VOID Interactive’s 2023 gritty tactical shooter Ready or Not is copaganda. Not necessarily in a bad way — but like any game (or media, really) that centers on the heroics of law enforcement, it inevitably shapes and reinforces how we perceive the police.
Copaganda is the shorthand critics use for media that paints policing in an uncritically positive light, smoothing over its flaws and presenting officers as the thin blue line between order and chaos. It runs the gamut from glossy network dramas like Blue Bloods or Law & Order — where the cops are always right and the system mostly works — to schoolhouse “outreach” programs like D.A.R.E., which critics say were less about teaching kids not to do drugs and more about putting cops in classrooms, and encouraging kids to report on their own families.
For the past month, I’ve been playing the newly released console version of Ready or Not on PlayStation 5 — a port surrounded by controversy and charges of censorship. VOID Interactive, the studio behind the game, said in a Steam post that changes were made to the game to help it get published on consoles. Not that Ready or Not is a stranger to backlash. Back in 2021, during its early access phase, the game’s developers parted ways with publisher Team17 after confirming to fans that, yes, a school shooting mission would be included — and it eventually was.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
