Ready or Not Beginner’s Guide: How to Clear Rooms and Arrest Suspects Safely

The safest way to play Ready or Not is to slow the operation down: read the briefing, study the floor plan, control every door, use your squad to create distractions and cross-coverage, and arrest compliant suspects instead of rushing to shoot. Information and positioning usually matter more than raw aim. This guide explains a repeatable room-clearing procedure, how to command the AI officers, when to use nonlethal tools, and how to protect your score without exposing civilians or your team.

What Ready or Not expects from a beginner

VOID Interactive describes Ready or Not as an intense tactical first-person shooter in which SWAT units defuse hostile situations. Its official guidance is essentially a checklist for every entry: cover your six, clear your corners, apprehend threats, and rescue the innocent. That is a different mindset from a conventional run-and-gun shooter. You are managing angles, information, movement and rules of engagement at the same time.

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A fast trigger finger cannot compensate for an unprotected doorway or a teammate caught in your line of fire. Suspects can hide, surrender, fake compliance or attack when you lose control of a room. Civilians can panic and move through an uncleared area. Your objective is therefore not simply to eliminate enemies; it is to make the building predictable enough that your team can secure it.

• Information: know the objective, likely routes and what is beyond the next threshold.
• Angles: expose one slice of a room at a time and keep your muzzle on the most dangerous opening.
• Control: use wedges, deliberate movement and squad commands to limit where people can go.
• Compliance: give suspects a chance to surrender and restrain them when they are no longer an immediate threat.
• Accountability: secure weapons and evidence, and avoid shooting civilians or compliant suspects.

Think of each room as a small problem to solve, not a reflex test. The procedure below gives you a default plan; adapt it when the floor plan, objective or threat makes that plan unsafe.

#1 Best Overall

Ready or Not - Day 1 Edition – PlayStation 5

• 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.

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Prepare before deployment

Read the briefing and objectives

Do not launch straight into the map. Listen to the briefing and read the mission objectives first. Objectives tell you what counts as success beyond simply reaching the end of the level: civilians may need to be rescued, suspects arrested, evidence collected or a particular area secured. A method that clears enemies but ignores those requirements can still produce a poor result.

Use the tactical tablet

The chest-mounted tactical tablet is the central planning tool. VOID identifies it as the place for mission information, objectives, intelligence and floor plans. Open it before moving, identify the starting position, and trace the routes that connect your entry point to the objective area.

Look for long corridors, stairwells, alternate entrances and rooms that can let a suspect reach your rear. Mark mentally which doors are likely to be used as cover and which spaces could hold civilians. You do not need a perfect map; you need a first safe route and an idea of where a flank could develop.

Choose a loadout for time and information

Beginners often overvalue a larger magazine or the most powerful primary weapon. A more useful starting principle is to select equipment that gives you time to identify a threat and control movement. A mirror gun can reveal feet, weapons or a suspect’s position without exposing your body. Door wedges can prevent a door from opening behind you. Flashbangs, CS gas or stingers can disrupt a room long enough for an entry.

Balance nonlethal tools with a weapon that can stop an immediate lethal threat. “Nonlethal” does not mean that you should stand in an exposed doorway and hope a suspect cooperates. It means you create a safer opportunity to issue commands and restrain people whenever the situation permits.

A repeatable room-clearing procedure

1. Form a stack and approach quietly

Let your squad gather behind you before you touch the next door. Keep spacing tight enough that the officers can enter in sequence, but not so tight that one burst or explosive affects everyone. Approach from the side of the corridor when possible, keeping your body out of the center of the doorway.

Before opening anything, pause and listen. Footsteps, voices, coughing or movement under a door can change whether you should breach immediately, use a mirror, or wait for the AI team to set up. Avoid sprinting into a threshold simply because the hallway looks empty; the first angle inside is where an unseen weapon is most dangerous.

2. Check the threshold and nearby angles

Inspect the door and the space around it. A door can open toward you, away from you, or lead to a short entry area that hides a second angle. If the game gives you a way to peek or inspect, use it before committing the whole team. Keep the muzzle pointed toward the first likely threat while you check adjacent corners.

Do not let the entire squad stand in a straight line in the doorway. The first officer should take the immediate danger, while the next officers enter toward the opposite corner and deeper angles. Your role can be to hold a complementary angle while the AI officers perform the breach, or to lead when you have better information.

3. Decide whether the door should stay closed

Opening every door is not automatically safer. A closed door can isolate a threat while you secure a nearby room. If the door can be held, place a wedge to prevent it from opening or being kicked. Wedges are especially valuable behind you: they protect the cleared route from a flank and reduce the number of directions you must watch at once.

Use wedges to contain movement, not to block yourself from an objective you still need to enter. Keep track of every wedge you place. A blocked door can also trap a civilian or prevent your team from completing the mission if you forget it.

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4. Breach with a purpose

Choose the entry method according to what you know. If the room appears quiet and you have a good angle, a controlled open-and-clear may be enough. If a suspect is likely to be waiting on the other side, a coordinated breach with a flashbang can reduce the danger. The goal is to disrupt the room before your officers cross the threshold, not to throw equipment automatically at every door.

Flashbangs are particularly useful for disorienting suspects during an entry. Give the squad a clear command to breach, throw the flashbang and clear, then hold an angle that the officers cannot cover. Do not stand directly in the entry path, and remember that a poorly placed flash can affect your own team and leave you unable to identify a surrendering suspect.

5. Clear the near corner before the deep room

When the door opens, address the nearest danger first. Move your view from the threshold to the first corner, then across the room toward the deepest angle. Keep the weapon at head-and-torso height where a threat is most likely to appear, but identify the person before firing. Furniture, darkness and partial cover can make a civilian look like a suspect for a fraction of a second.

Advance only as fast as the team can maintain coverage. If you lose sight of an uncleared doorway, stop and re-establish positions rather than turning your back on it. Once the primary room is clear, check closets, bathrooms, side rooms and connecting doors before declaring it secure.

6. Stabilize the room

After the initial entry, do not immediately run to the next objective. Search for remaining civilians and suspects, issue commands to anyone who has not complied, and watch the doors that lead back into the corridor. If a teammate is holding a doorway, let that officer maintain it while you secure people and evidence.

Report the room mentally as one of three states: active threat, controlled but unsecured, or secure. A room is not truly secure while an unchecked door, unrestrained suspect or loose weapon can still change the situation.

How to command the AI squad

Use the officers as a second set of angles

AI officers are most useful when you give them a task that complements your position. You can command them to breach, throw a flashbang and clear while you hold an angle the entry team cannot see. This lets you cover a crossfire risk without exposing all officers at once.

Issue one clear action at a time when learning a map. A breach-and-clear command can be powerful, but it also commits the team through a doorway. If you have not checked the threshold or a side entrance, first order the officers to hold or position, then breach when you understand the risk.

Keep Red and Blue teams together until you can cover both

Splitting Red and Blue teams can save time by attacking a room from two approaches, but it removes the safety of a single stack. Epic’s beginner guidance recommends cycling through officer viewpoints when the teams are split so you can verify both approaches. Do that before and during the breach: one team may discover a civilian, an open flank or a suspect who invalidates the original plan.

Split only when the routes provide genuine cross-coverage. If one team enters a room while the other cannot see its rear or neighboring door, you have created two isolated problems instead of one controlled entry. Recombine after the dangerous section is secured.

Do not outrun the squad

AI officers cannot protect a hallway they have not reached. If you sprint several rooms ahead, you lose the ability to call for a coordinated breach and may trigger a threat alone. Move to the next threshold, let the stack form, then issue the command. When you need to hold a position, stop moving so the squad can catch up and occupy useful angles.

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Doors, wedges and movement control

Door management is the foundation of safe clearing. Treat each door as a tactical object with a state and a consequence.

Wedges are not a substitute for a rear guard. A suspect may still appear through another opening, and a wedge does not tell you what is happening on the other side. Use it to reduce the number of active directions while the team handles the room in front of you.

Arrest suspects without throwing away the mission

Recognize the difference between compliance and danger

A compliant or incapacitated suspect is a security task, not a target. Give the person an opportunity to surrender when there is no immediate lethal threat. Once the suspect is compliant or incapacitated, secure and restrain them, then collect their weapon and relevant evidence when the area is safe.

The Ready or Not Wiki notes 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 incentive should reinforce good tactics, not encourage reckless exposure. A suspect who is still aiming, moving toward a weapon or presenting an immediate lethal threat must be handled under the mission’s rules of engagement.

Use nonlethal tools to create compliance opportunities

Flashbangs can disorient a suspect long enough for a verbal command and restraint. CS gas or stingers may be appropriate when their effect helps you control a room, but every tool has a trade-off: reduced visibility, possible impact on civilians, and the risk of disrupting your own entry. Select the tool that solves the specific problem you can see rather than spending equipment at random.

Secure before you search

Do not kneel to collect a weapon while another doorway is unchecked. First control the suspect, confirm that the immediate room is safe, and assign an officer to watch the most dangerous approach. Then collect weapons and evidence. This order prevents a scoring action from becoming the reason you are flanked.

When lethal force is justified in the game

Nonlethal outcomes are central to high scores, but the game still expects you to protect civilians and squad members. If a suspect presents an immediate lethal threat, prioritize survival and follow the stated engagement rules. Never shoot solely because a person is standing, running or failing to obey instantly; identify the threat and the opportunity for compliance before firing.

Beginner loadouts: compare the trade-offs

Evaluate equipment on four axes rather than choosing by damage alone.

For a first run, favor a mirror gun, several wedges and at least one reliable crowd-control option, while keeping enough stopping power for a genuine lethal threat. The best beginner loadout is the one that buys information and time.

Common beginner mistakes and fixes

Rushing every threshold

Symptom: the first officer enters before the rest of the stack and is hit from a side angle. Fix: stop outside the doorway, form the stack and inspect the threshold. Let a coordinated breach create the first advantage.

Ignoring the rear

Symptom: a suspect opens a door behind the team after a successful entry. Fix: wedge cleared doors when appropriate, leave an officer watching a dangerous route, and do not split the team without cross-coverage.

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Firing at movement

Symptom: a civilian or surrendering suspect is mistaken for an active threat. Fix: identify the person, issue a command when possible and keep the muzzle steady rather than firing at a silhouette.

Searching too early

Symptom: you are collecting evidence when an unchecked room opens. Fix: restrain first, clear the immediate area, assign a covering angle, then search.

Splitting teams without checking viewpoints

Symptom: Red team enters safely while Blue team is exposed or blocked. Fix: cycle through both officer viewpoints before committing and recombine when the two approaches no longer support each other.

Using every flashbang at the first door

Symptom: later rooms have no crowd-control option and the team is forced into an unprepared entry. Fix: reserve flashbangs for rooms where disorientation changes the risk, and use wedges and angles for quieter control elsewhere.

A practical first-mission checklist

1. Listen to the briefing and read every objective.
2. Open the tactical tablet and study the floor plan, entry routes and likely flanks.
3. Choose a loadout that includes information, entry control, crowd control and a controllable lethal option.
4. Form the squad stack before each unknown door.
5. Inspect the threshold and nearby angles before exposing the team.
6. Wedge a useful rear door when doing so will not block an objective route.
7. Use squad commands to breach, flashbang and clear while you hold a complementary angle.
8. Clear near corners, deep angles and connecting rooms before moving on.
9. Issue commands to compliant suspects, restrain them and secure weapons and evidence only after the area is safe.
10. When splitting Red and Blue, cycle through both viewpoints and confirm cross-coverage.
11. Respond to immediate lethal threats under the mission’s rules of engagement; do not treat every noncompliant movement as permission to fire.

Playing on PS5 and PC

PS5 co-op and crossplay

The official PlayStation listing gives the PS5 release date as July 15, 2025. It supports co-op for up to five players and crossplay, so a full group can coordinate entries across supported platforms. In a group, assign one player to lead the stack, another to watch the rear or a cross-angle, and a third to manage less-lethal tools. Clear communication matters more than having everyone carry the same weapon.

Before a breach, agree on who opens, who throws the flashbang, which direction each player clears and who restrains suspects. A simple call such as “hold left, flash, enter right” prevents overlapping movement and accidental fire.

PC minimum requirements

VOID’s published PC minimum is a baseline for starting the game, not a guarantee of a particular frame rate or visual preset. The listed requirements are:

If performance is poor, check that your hardware meets those figures, close background applications, update the graphics driver and lower demanding visual settings before troubleshooting network or squad behavior. The minimum list does not state a target resolution, frame rate or quality preset, so treat it as a compatibility floor.

How to improve after the first clear

Review where information was missing

After a failed room, ask what you did not know: was the door trapped by an unseen angle, did a second entrance remain open, or did a suspect move from a room you skipped? The answer tells you whether to use the mirror gun, a wedge, a different breach or a slower stack next time.

Practice one variable at a time

Run a familiar section while changing only one decision: hold the corridor yourself, let the AI breach, split the teams, or reserve the flashbang. This makes it easier to see which choice caused a flank or an accidental exposure. Repeating the same uncontrolled rush teaches very little.

Measure success by control, not speed

A clean mission is one in which civilians are safe, suspects are handled according to the rules, evidence is secured and the squad remains together. Completion time is useful only after you can reproduce that control. Faster entries become safer when they are built on the same checks rather than replacing them.

What the community snapshot can and cannot tell you

A Steam snapshot cited for the game showed 77% positive English reviews from 151,828 reviews at the time it was captured. That number is a dated platform snapshot, not a permanent quality score: the total and sentiment can change as new players review the game, updates arrive and different editions are released. Use it as context for the size and mixed nature of the player response, not as a substitute for learning the mechanics above.

Quick Recap

Bestseller No. 1

Ready or Not - Day 1 Edition – PlayStation 5

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Bestseller No. 3

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Bestseller No. 4

Atomfall - PlayStation 5

$39.99

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beginner guidePC gamingPS5Ready or Notroom clearingSWAT gamestactical shooters