Preview: Police Simulator: Patrol Officers Is Strangely Compelling

Screenshot: Police Simulator: Patrol Officers There are all sorts of “sim” games on the market, and unfortunately, the genre has become a bit of a joke over the last decade. “Sim” could mean anything from a wacky facsimile of the “simulated” activity to an earnest attempt at a recreation, or something in between. Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is a pretty earnest attempt at recreating what it could be like to be a beat cop on the streets in an urban environment—and it’s surprisingly compelling. Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is a game where you follow a police officer through their career as you start from the very bottom. You won’t be running around and gunning down perps on your first day, however. As a cop new to the beat you’ll start out writing a lot of traffic tickets, catching speeders, and calling for tow trucks for people who think they can park wherever they want. As you make you way through the ranks, more responsibilities will be bestowed upon you. You can’t just go around, power hungry, and harassing citizens, however. Your progression is tied to your performance, and the more mistakes you make—like writing invalid tickets, or even crossing the street on a red light—the worse you’ll end up doing overall. Screenshot: Police Simulator: Patrol Officers Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is releasing in Early Access, so that means it’ll be in active development when it hits Steam today. The developers are planning on keeping Police Simulator in development for up to a year while they implement more city districts, more tools and more police duties. There is also a planned two player mode, which will give Police Simulator the potential for some buddy cop action. If you want to experience the excitement of ticket writing, and mundane patrol beats, Police Simulator is the game for you—but it’s also strangely compelling. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how Police Simulator shapes up over the course of its development—and I can’t wait to get into a patrol car with a friends, and hit the streets, Training Day style.   Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is available in Early Access today on Steam.       If you like the video game, tabletop, or other technology content that Third Coast Review has to offer, consider donating to our Patreon. We are the only publication in Chicago that regularly reviews video games, and we cover lots of local Chicago-based events and more. If you want to contribute to our coverage of Chicago’s video game scene (and more) please consider becoming a patron. Your support enables us to continue to provide this type of content and more. Patreon.com/3CR You can also catch us streaming games we’re reviewing and staff favorites on our Twitch channel.  
Antal Bokor

Antal is video game advocate, retro game collector, and video game historian. He is also a small streamer, occasional podcast guest, and writer.