Info about This Is the Police:

Official game description:
Dive into a deep story of corruption, crime and intrigue. Take the role of gritty Police Chief Jack Boyd, and come face to face with the ugly underbelly of Freeburg, a city spiraling the drain. Will Jack reach his retirement with a nice stack of bills, or will he end up broken ... or worse?  
Manage your staff, respond to emergencies, and investigate crimes in a city on the brink of chaos. The mafia underworld maneuvers behind the scenes, sinking their claws ever deeper into the city, even as the mayor is ready to exploit every situation to his political advantage.  
Choose your approach to each situation as it unfolds. Sometimes you’ll be responding to a developing crisis at a crime scene, or negotiating with Freeburg’s crime bosses. Sometimes you’ll find yourself dodging questions in the press room, or even the occasional cross-examination in the witness box. Can you keep this pressure cooker from exploding, at least for long enough to stash away a nice retirement nest egg?  
*   Your mission is clear: make $500,000 in 180 days, before Jack Boyd reaches retirement. How? That’s up to you!
*   Decisions, decisions! This Is the Police is all about a dark story and how you react to it. Whatever you decide, your choices will influence the game – and the fate of Jack Boyd.
*   The Good, the Bad, and... the Ugly? The Chief of Freeburg's Police Department deals with all kind of people. It is up to you to find the bad guys, and decide how to deal with them.
*   Carry out your duties. As head of Freeburg PD, Jack deals with all sorts of challenges every day: responding to emergencies, managing his officers, defending the department against City Hall and a corrupt mayor, and much more.
*   Solve Investigations and gather evidence against the criminal gangs of Freeburg.
*   Deal with the competing powers of the city. Everyone offers you favors, and each one comes at a price.
*   Rich and fully voiced story: Jack Boyd is portrayed by Jon St. John, the voice of Duke Nukem.

Release date: Aug 2, 2016

Categories: Management Simulation, Resource Management, Branching Narrative, Moral Decision-Making, Detective Gameplay, Multiple Endings, Shift-based Gameplay, Story-driven Gameplay

Feature scans:
- Wiki: score 50; verdict: The Student; summary: Players frequently report that the game lacks clear in-game guidance, especially for puzzles and complex mechanics like officer management and the 'professionalism' stat, forcing reliance on external walkthroughs and trial-and-error.

- Hardware Profile:
  - Summary: The Windows cohort with less than 8GB VRAM reports excellent performance, with stable high framerates even at 4K resolution and low CPU usage.
  - Sample size: 22 (3% coverage)
  - Audience skew: Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
  - Windows <8GB VRAM (positive, 13 reports): Players with less than 8GB VRAM report high and stable framerates (300-400 FPS at 1440p, 144+ FPS at 4K), minimal CPU usage, and overall smooth gameplay.
  - Caveats: 22 of 648 reviews expose hardware metadata.; Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00
  - Reasoning: Multiple reviews indicate that the game's full price of $14.99 is considered high, with many players waiting for sales that bring the cost to $4–$10. One review states the game is worth its $15 tag, but that same review notes the typical sale price is much lower. Another review explicitly says the maximum value is $15, while a third advises not buying at full price. Collectively, the community perceives a fair base price range where $15 is the absolute upper limit, but most would prefer a base price closer to $10 or less, especially given the frequent deep discounts.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 40.0h
  - Story completion: 20.0h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Multiple reviews consistently report story completion between 15 and 20 hours, with specific mentions of 17 and 20 hours. One review estimates 40 hours for 100% completion, requiring multiple playthroughs. No clear evidence for session length or endgame playtime was found, so those fields are set to null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game delivers immediate fun through its early struggle and narrative hook, but quickly becomes repetitive, tedious, and frustrating due to pacing issues and random events, causing enjoyment to drop after the first few hours.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Early game struggle phase
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: repetitive gameplay loop; overly long campaign length; punishing RNG that negates effort; poor pacing with story stops progressing; shallow mechanics become tedious
  - Unlock drivers: learning optimal strategies and mechanics; accepting the repetitive loop as part of the management genre
  - Conditions: interest in noir story and narrative; tolerance for repetitive management tasks; playing in short sessions to avoid fatigue
- Player Archetypes:
  - Story-Driven Narrativist (buy)
    - Motivation: Engaging, well-written story and atmospheric immersion
    - Playstyle: Follows main story closely, makes narrative choices, often reads dialogue and watches cutscenes; may reload to see different story branches.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: story lover; narrative-focused player; film-like experience seeker; mature theme enjoyer
    - Reference games: Breaking Bad; Sopranos; 911 Operator
  - Tactical Management Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Strategic resource allocation and meaningful decision-making under pressure
    - Playstyle: Optimizes police deployment, manages stats, carefully chooses responses to calls and investigations; may use guides for efficient outcomes.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: management game lover; strategy player; numbers cruncher; police procedural fan
    - Reference games: 911 Operator; This Is the Police 2
  - Value-Conscious Explorer (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Getting a unique, atmospheric experience at a low cost
    - Playstyle: Plays in short sessions, may not complete all content; open to trying multiple angles but unlikely to grind for achievements.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: budget gamer; hidden gem hunter; casual player; sale watcher
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Great story and narrative (weight 0.37): Players consistently praise the story as engaging, well-crafted, and well-told, especially in the beginning and middle sections. The narrative is enhanced by strong voice acting and a noir setting.
- Outstanding soundtrack and music (weight 0.18): The soundtrack receives high praise for being excellent, with the ability to buy records and cassettes adding to the immersion. The music contributes significantly to the game's atmosphere.
- Realistic police management simulation (weight 0.16): Players appreciate the realistic feeling of managing a police department and the moral conundrums involved. The simulation of police chief duties is considered authentic and well-executed.
- Noir atmosphere and setting (weight 0.13): The noir aesthetic, combined with the dark story and effective art style, creates a strong and appealing atmosphere. Players enjoy the authentic noir experience.
- Good overall game quality (weight 0.12): Reviewers generally find the game to be good overall, with solid quality across different aspects. It is considered a well-made title.
- Engaging moral choices (weight 0.12): The game's moral ambiguity and gray-area decisions are frequently noted as compelling. Players enjoy how choices affect the narrative and add philosophical depth.
- Unique and original gameplay (weight 0.12): Many players consider the gameplay to be unique and original, with interesting mechanics that set it apart. The concept is seen as potentially pioneering.
- Good value for price (weight 0.07): Many reviewers find the game to be worth the money, offering good quality for its price. The overall value proposition is seen as positive.
- Interesting detective investigations (weight 0.07): The detective work and investigations are engaging and fun. Players find the process of solving cases to be a key enjoyable element.
- Beautiful art style (weight 0.07): The simplistic and nice visual style is widely praised. The art direction contributes to the game's overall charm and atmosphere.
- Engaging gameplay loop (weight 0.07): The core gameplay loop is described as engaging and fun. Players find the mechanics satisfying for a police chief simulator.
- Interesting story of Jack Boyd (weight 0.07): The character-driven story of Jack Boyd is specifically noted as engaging and interesting. Players feel connected to the protagonist's journey.
- Good management gameplay (weight 0.07): As a management game, it is considered fantastic and well-implemented. The resource management element adds depth to the simulation.

Common complaints:
- Gameplay becomes boring and monotonous (weight 0.76): Players frequently criticize the game for becoming boring and monotonous over time. The gameplay loop is described as repetitive, lacking variety, and leading to burnout during extended play sessions.
- Game is excessively long (weight 0.55): Many players find the game's length excessive, with specific complaints about 180-day cycles and 30+ hour playtimes. The extended duration causes the experience to feel drawn out and tedious, especially in the later stages.
- Unsatisfying and rushed ending (weight 0.14): The ending is consistently described as unsatisfying, short, and rushed. Players feel it fails to provide closure and leaves many questions unanswered.
- Choices do not affect story (weight 0.11): Despite promises of meaningful choices, players find the story linear with only two endings. Choices have little to no impact, leading to disappointment.
- Punishing mechanics and save issues (weight 0.11): The save system is criticized for being limited to weekly checkpoints, causing frustrating setbacks. The game also punishes players for good moral choices, which feels unfair.
- Worse than similar Dispatch game (weight 0.06): Players compare this game unfavorably to Dispatch, noting that the narrative does not complement the gameplay as well and the overall experience is poorer.
- Poor story and writing quality (weight 0.05): The story is criticized as bad, cliched, and poorly written, with weak voice acting and unengaging monologues.
- Forced cooperation with mafia (weight 0.05): Players dislike being forced to cooperate with the mafia and corrupt mayor from the start, feeling it limits player agency and moral choices.

Gameplay feedback:
- Dispatch and resource management (weight 0.34): Core gameplay involves dispatching police officers to incidents, managing staffing, and allocating resources strategically.
- Police chief management simulation (weight 0.27): Players act as a police chief, managing officers, responding to calls, and balancing pressures from the mayor, mafia, and subordinates.
- Detective investigation puzzles (weight 0.24): Players solve detective cases by arranging picture clues or evidence in the correct order based on witness statements.
- Police station shift management (weight 0.23): The game features shift-based management with a 180-day countdown, requiring daily scheduling and oversight of officers.
- Branching story and multiple endings (weight 0.16): Player choices lead to multiple story paths and endings, though some decisions only affect cutscenes.
- Navigating city politics (weight 0.14): Players must balance relationships with the mayor, mafia, and police force, managing corruption and political pressure.
- Limited resource management (weight 0.13): Players must strategically manage limited resources, including officer assignments and departmental budgets.
- Management with visual novel elements (weight 0.12): The game blends police station management with a visual novel style, featuring narrative-driven decision-making.
- Moral choice system (weight 0.11): Players face moral dilemmas with consequences, allowing them to choose between ethical paths and manage faction relations.
- Decision-driven narrative (weight 0.09): The game emphasizes choice-based storytelling, where decisions impact the narrative and lead to different outcomes.
- Poker minigame (weight 0.07): The game includes a poker minigame where players can win or lose everything, adding a gambling element.
- Interactive faction relationships (weight 0.05): Players interact with mafia families and city officials, making undercover deals and navigating faction wars.

Performance notes:
- Excellent overall performance (weight 0.13): Players consistently report smooth performance across a wide range of hardware, from high-end PCs to the Steam Deck. Specific high frame rates at 1440p and 4K are mentioned, along with low CPU usage and temperatures, indicating strong optimization.
- Crash and save loss bug (weight 0.06): Several reviews mention the game crashing during critical moments like battle loading or after many hours of play, and in at least one case a crash wiped all save data. This is a serious issue that undermines the otherwise positive performance reports.
- Small text readability issues (weight 0.04): Multiple players find the small text difficult to read, especially on Steam Deck or lower resolution screens, with descriptions like blurry due to low resolution. This hampers investigation gameplay that requires reading fine details.
- VSync driver fix for menus (weight 0.02): One player recommends disabling vertical sync in the graphics driver to fix a sluggish menu issue. This suggests a specific performance quirk that may affect some users, though it is an isolated report.

Recommendations:
- Buy on sale (weight 0.17): Multiple players recommend waiting for a sale or discount before purchasing, as the game may disappoint at full price.
- Recommended for management fans (weight 0.15): Players specifically recommend this game to fans of management sims, especially those who enjoy story-driven and choice-heavy experiences.
- Highly recommended overall (weight 0.14): Many players strongly recommend the game with scores of 10/10 and enthusiastic endorsements, indicating a very positive reception.
- Worth trying (weight 0.1): Players suggest giving the game a try, with several recommending at least one playthrough.
- Worth playing for story (weight 0.1): The game is considered worth playing, particularly for its narrative and unique style, even if there are some drawbacks.
- Recommended with caveats (weight 0.07): Some players recommend the game overall but note it has flaws or issues that potential buyers should be aware of.
- Recommended for narrative fans (weight 0.07): Players who enjoy story-driven experiences will find this game appealing, especially fans of noir and detective genres.
- Not for lighthearted players (weight 0.06): The game is not recommended for those seeking a cheerful or happy ending, as it involves moral dilemmas and heavy decisions.
- Game-breaking bug present (weight 0.04): A few reviews cannot recommend the game because a bug makes it unfinishable, rendering it unplayable.

Other player notes:
- Inappropriate sexualized humor (weight 0.02): The feedback criticizes the game for featuring sexualized content, specifically boob-shaking, which is viewed as inappropriate and not aligning with professional standards. This suggests a concern about the game's tone and maturity level.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.22): Players frequently cited the oppressive RNG, unfair systems forcing restarts, and the sense that their choices ultimately lacked meaningful impact due to predictable negative outcomes.
- Boredom (weight 0.1): The core gameplay loop is extremely repetitive and drawn out, with identical days repeated for 180 in-game cycles, leading to a monotonous and tedious experience that fails to sustain engagement.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.09): Despite flaws, many players found the game's strong narrative, atmospheric soundtrack, voice acting, and the weight of moral dilemmas sufficiently engaging to make the experience enjoyable.
- Disappointment (weight 0.09): The game's promising start and narrative concept diminish over time, with a lack of meaningful choices, a single unsatisfying ending, and repetitive gameplay failing to deliver on its potential.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.07): Some players felt satisfaction from the deep strategic gameplay, moral complexity, and the ability to achieve a stable, controlled precinct after overcoming the game's harsh obstacles.
- Anger (weight 0.03): Players expressed anger at the unfair mechanics, forced corruption, incompetent AI, opaque systems, and a story that punishes proactive and ethical play.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): Many players found amusement in the absurdly grim scenarios, dark humor in failure descriptions, and the over-the-top examples of bureaucratic incompetence and corruption.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Initial excitement came from the unique premise and engaging narrative, while the compelling loop of high-stakes decisions and the constant threat of failure kept some players' interest alive.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Reviewers frequently admired the game's narrative depth, moral ambiguity, stunning jazz soundtrack, and the authenticity of its noir atmosphere and character writing.
- Engagement (weight 0.02): Despite repetitive mechanics, the game's deep moral decision-making and the 'one more day' addictive loop kept many players invested in managing their precinct and the story's outcomes.
- Annoyance (weight 0.02): Recurring annoyances cited by players include the tedious mandatory music sequence, confusing tax calculation, overly long game length, and forced side content that disrupts pacing.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Players were surprised by the game's hidden depth within its simple surface mechanics, the unexpectedly mature story for a police dispatcher sim, and the shock of realistic, grim outcomes.
- Interest (weight 0.01): The game maintains interest through its complex resource management, evolving moral choices, and the overarching narrative of systemic corruption within a decaying institution.
- Love (weight 0.01): Many endgame reviews expressed a deep, genuine love for the game's art style, thematic coherence, the poignant story of a tired protagonist, and the overall atmospheric experience.
- Immersion (weight 0.01): Players reported feeling deeply immersed through the game's consistent noir aesthetic, the drudgery of nightly tasks, and the visceral sense of fighting against a corrupt and apathetic system.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion arose from unclear mechanics such as the mafia's influence structure, opaque detective case systems, and illogical logic puzzles leading to wasted time restarting.
- Resignation (weight 0.01): After repeated playthroughs and exposure to the game's deterministic outcomes, many players described a sense of resignation at the futility of perfect play leading only to the same tragic endings.
- Cynicism (weight 0.01): The game's unrelenting portrayal of a broken system and the inevitable corruption of even a principled protagonist fostered a deep cynicism about the possibility of any change.}