Ready Or Not: A Comprehensive Critique Across All Fronts

[Depressed gamer]

Ready Or Not is a video game that fails in every possible aspect. The biggest issue I see is that it tries too hard. The game is dismal in every feature. Many of the game's problems are interconnected and have varying degrees of impact on each other, either in large or small amounts. Simply put, there are just too many things wrong with the game, and fixing everything would undoubtedly take years. While the developers have the financial resources to address these issues, time seems to be running out for them. I don't believe the developers will ever be able to bring this game up to the standard that "Swat 3" achieved in 1999.

Visuals

Unfortunately, the game looks really ugly. Lighting plays a significant role in this. Many areas with straight walls and poor lighting look like someone rushed through creating a level in two weeks. This issue is prevalent across many maps. Despite looking worse than games from 10 years ago, the game runs poorly.

Maps

The maps are terrible—too large, crammed with too much content, resulting in a loss of map coherence. Complex buildings and various interconnected areas don't reflect a map designer capable of creating good maps. Swat AI doesn't function properly on large areas. The addition of multiple blocks in different large areas by the developers has made Swat AI's "clearing" of an area confusing. Even with the touted addition of thousands of different voice recordings for commands, there are situations where A) Swat AI remains silent, or B) incorrect words are said, not reflecting the in-game events.
The issue of map size becomes apparent at the end of a level when searching for the last civilian or criminal. The thematic confusion in maps is also notable. Void Interactive tries too hard, resulting in bizarre settings like golf course-sized retro restaurants, tree witches worshiping a tree goddess, a massive John Wick club, and a Sicario tunnel map. Even the Meth house is now confused due to Void combining it with the "Raid" map in "Barricaded Suspects," resulting in a mix of homeless hobos, drug laboratories, frightening attics, and tunnels. The police station is as empty as the developers' creativity.
Maps also suffer from issues such as many places where enemy AI sees you immediately through unclear, partially dirty windows. The concept of a simple map for Void Interactive seems to entail cleaning three different neighbors' yards, an attic, a secret attic, a backyard bunker, a golf course starting from the second neighbor's yard, and an underground criminal bunker. How can criminals walk openly in broad daylight without helicopters and Swat snipers? Oh, right! The solution is a poorly funded Swat unit, conveniently explaining all these quirky shortcomings and attempting to sweep the problems under the rug. Furthermore, even Voids maps have boundaries. "Phew, at least we don't have to 'search and clear' the whole city!" A conveniently placed shelf against a door will stop any terrorist from entering the other complex of the map. It's not that the maps are bad; they're unrealistic. Exception to this however is the Brisa Cove map. It’s made clear that the suspects are holding the top most floor.

UI

This aspect drives me crazy. Why can't everything be on the same screen? Why do I have an iPad for one thing but not everything? Why do I have to walk in the game world to a prompt where I can open different menus to equip my swat characters with the desired gear and weapons? Why do I have to press the "Esc" key so much? Although the game is for PC, its UI feels like a console exclusive game from 2009. The UI is downright dreadful. Why can't the mission briefing be in the same place as equipment selection? What's so terrible about a clear menu with everything neatly organized? Swat 3 had this. Swat 4 had this. Either the game developers' UI director is inept at their job, or they have a strong desire to make their game as different as possible from older games and thus making it how it is.

Swat AI (1.0)

Clearly, Void has made efforts to improve this aspect, succeeding in some areas while failing in others. Swat AI can now approach doors gracefully and even look in different directions as if they are alert. The ability to move from one side of the door to the other is a commendable feature.
However, problems persist, and it feels as if Void intentionally wants them to exist. Swat AI is overly eager to clear rooms, with no interest in observing a violently behaving criminal. Furthermore, their room-clearing techniques are subpar. Sometimes, one of them ventures deep into a room while another takes only a few steps inside.
In the new 1.0 update, Void stated that Swat AI would not "overextend." However, as we know, this is precisely what Swat AI does. When you are outside in the open and receive the command "clear the room," where does Swat AI go? Do they run 50 meters forward, or do they sprint 75 meters behind the house? The worst offense occurred in the Meth House map, where they ran from the living room straight upstairs without my command.
Swat AI also has an insatiable urge to collect evidence. Void proudly mentioned how AI does everything autonomously. Swat AI resembles Leslie Nielsen in the midst of a firefight, compelled to collect an unsecured weapon in the room despite the dangerous circumstances.
Swat AI apprehends surrendering criminals and civilians in the same manner. There have been situations where I've convinced someone to surrender in the middle of an open space, and I want them to move toward me. However, lo and behold! Swat AI walks into the open to apprehend them.
Swat AI encounters issues with movement on large areas. As mentioned earlier, large areas don't work well with Swat AI. "Fall In" formations are barely practical because players move faster than Swat AI, and they rush to monitor all directions while dodging various objects.
Swat AI moves through each other, have you noticed? Is this realism? I wasn't aware that Swat could pass through each other like characters from Terminator 2. Realism, indeed. We know the reason for this, but we won't say it. The Swat AI also can’t move past you. They can try dodge you if they are stationary but they can’t dodge you whilst moving to complete a command.
Swat AI also struggles with executing the "Cover" command properly. If you give this command and Swat AI is in another room or not visible nearby, they fail to adjust their position and focus on the direction you want them to. A better command is "Move to" because Swat AI's threat algorithm is often correct, and they focus on actual threats such as open doors and corridors.
In numerous maps, Swat AI is broken. In several instances, they simply cannot execute the "Clear the Room" command.
Swat AI also cheats, seeing through walls, much like enemies do, and occasionally witnessing them shoot through walls at an enemy.

Suspect AI & Difficulty & Civilians

Everyone knows what we're talking about when this is brought up. Where are the traces of the Adam update? Why have the opponents worsened? They weren't particularly impressive before, but now they're downright terrible. Opponents can see, sense, and shoot with supernatural speed. They are broken from both a gameplay and realism perspective. Why are they broken?
Their animations are clunky, their behavior is bizarre, and it seems like everyone wants to die. While it could be argued that in the criminal world, opponents don't think straight, in this game, they come across as overly aggressive. In my view, gameplay-wise, they are broken. This also hurts the game's replayability when everything behaves the same way. Why, for example, do all opponents walk around with a gun in hand everywhere? One would think they would adopt this stance either in active shooting situations or when aware of the presence of SWAT.
Swat games, in general, were not, in my opinion, difficult. As long as the player progresses calmly, they usually win the level quite reliably, but the difficulty could be increased by setting the level higher, raising the mission acceptance threshold to around 90. In this game, the level 90 probably reflects the S rank.
The S rank is achievable if you engage in a quiet war with pepper spray.
Another problem is that missions may involve tasks where a specific character needs to be apprehended. How does this work when everyone is a bot that locks onto you, and death is just a hindrance as they fall down? The Ridgeline map is a good illustration of the game's problems and the developers' world. The map features a big bad guy in a chicken suit that Void hyped enthusiastically, but the main boss battle on the map can last from one second to five because the AI is so poor. Void doesn't understand how their own game works, but they love these extreme ideas.
Civilians are functional. They have relatively few things to say, but they stop talking when they are apprehended. I haven't encountered civilians who refuse to be arrested, even though Void promised such AI in their video.

Story

In my opinion, the story feels A) Poor B) Confusing C) a combination of these two D) Childish. Incomplete development is a significant possibility, but the narrative seems more like childish COD fantasies, where Swat occasionally ventures into Hollywood-style areas to engage in gunfire. The connection between the story and the gameplay is questionable.
I played through the game, and I can't say there was a clear antagonist. There were only extremes – witches, extremely corrupt millionaires, terrorists. I don't believe a game like this even needs a story. The increasing difficulty as you progress could be sufficient as a "narrative." Strangely, this feels poorly executed, as easy maps are sometimes mixed up with the hard ones from the early stages of the game.
I have always held the strong belief that a good story cannot be achieved in a game because the game is always dependent on the player. The story only provides a reason why the player is shooting a gun.
The briefing is really poor. It somehow feels like it doesn't provide enough information about the missions. For example, a school shooting mission turns out to be a bomb defusal mission. Playing this level left me puzzled when suddenly I was instructed to defuse a bomb because time was running out. This map is extensive, an Active Shooter situation on a grand scale, and I'm in a hurry?
This game wasn't ready to remove game modes and try to cram them into some maps because the AI, which should be in top shape to recreate playability, is poorly done. Every map feels like a Raid mission. No wonder people yearn for different game modes.

Sounds

Where is the music? Neon Club doesn't count. Where is the tension and combat music? Everything feels so silent. Sometimes even the opponents are quieter than Void themselves. Cars driving around the Gas Station make no sound.
I know Zack can create good music and cares about sound, but it feels like all the maps are silent. This significantly hurts the game world. Even small ambient sounds depicting the game world could greatly enhance the experience.

Missing Features & Other Stuff

Void has claimed that they cannot afford to lie. Everything shown in the game trailer will be in the final product. https://www.reddit.com/r/ReadyOrNotGame/comments/18kyss1/voids_false_advertisement/
I don't believe we will ever see functional lights that can be turned off. The developers themselves have stated this. Drones are also not included. Their mechanical use in the game feels strange. What I still don't understand is why Swat AI uniforms don't have anything indicating their team color. Where did the red and blue stickers go? Why not even a small indicator on them? Why do we have a clunky floating text above their heads? Is that realistic? Probably not. It’s just these constant changes in reworks and scrapping of good ideas that I can’t get my head around.

Animations

The animations are cheap-looking and appear crude. When the player turns, it resembles a carousel. Despite Void employing motion capture, its execution is questionable. The game's animations are worse than the basic animation set of the Unreal Engine.

Final Thoughts

It's truly disheartening that creating this game takes considerably more time than constructing multiple high-rise buildings. Let’s also keep in mind that the whole game, the whole idea of this game has been done before. You look at what those previous games did and you copy it.
Occasionally, I watch old trailers and wonder how, if we were at that point back then, we find ourselves only here. The game's development has undoubtedly been restarted or is being led by someone incompetent who can't decide on priorities.
"Less is more" is the best principle that old games adhered to. Nowadays, the trend is in the opposite direction. Even if you have a million guns at your disposal, it actually means you have 10 genuinely different guns. The rest are almost identical. Including a million guns in a game cover sells better to players because developers assume players are gullible.

Let me know what you think.

[k9sniper6]

Personally I think your right on the nose regarding AI, sound, and at points, Lighting. The enemy ai are either brain dead (Hospital, at times), or John wick Himself (Elephant and Rust belt really have this issue, with College shooters flicking harder, and seem to never miss a shot, despite being a 20 something y/o who is probably quite scared internally, and is getting raided by a swat team, mind you while having assumed no training.). This is also prevalent in missions like ends of the earth, where staggered yet connecting doorways leave sight lines you stand no chance in, as they can see you, but due to the constants of a video game, you cannon see them.

Lighting could definitely be improved, as some areas are so dark you can see anyone, and others are blinding. Thematically, the shadows and lighting isnt very cinematic, and while usually I would find this an issue, in this case I dont as this game isnt looking to be the next LA Noir, its looking to give a blend of realism.

The one Issue I do think differently in, would be map design. The unknown bomb threat, and essence of speed on the elephant makes sense. Civilian Life comes first, and such as a situation as columbine, there's no way of knowing if they had planted bombs. If you take too long to kill the shooters, they start executing civilians, which, is realistic as seen in real world scenarios.
This is not to say maps don't have their issues. The lighting on maps do make some (I think there is a good many that are well lighted for the scenario, Elephant and Hospital being 2, Along with the Cartel and 4 U gas stations being some others) maps feel unrealistic and difficult at times (Looking at you, continental hotel and Cartel Tunnels, that for some reason have virtually no lighting even tho the Cartel somehow doesn't have any lighting sources that are apparent, and makes you wonder both where the lights coming from, and how they work in such darkness).

Although regarding layout and design, I think your overlooking the purpose. In real life, there is nothing straightforward when it comes to Close Quarters combat, especially in the police sphere. These scenarios (Most, not all) Represent Calls that are time sensitive, and most times wouldn't allow for anything more than the map of the building and a short plan. And that the point. To confuse the player, make him think, make him search, throw things in their face they wouldn't expect. The Anti Linearity of it makes it good because its confusing, adding to the feeling of being met with new scenarios behind every door and the stress of split second decisions. If they were small, linear maps, what would make it different from games like ground branch, and SWAT. The mix of Large and small Spaces, and the mix of Large and Small maps gives players I feel, gives players a taste of the diversity of spaces a SWAT team has to deal with.

[laaloopy]

Originally posted by AlmightyMike:

Wow how much did Ubisoft pay you to come here and trash this wonderfull game?

And who payed you to make such a terrible take?
Like for real, have you played the game in commander mode and not noticed a single one of those issues?
Cause I can say after a decent few hours I have noticed most of the mentioned issues, and so have countless other players if you just take the time to look at the front page of discussions.

[Dirk]

I'll add onto your statements.

Lighting:
Regarding the lighting, that's debatable. The primary issue is lighting exposure when inside a building looking out. On the newly made vineyard map, trying to figure out where in a doorway i'm being shot at is borderline impossible. Literally spray and pray.

However on most levels i'd honestly say the lighting is fine. However, they do need to focus on lighting that guides the player into a natural path.

Level design:
Level design i do agree with. It has the exact same issue as any other room clearing game.
WHERE.IS.THE.LAST.CIVILIAN!?! Honestly it's so unbelievably boring to have to go through the entire level yet again to find that one enemy or last civilian. Some of the levels can have too much in them. It's why Thank you come again and twisted nerve are just perfect. Short, sweet and aren't so big you get lost or forgot a room that wasn't obvious.

Hub world:
The Hub world is complete dog sh*t though. Why do we need all these rooms? what purpose do they serve? You have to trek to all these places just to customise or test out your weapons. We're supposed to believe the city is under chaos and you're under funded. Police station looks fine to me. Looks pretty well funded as far as i'm concerned. Either way, it's clutter and just isn't needed.


Story:
I'd like the ''story'' to be kept in but it needs to be sectioned off.
Act 1 - introduction to gameplay, take out some drug dealers, robbers etc.
Act 2 - corrupt millionaires, underground weapons deals etc.
Act 3 - progress onto the whole sex ring type ♥♥♥♥. CP, extortion, abduction, sex auctions etc.
Act 4 - Cultists

[Depressed gamer]

Originally posted by k9sniper6:

Personally I think your right on the nose regarding AI, sound, and at points, Lighting. The enemy ai are either brain dead (Hospital, at times), or John wick Himself (Elephant and Rust belt really have this issue, with College shooters flicking harder, and seem to never miss a shot, despite being a 20 something y/o who is probably quite scared internally, and is getting raided by a swat team, mind you while having assumed no training.). This is also prevalent in missions like ends of the earth, where staggered yet connecting doorways leave sight lines you stand no chance in, as they can see you, but due to the constants of a video game, you cannon see them.

Lighting could definitely be improved, as some areas are so dark you can see anyone, and others are blinding. Thematically, the shadows and lighting isnt very cinematic, and while usually I would find this an issue, in this case I dont as this game isnt looking to be the next LA Noir, its looking to give a blend of realism.

The one Issue I do think differently in, would be map design. The unknown bomb threat, and essence of speed on the elephant makes sense. Civilian Life comes first, and such as a situation as columbine, there's no way of knowing if they had planted bombs. If you take too long to kill the shooters, they start executing civilians, which, is realistic as seen in real world scenarios.
This is not to say maps don't have their issues. The lighting on maps do make some (I think there is a good many that are well lighted for the scenario, Elephant and Hospital being 2, Along with the Cartel and 4 U gas stations being some others) maps feel unrealistic and difficult at times (Looking at you, continental hotel and Cartel Tunnels, that for some reason have virtually no lighting even tho the Cartel somehow doesn't have any lighting sources that are apparent, and makes you wonder both where the lights coming from, and how they work in such darkness).

Although regarding layout and design, I think your overlooking the purpose. In real life, there is nothing straightforward when it comes to Close Quarters combat, especially in the police sphere. These scenarios (Most, not all) Represent Calls that are time sensitive, and most times wouldn't allow for anything more than the map of the building and a short plan. And that the point. To confuse the player, make him think, make him search, throw things in their face they wouldn't expect. The Anti Linearity of it makes it good because its confusing, adding to the feeling of being met with new scenarios behind every door and the stress of split second decisions. If they were small, linear maps, what would make it different from games like ground branch, and SWAT. The mix of Large and small Spaces, and the mix of Large and Small maps gives players I feel, gives players a taste of the diversity of spaces a SWAT team has to deal with.

In my opinion, the threat of an undisclosed bomb is flawed because its countdown begins as soon as the situation unfolds. Moving cautiously toward the school is a waste of time. Another issue with the bomb threat is the vast size of the map, increasing the possibility of not even finding the bomb. Additionally, the bomb is relatively quiet, resembling a school physics project despite ticking and being visible on the player's screen. The major problem here is that the "Talk" command is aware of the threat but fails to communicate it, revealing the laziness of the game developers.

Swat 4 had a similar map, "Old Granite Hotel," where players were unaware of the bomb threat initially, discovering it with a timer as they progressed through the map.

You are correct that police always face new situations, but in my view, each map in the game attempts to be unique, even though the AI behaves similarly and is a crucial part of the game.

While you may mix up different aspects, I agree that not revealing everything to the player is a positive aspect. It adds to the thrill if the mission involves entering a house assumed to be a routine hostage situation but turns out to be different. I believe map linearity is essential, especially as the game starts easy and becomes more challenging. I don't think the game has moments of quick decision-making, as a significant part of the gameplay involves slow movement. Quick decisions arise because the enemy AI is subpar, posing a threat to the player within milliseconds upon spotting a few pixels of movement. Just because another game has a janitor's closet doesn't mean the games are suddenly alike. The mentioned game aims for a completely different style of gameplay. Ready Or Not is unique in its attempt to adhere to Rules of Engagement (ROE).

[Depressed gamer]

Originally posted by Dirk:

I'll add onto your statements.

Lighting:
Regarding the lighting, that's debatable. The primary issue is lighting exposure when inside a building looking out. On the newly made vineyard map, trying to figure out where in a doorway i'm being shot at is borderline impossible. Literally spray and pray.

However on most levels i'd honestly say the lighting is fine. However, they do need to focus on lighting that guides the player into a natural path.

Level design:
Level design i do agree with. It has the exact same issue as any other room clearing game.
WHERE.IS.THE.LAST.CIVILIAN!?! Honestly it's so unbelievably boring to have to go through the entire level yet again to find that one enemy or last civilian. Some of the levels can have too much in them. It's why Thank you come again and twisted nerve are just perfect. Short, sweet and aren't so big you get lost or forgot a room that wasn't obvious.

Hub world:
The Hub world is complete dog sh*t though. Why do we need all these rooms? what purpose do they serve? You have to trek to all these places just to customise or test out your weapons. We're supposed to believe the city is under chaos and you're under funded. Police station looks fine to me. Looks pretty well funded as far as i'm concerned. Either way, it's clutter and just isn't needed.


Story:
I'd like the ''story'' to be kept in but it needs to be sectioned off.
Act 1 - introduction to gameplay, take out some drug dealers, robbers etc.
Act 2 - corrupt millionaires, underground weapons deals etc.
Act 3 - progress onto the whole sex ring type ♥♥♥♥. CP, extortion, abduction, sex auctions etc.
Act 4 - Cultists

I believe lighting is a crucial aspect of games, as it has the power to make even visually unappealing games look good. In cases of Ready Or Not I think there is an opposite reaction. Lighting can create various scenarios, such as sudden darkness when lights go out, serving as a fantastic mechanic. A good comparison for the level of lighting in games is to simply compare it to the real world. If you're in a game and look around, can you imagine that such a scene could be real?

In the game, there are many maps where the lighting is exceptionally bright. Perhaps the ugliest map is the lower floors of the Hospital and the final map, Port Hokan.

The Hub World is probably another move by the game developers. They likely have ideas for its implementation, but we, as players, don't get to see it. All we observe is the fluctuation of FPS numbers.

[Sgt. Osiris]

Good writeup. I hope VOID sees it.

[Depressed gamer]

Originally posted by AlmightyMike:

Wow how much did Ubisoft pay you to come here and trash this wonderfull game?

I don't believe Ubisoft cares about quality any more than Void Interactive (This is a bit dishonest to say because at one point Void cared about quality). Void Interactive, at least for now, isn't in a position to engage in various shady business moves to deceive its customers. Unless of course they release their DLC Next year (2024) And once that is out they tap out and leave the game as is.
Ubisoft seems content with its own games, creating a yearly copy and reselling it. If they need more money, they simply "recreate" their older games.

[The Mountain Jew]

Void pulled an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[SpacePoodle]

*push*

[Shooter King International]

I don't get why they do 2 years of early access and then rush the game out for christmas sales like this.

[SiD]

you're a bit too overly negative about this.

It's not as bad as you're making out to be and makes me think you're just out to trash the game. But you did have good points, in fact a lot of them. RONs problem for me is it was not as good as we hoped to be at launch, that's all. It's a huge update after all, bugs were bound to happen. That said... lemme add on top of yours..

Visuals - I don't agree. I think they look Okay. Certain lighting choices are obvious creative decisions taken by director some of which are meant to hinder your vision. There are some i like and Some i don't like but I wouldn't downright call it bad.

Maps - The maps are terrible you said. That's a sweeping statement. No, I don't think they are terrible. But I also don't think the new maps they put in, and the new re-imagining of the maps were particularly designed well. My opinion on this was how particularly one-dimensional the design is. Lemme explain.. So every map that was in Adam update that they didn't tweak or change largely i don't have a problem with. But new maps Garage, Hoken, Campus, Karens of the vine are inferior to their own old maps. Older maps have variety in how we progress the level.

Let's say port Hoken, there was always a shifting in large to small area, verticality as you progress. First half of it was largely open areas and then starting to choke the operational space once we enter the main building now checking the threats from upstairs also becomes a factor. Like a mario castle run, we had to go floor by floor varying styles of rooms and corridors to clear to arrive at auction on top floor which had varying style and layout in all the rooms just in that top floor. Some rooms have pillars obstructing your view. Some have boxes and cages and some are chocked hold by narrow one side stack only doorway. There was a lot of variety in the same.. New port Hoken was nothing but a big square area with boxes littered on top. There was no vertical threat anymore, there was this tower but nothing of substance is there and you don't have to be there to get to the main rescue objective area. It's open, messy and with or without swat ai, the design philosophy is not as good as the old map. Quite honestly, they can keep the new maps for campaign but there was magic to be hard there with old maps.

The same can be said about other maps.. Karens of the vine is just one square play area with courtyard in the middle surrounded by 3 quarters on all sides. Old Vineyard had that on a much smaller, compact and better designed layout on top of other areas you have to go through to get there.



New maps look beautiful but pretentious... Their map designer might not be the same guy who did all those maps during EA. and he's definitely inferior to the creator of previous work. So gist is i guess you and I feel similarly there so this is probably an issue with more ppl. School map is the worst here.. Sure, realism or what not but just a very big wide H in terms of layout. Symmetry is boring in art. Who thought that map layout was a good idea was beyond me, whoever in charge of these new maps is an amateur.

UI - yea agreed. I give zero poop about the flip phone and rather press tab to see the information and also want better briefing. Current briefing is fine but not art directed properly.

Swat AI - Disagreed. Swat Ai is not bad and saved my dome many times during the pushes with gas and nades. They now clear room very well. The level of over extension you're talking about also hinges on your knowledge where the invisible borders of the room.. that's coming back into map design but there are invisible borders in the game where it's considered a room.. some are very big and some are small so swat clearing that room would extend out as far as it is. The problem I agree with you comes from when they finish the search and just standing around and doesn't fall back to you. So any suspects comes into the space and start shooting them, they just stand there and return fire like a robot. That's where most of my swat ai casualties comes in.. I play around them by calling them back, while they retrieve, i cover them and i apply the practice with my friends too. It has its problems but It's the one redeeming quality of this launch.

Sus AI - it's downright bad. Because swat ai becomes buff, Void must have lazily push the sliders up to 12 for suspect ai file rather than reworking in the same complex way they did with swat ai. If you work in art/media industry.. cutting corners to meet deadline is a thing... and i'm sure they cut that corner there. I'm sure they didn't even play test this nonsense before going out. All they must have known is Swat AI will bully adam update ai balancing so they turn it up whole sale. What suffers as a consequences is our coop sessions with friends where we dun have buff swat ai to cover our ass but a bunch of clueless pricks getting shot from across the map as you said. For me, AI's god reflexes, wall banging are present but not getting shot from across the map though. They did shoot from far ranges before but a lot of this ai comments out there feels exaggerated. But within a week, someone came out with No crack ai mod by simply moving some sliders back and the game is a joy to play again. So shame on void really.

Void should work on two AI models to go with. One would be default adam update ai, another one would be hardcore for ppl who wants to challenge themselves in singleplayer and have it available as 1-2 difficulty slider.

Story - yes, Story is what i would describe is cringe and pretentious. Void is trying too hard to be edgy... all i want is more scenerios, more layouts, more randomizations and realistic swat game rather than this insurgency sandstorm aimbots which i cannot shoot back.

Sound - yeah, again trying to be too edgy.. School shootings stood out to me because, that level felt like an after thought in terms of design, sound and music. Felt like burger joint map, if you remember. They should just drop it.. It serves no purpose in this game rather than a cheap controversy.

Animations - Yeah kinda bad in my book as well. They seem like they don't really code or control transitions well. This is a major contribution to AI being twitchy also. They need a lot more realistic transitional animation. You made a good point about ppl turning like carousel. As animator, i can tell you.. Turning a body is a complex move where weight distributions will have to take place to pivot and step then weight transition again and rotation follows. RON simply doesn't have it. If these stages of transitions are present, we won't even have twitchy ais anymore and we'll have better time playing cos we can read their movements.

Missing Features - Oh yes. They won't sell well for their next game. They know it too. They will fold once this is done and ride off into the sunset.

Final thoughts - I agree but to a less dramatic impression that you have. To me, this is just very "mid".. 6.5/10 game.. Nothing to write home about. I had my enjoyment out of adam update and had my money worth already. Now, a bit worse than Adam but at least, it's well packaged game with some mind boggling creative decisions. AI issues can be bandaid with mods... So i'm cool for it. But i understand the reason we're talking about this and caring about it so much is because of the potential it has.

[Gli7ch]

"void interaction"

[Honnes G.]

I quite like all the music whenever it pops up, I like that its not invasive or always playing, otherwise I'd have to turn it down to hear what was going on around my character. And I would never call the maps terrible, in fact I think they all look nice to help take attention away from everything else you mentioned which I agreed with.

[Reapums]

I think the biggest issue, one you nailed in your dissertation, and most people seem to be overlooking, is how previous games in a similar genre came out in a more stable and playable fashion. If RoN's devs had come out with this update as a huge step in the direction of a 1.0 release, I feel like I could continue to support the game despite the missteps of this update. Yet as it stands we're officially at what the developers consider to be a "Full Package Release" and it's wrought with issues.

The AI is the biggest offender, but I find most of the glaring issues to be the AI content, the lack of interconnecting voice lines, (TOC or your SWAT members just spewing a random observation about their surroundings) the completely lacking briefings that either feed you false or useless information that barely gives you any idea about the missions, and the multitude of seemingly dropped plot threads for the plot.

We had such an interesting through line with the Yellow King and the possibility of calling on Carcosa, but the only remnants of that story that I can find is the possible reference to Shub-Niggurath with the forest witches. But that, along with dozens of other elements in the game, seem to have vanished.

I don't have much hope they won't just run to the bank with whatever profits they've managed to scrounge up so far, but I really hope they don't. I want this game to succeed and surpass games like SWAT 3/4, but as it stands...

[Saeletra]

Originally posted by Reapums:

I think the biggest issue, one you nailed in your dissertation, and most people seem to be overlooking, is how previous games in a similar genre came out in a more stable and playable fashion. If RoN's devs had come out with this update as a huge step in the direction of a 1.0 release, I feel like I could continue to support the game despite the missteps of this update. Yet as it stands we're officially at what the developers consider to be a "Full Package Release" and it's wrought with issues.

The AI is the biggest offender, but I find most of the glaring issues to be the AI content, the lack of interconnecting voice lines, (TOC or your SWAT members just spewing a random observation about their surroundings) the completely lacking briefings that either feed you false or useless information that barely gives you any idea about the missions, and the multitude of seemingly dropped plot threads for the plot.

We had such an interesting through line with the Yellow King and the possibility of calling on Carcosa, but the only remnants of that story that I can find is the possible reference to Shub-Niggurath with the forest witches. But that, along with dozens of other elements in the game, seem to have vanished.

I don't have much hope they won't just run to the bank with whatever profits they've managed to scrounge up so far, but I really hope they don't. I want this game to succeed and surpass games like SWAT 3/4, but as it stands...

There's also the problem of RoN regarding feature-creep and shallow design additions that only seem to serve the purpose of looking pretty at a glance; of which resources and time should have been devoted to fine-tuning and tweaking gameplay systems and mechanics that were already positively received by players, and then create an actual solid balancing dynamic around them.

Seriously, the balancing is all over the place in this game. You are very slow even with light armor, and your aim is still wonky and sways everywhere even after a relatively minor jog/approach. Factor in the fact that the A.I is overly tuned and has superhuman reflexes, and with you being SLOW (even with low ready!), makes for a very tedious gameplay loop where you have to abuse the A.I and metagame by using flashbangs and CS gas on every room for the sake of survivability and efficiency, instead of making dynamic entries and different, novel approaches to different situations. And, the removal of mission types and scenarios even reinforces this approach. That does not sound like a fun game to me. There's no replayability.

And I think the playerbase of this game really has no sense of balancing because they're unable to think about how settings or mechanics can be tweaked. There's already the discussions about the overly tuned A.I with 200ms reaction times and rapid turning and impeccable accuracy. The same people who emphasize "realism" and "immersion" in this game are, ironically, the same people who did not want SPRINTING to be added into this game because they think it's going to be like Call of Duty; they somehow don't realize that operators can sprint, and often do sprint to to gain ground quickly and get to cover, nor can they realize that in the context of the game the devs can tweak sprinting to have its pros and cons to punish running and gunning. They somehow think it's more realistic for Operators to waddle slowly in the same pace as their overweight brisk walks to Walmart.