Popular tactical shooter Ready or Not is known for its hyper-realism. However, in preparing to launch the game on console, developers were required to scale back certain parts of the experience. In response, hardcore players are now review bombing the Steam page, arguing devs have compromised their morals.
Ready or Not minces no words in its intention. The 2023 game places you in the shoes of a SWAT unit and forces you to confront some of the most horrible situations known to man.
In one mission, you may be taking down a criminal group sharing explicit material of minors, the next, you’re responding to a school shooting. Those are just two examples presented throughout its 18 mainline chapters, and well, you get the idea.
It’s certainly not for everyone, and it’s long been controversial for tackling such dark themes head-on. Throughout the course of developmen,t though, the team at VOID Interactive has remained unshaken, vowing to remain true to their vision no matter who it upsets.
That was the case until recently, however. With the popular PC title finally making its way over to PS5 and Xbox Series X | S on July 15, 2025, devs have ultimately been required to make a few key changes. While they argue the adjustments are “small”, it has nonetheless triggered a wave of backlash, with hardcore players now review bombing the Steam listing.
Ready or Not censorship changes explained
VOID Interactive confirmed news of Ready or Not’s impending censorship in a June 28 blog post. In order to meet platform-specific requirements, the game is now being censored across the board, including on PC.
While the PC version could have continued forward without a change, as devs explained, it would have created inequality between the versions, and thus, crossplay simply would not have worked. Further, it would have opened the door for all manner of bugs and thus, the decision was made to keep all versions of the game identical.
“There is no reason to be alarmed,” devs said in regard to the content changes. The only changes that have been made, are those that have been “flagged as absolutely required by first-party partners,” they assured.
Ready or Not has always been a hyper-realistic shooter.
For starters, some of the more gruesome material in the game has been scaled back somewhat. As one example, players can no longer inflict more violence on dead enemies like they could before.
“Ultimately, we consider this an okay compromise, considering our gameplay design already dissuades use of lethal force anyway.”
Meanwhile, various instances of nudity have also been “covered up a bit more,” while examples of artwork “involving torture were tuned down to be less over-the-top.”
Rounding out the list are changes made to missions involving minors, a core pillar the devs still stand behind to maintain Ready or Not’s authenticity.
“Although we already make a substantial effort to present mistreatment against children in the game in a responsible way, we made slight thematic expansions of this philosophy in order to better meet certification standards. For example, the child on “Twisted Nerve” has had an animation change to be unconscious/sleeping, instead of the previously convulsive animation from before.”
Overall, VOID Interactive believes the full set of adjustments to be “small enough that most people wouldn’t notice if we didn’t say anything.” In the end, they were merely seeking full transparency, though the blog has now created a wave of backlash.
Ready or Not review bombed over censorship changes
In light of the blog post, a small portion of the community, particularly the more hardcore players, have begun review bombing the PC version of Ready or Not.
Although the game still holds a Very Positive rating overall with nearly 200,000 user reviews, 3,500 recent reviews give it a Mixed label at the time of writing.
“They don’t care about PC players.” “Once again, corporate console trash is ruining my PC games.” “Console players ruin everything.” Those are just a small sample of the criticism throughout. Some have even gone as far as to demand refunds.
Across social media, irate players have drawn comparisons to other console-first titles like The Last of Us: Part 2, arguing the explicit content is “way worse” there than in Ready or Not.
It’s not all negative, though, with some arguing the changes won’t hinder their experience. “Still preordering Ready or Not because they only censored like three small things,” one post on the game’s subreddit reads.
VOID Interactive has yet to publicly comment on matters since the June 28 blog post. Ready or Not is still barrelling ahead to its console release on July 15.
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