To allow Ready or Not to be released on console, and ease updating two different versions of the game, VOID Interactive has announced the game would be censored; also removing elements such as gore and nudity from the PC version. Because of this, the developer’s tactical SWAT-based FPS has also received backlash in the form of review bombing.
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The game’s recent Development Briefing Vol. 87 on Steam opened, “The clock is ticking on the [console] release for July 15th, and our console players are already stacking up. We remain locked in on delivering the best console release we can with the accompanying free Los Sueños Stories update for PC.”
After discussing improvements to animations, VOID Interactive then explained the “Console Rating Content Changes” that would be coming to Ready or Not.
“Throughout this console port process we’ve done our utmost to only make changes when they are flagged as absolutely required by our first party partners, and any changes aim to remain faithful to the original tonality of the game, so there is no reason to be alarmed,” VOID assured.
“Our age rating as it stands for console is ESRB ‘M’, PEGI 18, and USK 18 to give an idea. Still, there are other game content requirements that console platforms have in order to exist on their systems, and a portion of these changes will be visible on the PC version,” the developer reveals.
They go on to justify, “If a content change was just a texture swap, we were able to apply it to console only while keeping the PC version the same as before. However, if the change involved transforming an entire asset (like adding clothing to a character model) this was less feasible.”
VOID explained the two main reasons for “limited asset changes” being visible on PC. First, “Maintaining multiple versions of the game with different assets and system mechanics increases the likelihood of bugs to occur in future updates,” and other challenges keeping different versions updated.
Second, they explain, “If the in-game assets were not the same it would make crossplay unusable; the game content must be equal or basically equal for multiplayer to work. Different versions of assets affects multiplayer replication, which is the ability for the server to understand what’s happening in-game and host players in the same lobby/server.”
As for what elements are being censored, these include gore, or rather when gore occurs. “Player-induced dismemberment still has a large presence in the game, but is a little more limited as to when it occurs: when alive enemies are shot they can undergo dismemberment, however once they are dead no further dismemberment occurs.”
The developer emphasizes, “The level of dismemberment itself when it occurs was not actually toned down,” and showcases a console development build screenshot of a shotgun headshot. “Ultimately, we consider this an okay compromise considering our gameplay design already dissuades use of lethal force anyway.”
Even so, they add, “some character art involving torture were tuned down slightly to be less over-the-top. For example, the tortured police informant on Narcos is still missing fingers, eyes, and covered in fresh wounds and blood, but a little bit less so.”
After briefly mentioning that “Some instances of explicit nudity for a handful of civilians and one suspect (Gerard’s ghillie suit only scantily concealed himself) have been covered up a bit more,” VOID turned their attention back to violence, specifically regarding “Explicit Representations of Violence/Mistreatment against Children.”
“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,” they elaborate.
“For example, the child on ‘Twisted Nerve’ has had an animation change to be unconscious/sleeping, instead of the previously convulsive animation from before that had a violent appearance. The changes with the console version are small enough that most people here wouldn’t notice if we didn’t say anything, but we want to be transparent. It’s largely just evidence and nudity that’s altered, and the texture changes don’t affect the PC version,” VOID summarizes.
VOID concludes on smaller elements. “The texture changes on console are just small things that make the evidence in levels more like hints that connect with other evidence in rather than something practically screaming ‘this is illicit child stuff happening!’ However, the player can easilly connect the dots based on the other evidence in the level.”
“There is still a bunch of other evidence in the room that connects to show what’s going on,” VOID highlights.
They give an example from the “23 Megabytes A Second” level. An in-game PC displays a Discord-style chat program, where a suspect is sharing pictures of children (and his adult neighbor). While not explicit, the context of the level reveals the suspect has an illegal server and prohibited images of minors; along with involvement in a bitcoin miner scam.
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“We are looking forward to our console launch and relieved to be fully finished with all of our console launch certification processes. We were fortunate enough as a team to pass our certification for the launch on our first submission,” VOID concludes.
“Certifying in such a manner is relatively rare in the industry, let alone for a team who has not went through this process together before, and we extend a massive thanks to our entire VOID team and all of our partners who helped make completing this process possible,” the developer explains, hoping fans will enjoy future content coming to Ready or Not.
VOID then signs off, declaring, “We maintain our focus to bringing this gritty tactical experience to the wider gaming audience true to its spirit.”
Despite VOID’s emphasis of the necessity, fans were not happy. At this time of writing, over 3,400 negative Steam reviews have hit the game’s formerly nigh-perfect reputation since the announcement. Along with dissatisfaction over the censorship, reviewers accuse VOID of betraying PC players for more sales by going more mainstream.
Some reviews indicate they refunded the game, and had less than an hour of playtime.
Comments directly in reply to the news post featured praise for the game’s overall quality, but more scorn over the censorship. On the game’s SubReddit, one of the developers that identifies as ‘Gruntr’ reiterated that having two different versions would require more testing with each update, and that they didn’t want to censor the game — certainly not a choice made for profit.
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