Steam reviews for Ready or Not have dropped a lot after the developer Void Interactive said they are changing the FPS game to meet console rules.
The team behind the realistic shooting game Ready or Not called Void Interactive has shared that they are making some changes to the game before it comes out on consoles. These changes are needed to follow the rules set by the companies that make the consoles like PlayStation and Xbox. Because of this the developers have to change some of the game’s visuals like textures and other graphic details. These same changes will also appear in the PC version of the game. Some violent parts like scenes with blood have been made less graphic and anything in the game that involves children has also been updated.
After the developers announced this news on Friday June 27, many players reacted negatively. Some fans were upset that the game is being censored and they started leaving bad reviews on the game’s Steam page. The game's rating on Steam has gone down quickly.
Ready or Not is a tactical and realistic first-person shooter game where you lead a squad of armed police officers. The game is known for dealing with very serious and sensitive topics. One level is based on a mass shooting at a college and another takes place in a nightclub. That nightclub level came out on June 12, 2022 which is the same day as the anniversary of the tragic Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando. With the console version of Ready or Not launching on Tuesday July 15, the developers say they had to make some changes to the game to meet the ratings rules needed to release it on those platforms.
The developers of Ready or Not say they only made changes to the game for the console version when it was absolutely necessary. These changes were required by the companies that own the consoles, and they tried hard to keep the look and feel of the game the same as the original. So players don’t need to worry. The game will still be rated for adults on consoles ESRB M for Mature PEGI 18 and USK 18. But console platforms have their own rules about what games can include so some changes were needed. These changes will also appear in the PC version of the game.
The team at Void says that only a small number of game assets had to be changed for consoles. However they want to keep both the PC and console versions the same so these changes will show up on PC too.
They explain that having different versions of the game with different systems or graphics could cause bugs in future updates. It would also be harder to keep all versions of the game working smoothly. If the assets (like models or textures) were different on console and PC then multiplayer and crossplay wouldn’t work properly. For online play the game needs to use the same content and features so all players can join and play together. If not the servers wouldn’t be able to keep track of what’s happening in the game or host everyone in the same match.
Void Interactive has shared the exact changes they made to Ready or Not as the game gets ready to launch on consoles. One major change is how bodies react when players shoot them. If you shoot an enemy during a fight their body parts can still be damaged or dismembered. But after the enemy is already dead if you keep shooting their body it won’t cause any more dismemberment. This is to reduce violence after death.
Another change is about nudity in the game. Some scenes that showed private body parts too clearly have now been slightly covered up to make them less explicit.
Void Interactive also talked about a child NPC (non-playable character) in a mission called Twisted Nerve. In the PC version the child used to appear as if they were having a seizure or shaking which looked very violent and disturbing. Now in the console version the child just looks like they are either sleeping or passed out. This was done to make the scene feel less upsetting.
Finally there are small changes to some of the textures and visuals in the console version. These changes were made to make some of the darker parts of the story feel more subtle. For example clues in the level that hint at serious crimes are now shown in a softer way so it doesn’t feel like the game is shouting something terrible happened here But if you pay attention to all the clues players can still understand what’s going on.
Some of the artwork in the game showing torture scenes was changed a bit to make it less extreme. For example a police informant in the game Narcos is still shown with missing fingers and eyes and covered in blood and fresh wounds but it’s now a little less graphic than before.
On Thursday, June 26 before the game developer Void made any official comment about these changes there were only 10 negative reviews on the game’s Steam page. But on June 27 after Void spoke about the changes 291 more negative reviews appeared. On June 29 another 628 bad reviews were posted. And by the morning of Monday, June 30 there were already 192 more. Because of this flood of criticism the game’s recent rating on Steam which only looks at reviews from the past 30 days dropped from very positive to mixed.
One reviewer on Steam wrote This was a great game but now it's ruined because they removed the graphic parts. That’s what made the game feel real and intense. Now it’s just disappointing.
Another player warned others not to buy the game. The developers are removing the dark and gritty parts of the game just to make more money by putting it on consoles the review said.
Even with the recent backlash the overall rating for Ready or Not on Steam based on all 188,000 reviews since the game came out is still very positive.
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