Police Chief Simulator: Prologue is the initial demo for Police Chief Simulator. The short prologue focuses on your character’s first days running a police outpost start-up. It features the clean-up and refurbishing process, item delivery, and the processing of police reports. At the end of the demo, you’ll even have the opportunity to run down leads based on police reports.
For those who don’t know, Police Chief Simulator shares a world with Perfect Circle Team’s other simulator game, Car Dealer Simulator. The police outpost occupies a space close to the Winston Springs motel, where the player’s apartment is. Meanwhile, the car dealership from Car Dealer Simulator is also present there, but it has certainly seen much better days. Seeing Car Dealer Simulator‘s consistent layering of new content, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more references to the Police Chief Simulator closer to its Q3 2026 release date.
The demo begins with us driving a camper to the location of the ruined Winston Springs Police Station. There, we are expected to rebuild it to its former glory. Well, the place practically looks like an abandoned site doubling up as a homeless shelter. It’s going to take more than a good sweeping and wood polish to bring that place back to life.
Our first task is to clean up and renovate the reception area in anticipation of opening up for business. I have no idea how and why we are getting money for each correct case file we send to central, so let’s chalk that up to the outpost receiving funds from headquarters. The first thing that caught my eye was how sweeping is a lot more involved than I expected. It reminded me of angle grinding rust off cars in the dealership. In any case, I kind of liked it because it’s not your typical sweeping away and watching spots disappear from the floor.
The second task required us to go to the local pawn shop and buy everything we needed for the reception area. The quick trip through the town was a night and day difference to Car Dealer. The place now looks a lot more vibrant and lived in. A far cry from the desolate and empty buildings of the last game. Even the bar looks like it’s worth visiting from time to time. (After a long day responding to crimes, of course.)
Opening up and running the day-to-day tasks surprised me about the game. I was expecting something straightforward. Instead, we got a desk job that has similar mechanics to ‘Papers, Please”. When you open the reception desk at the start of each day, people will come in and submit police reports. Once they are on the desk, we are supposed to go through each element and check to see if they match the information provided on their ID. We have checked things like the correct full name, address, license number, and birthdate. If everything matches, we can register the case report by faxing the documents to HQ, and we will receive funding as a result. If the report is bad, we reject the document and toss it into the paper shredder.
In time, we will become less reliant on sending reports to HQ, and we can actually start solving cases from the police station itself. And we got a preview of that feature in this demo.
The last task we are given in the demo involves setting up the Detective Room. In this room, we can actively pursue cases based on information that’s given to us. It starts with choosing an unsent case file and scanning it from inside the Detective Room. This starts a minigame where we gather information about the case.
Once the document has been scanned and run through the Database, we are supposed to print out the details and place them on the Evidence Board. By connecting the various pieces of information using red string (classic!), we can identify who the victim is, the suspect they are pointing the finger at, and the location where the crime occurred. If documented properly, we are now able to send this updated Case File to HQ for even more income.
It is hinted that in the full game, we can take on crimes directly from the Briefing Room, much like how beats are assigned in The Precinct.
That’s pretty much everything that’s in the demo. The whole thing can be done in less than a couple of hours, especially if you don’t feel the need to explore the town and the surrounding countryside. The upbeat Sims elevator music really helped create a lighthearted atmosphere. I wonder how that’ll all change once we are running down suspects and taking them in for questioning. The presentation of the game is also very nice. The police station looks like it’s from the 1950s or something, complete with a rotary phone. I don’t even know if kids these days know how to use a rotary phone, much less a fax machine in 2026.
I must say that I have become quite a fan of this upcoming title. When I first heard of this game, I automatically assumed that it would have the same level of ease as Car Dealer Simulator when it was first released. I am, however, surprised at how in-depth and immersive the mechanics are, albeit a little too cumbersome in some places. Regardless, I am looking forward to the release of this game later this year.
The full release will expand on everything that was shown in the demo, including more open-world content and police activities. Aside from hiring police officers to help out with the day-to-day work, we are able to expand the police station to have holding cells and interrogation rooms. We are also able to take part in patrols around the town and even partake in car chases and shootouts.
Police Chief Simulator is shaping up to be another sleeper hit like Car Dealer Simulator. There is some time before the game’s full release in Q3 2026. In the meantime, we are expecting a second demo to be released this June. Hopefully, we get a chance to see how shootouts and patrols play out. Furthermore, I want to know how competent the police officers are – do we have to babysit them 24/7, or are they able to perform tasks without micromanaging? I guess only time will tell.
