the one that lets you see more, limit movement and create a safe moment for commands. Compare equipment on four practical axes.
| Axis | What it provides | Beginner use |
|---|---|---|
| Information | Visibility into an uncertain space | Use a mirror gun to inspect under a door before opening it; pair it with disciplined corner checks. |
| Entry control | Protection from a door reopening or a flank | Carry door wedges and place them on doors behind or beside the team when movement must be contained. |
| Crowd control | A short window in which occupants are disoriented | Use flashbangs for entries where a suspect may be ready on the other side. CS gas or stingers can be appropriate when the situation and your plan call for them. |
| Stopping power versus compliance risk | The ability to stop a lethal threat, balanced against accidental escalation | Favor a controllable weapon and enough less-lethal or compliance-focused options to give surrender opportunities. |
Epic’s beginner guidance highlights flashbangs for disorienting suspects and door wedges for controlling enemy movement. Carrying those tools does not replace checking a threshold: a grenade can miss, a suspect can be outside its effect, and an unsecured door can still open behind you.
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A repeatable procedure for clearing the first room
Use the following sequence until it becomes automatic. The exact order may change when a civilian is visible or a suspect is already firing, but the principles remain the same.
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- Stack outside the door. Put the squad in a compact position that does not block a retreat. Do not allow the whole team to crowd the threshold where one burst or explosive can affect everyone.
- Check the door and nearby angles. Look at whether the door is open, closed or capable of exposing another hallway. Check the immediate left and right angles before you focus on the room itself.
- Inspect when information is missing. Use the mirror gun under the door when the gap and the situation allow it. Look for feet, weapons, trip hazards and the direction in which occupants are facing. Treat the view as partial information, not a guarantee that the room is safe.
- Control the rear. If an adjacent door could open onto the stack, place a wedge to stop it from opening or being kicked. A wedge is especially valuable when the team must concentrate on a deep room or a long hallway.
- Choose the entry method. If the room appears occupied and a flashbang can reach it safely, coordinate the throw and entry. If visibility is poor or the doorway creates a dangerous funnel, hold the threshold long enough to improve your angle rather than rushing.
- Give one clear squad command. The AI can breach, throw a flashbang and clear while you hold a complementary angle. Issue the command from a position where you can observe the result and support the officers.
- Enter on complementary angles. The first officer should not expose the entire team to the same corner. Move far enough to open a new sightline, then stop and let the next officer cover the remaining angle.
- Identify before firing. Distinguish a suspect, civilian and teammate before you pull the trigger. A raised weapon or an unmistakable lethal action changes the decision; uncertainty does not.
- Stabilize the room. Once the immediate angles are controlled, search the remaining corners, check doors within the room and keep one officer watching the approach you came from.
- Secure people and evidence. Restrain compliant or incapacitated suspects, then collect weapons and evidence when the room is safe. Do not let a search distract the team while an uncleared doorway remains open.
How to use doors and wedges to protect the team
Do not treat every closed door as a simple obstacle
A closed door hides information and can also be a shield for someone on the other side. Before opening it, check the threshold, nearby corners and the route behind you. Opening a door from the center can expose more of your body than opening it from a controlled position; what matters is minimizing the number of angles that can see the stack at once.
Use a wedge to contain movement
A wedge prevents a door from opening or being kicked. Place one where an unsecured opening could produce a flank—often behind the team after you commit to a room, or on a side door that connects to an uncleared route. Do not wedge a door simply because you can: blocking your only exit or a required objective can create a worse problem. Remove or change the wedge when the route is no longer part of your plan.
Keep a fallback
Before entry, identify where the squad can retreat if the room contains a lethal threat, an unexpected crossfire or civilians caught in the line of fire. A controlled fallback is safer than turning around blindly in a hallway. The officer covering the rear should know which door or corner matters most.
Coordinate Red and Blue teams without losing cross-coverage
Splitting Red and Blue teams can shorten a mission, but it also creates two groups that need independent information and support. Epic recommends cycling through officer viewpoints when teams are split so you can verify both approaches.
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When a split is reasonable
- The floor plan offers two approaches that do not expose one team to the other’s line of fire.
- Each team has a clear task, such as holding a corridor while the other clears connected rooms.
- You can switch viewpoints often enough to detect a civilian, open door or suspect that changes the plan.
- At least one team can fall back without crossing the other team’s muzzle direction.
When to keep the squad together
Stay as one stack when the map is unfamiliar, hallways are narrow, doors connect the same small area, or you cannot maintain visual information about both groups. A slower unified entry is preferable to sending an AI team into an unchecked crossfire.
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A practical command rhythm
- Position the team and confirm the door or corridor each group owns.
- Command one group to breach, deploy the selected crowd-control tool and clear.
- Hold a complementary angle rather than walking directly behind the AI officers.
- Cycle viewpoints to verify the second approach while the entry unfolds.
- Pause after the room is taken, reassemble the teams and update the floor-plan route.
Arrest suspects and preserve nonlethal outcomes
Arrests are not an optional flourish. The Ready or Not Wiki states that arresting a suspect awards more points than merely incapacitating one, and that the highest rank requires arresting all suspects with nonlethal methods. That scoring structure makes identification, commands and restraint central to a strong result.
Give compliance a real opportunity
If a suspect is compliant or incapacitated, secure and restrain them rather than treating the encounter as finished. Keep your weapon and your teammates’ positions controlled while the restraint occurs; a second suspect can still appear through an unchecked doorway.
Secure the scene after the arrest
Collect weapons and evidence once the immediate area is safe. Evidence may be beside a person, on the floor or in the room you just cleared. Assign one officer to watch the approach while another performs the interaction so the team does not become blind during a search.
Do not confuse “nonlethal” with “unprotected”
Trying to maximize arrests does not justify standing in an exposed doorway or allowing a suspect to reach a weapon. Use wedges, flashbangs, angles and squad commands to create a safer chance to issue commands. If the suspect presents an immediate lethal threat, survival and the mission’s rules of engagement take priority.
Rules of engagement: deciding when force is justified
The game’s emphasis on tactical precision includes the safety of civilians and squad members. Treat every shot as a decision with consequences for the mission score and for people in the room.
- Identify the target: Confirm that the person is a suspect and not a civilian or teammate.
- Read the threat: A suspect actively presenting an immediate lethal threat is different from someone who is surrendering, stunned or reaching without a clear weapon.
- Use the least dangerous effective option: If distance, cover and time allow, issue commands or use a suitable crowd-control tool.
- Protect your team: Do not hold a nonlethal option so long that a teammate or civilian is exposed to an imminent lethal attack.
- Reassess after every action: A flashbang’s effect, a dropped weapon or a surrender can change the appropriate response within seconds.
These rules are a decision framework, not a promise that every encounter can be solved without lethal force. The objective is controlled, lawful behavior inside the game’s stated engagement rules—not reckless exposure in pursuit of a perfect score.
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Common beginner mistakes and the fix for each
| Mistake | Why it fails | Correction |
|---|---|---|
| Rushing through an open door | You expose the stack to several angles before anyone can react. | Check the threshold and nearby corners, then enter in sequence. |
| Leaving every door behind you open | A suspect can move into your rear while the team faces forward. | Wedge doors that can create a flank, while keeping a deliberate fallback. |
| Sending AI officers in without support | The squad may clear an angle you cannot see while another remains unchecked. | Hold a complementary angle and issue one breach-and-clear task at a time. |
| Splitting Red and Blue teams immediately | You lose information about one group and can create crossfire. | Stay together until you understand the floor plan and can cycle viewpoints reliably. |
| Firing at movement you have not identified | Civilians and suspects can look similar in low visibility. | Pause long enough to identify the person unless an immediate lethal threat leaves no safe alternative. |
| Searching while the room is unsecured | An open doorway or hallway can let another suspect attack the team. | Keep an officer covering the approach and finish the security sweep first. |
| Using the biggest magazine by default | Extra ammunition does not solve poor information or uncontrolled entries. | Prefer equipment that gives visibility, movement control and time to command compliance. |
Solo AI squad versus co-op play
With the AI squad, your job is both team leader and supporting officer. Give commands from a position that lets you see whether the order worked, and switch viewpoints when you divide Red and Blue. If an AI officer starts clearing an angle you cannot verify, stop and re-establish a shared plan rather than blindly following.
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PS5 co-op and PC requirements
PS5
The official PlayStation listing gives the PS5 release date as July 15, 2025. It supports co-op for up to five players and crossplay, making a full squad possible across supported platforms. Confirm each player’s current platform settings and voice-communication setup before starting a mission; the tactical plan still matters more than the size of the group.
PC minimum requirements
VOID’s published minimum PC specification is:
| Component | Minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4430 or AMD FX-6300 |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2 GB or AMD Radeon R7 370 2 GB |
| API | DirectX 11 |
| Storage | 90 GB available space |
These are minimum specifications, not a guarantee of a particular frame rate or image-quality setting. If performance is poor, first compare your processor, memory, graphics card, DirectX support and free storage with the published list. Close background applications, check that the game is using the intended graphics device, and lower demanding visual settings before assuming that a tactical input problem is a hardware failure.
How to interpret player-review figures
Steam showed 77% positive English-language reviews from 151,828 reviews when the platform was crawled. That number is a dated platform snapshot, not a permanent quality rating; review totals and sentiment can change as updates and new players arrive.
A mission-ready checklist
Run this checklist before every breach and after every major room:
- Briefing heard and objectives understood.
- Floor plan checked for alternate routes, side doors and fallback positions.
- Loadout includes an information tool, door-control option and suitable crowd-control equipment.
- Stack position leaves room to retreat and assigns a rear angle.
- Door and nearby corners checked before opening.
- Wedge placed where an unsecured door could create a flank, without blocking the required route.
- Squad command chosen and complementary angle held.
- Occupants identified before firing whenever the situation permits.
- Compliant or incapacitated suspects restrained.
- Weapons and evidence collected only after the area is secure.
- Red and Blue teams reunited or their separate routes explicitly rechecked.
Following that sequence turns each room into a manageable set of decisions: gather information, control movement, enter with support, identify occupants, then secure the result. That is the core skill the game is testing, whether you are playing alone with AI officers or coordinating a five-player crossplay squad.
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