Getting Started in Police Chief Simulator

Police Chief Simulator does not drop you into a car chase. Perfect Circle Team S.A. starts you as a young chief handed a wrecked county station in Winston Springs. The full Steam version is scheduled for 17 September 2026. Until that date, this walkthrough matches the free Prologue and the larger Demo: restore the building, buy the missing machines, then open the lobby for civilians who want to file reports.

If a control feels missing, jump to the controls page. If you already have a fax and shredder and still cannot get paid, skip ahead to how to solve cases.

What you are actually doing

The Steam page describes three pillars: station management, open-world police work, and investigative minigames. The first hour is almost entirely pillar one. You will:

1. Arrive, find the station, and restore power.
2. Clear trash from the registration room so a furniture delivery can land.
3. Place desks, chairs, and starter office gear.
4. Visit the pawn shop (old Tony) for a fax, a shredder, and registration forms.
5. Flip the open lever so civilians enter.
6. Stamp reports, fax the good ones, shred the rest.

That loop is the tutorial. Later systems — hiring staff, patrol districts, gang leaders — sit on top of a desk that already works.

Police Chief Simulator Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 — opening a new station

Day one money and phone calls

HQ seeds your account (Demo players often notice about $1,000 on the HUD) and keeps calling on the rotary phone. Sheriff Ron Dunn is the voice that tells you what is still missing. Answer the phone; the next objective is usually on that call, not in a flashing quest marker.

Spend the seed cash on function, not décor. You need:

• Registration forms (and later printer paper)
• Fax machine
• Shredder
• A desk and scanner for the detective room when you start solving locally
• Evidence board

Heaters, kettles, and extra chairs can wait. The renovation guide lists what to order on the phone versus what you must haul from the pawn shop.

Inventory before pride

New chiefs carry one cardboard box at a time and wonder why the shift vanished. TAB opens inventory. Stash multiple boxes, then enter placement mode (hold Ctrl with an item in hand). Rotate with the mouse wheel. Left-click only when the highlight is green. Unopened cartons are a common Steam-discussion trap; interact to open them before you try to place the furniture inside.

Deliveries arrive at the gate. Open the barrier for the truck, then unpack at the curb instead of blocking the lobby.

Opening the station for real

Furniture in the room is not the same as being open. There is a physical lever (or equivalent open control) at the front. Until you throw it, civilians will not grab forms and walk to your desk. After it is on, people enter, take a form, fill it, and present it when you left-click the highlighted visitor.

Case registration is the “first front of the station,” in the game’s own wording:

• Green stamp — the report is consistent (name, address, dates, photo, gender, and the story line up).
• Red stamp — there is a mistake; you must also mark a rejection cause.
• Magnifying glass — helps you spot errors and costs energy. Do not use it on every line of every form.
• Fax — send accepted files to HQ for money and reputation. Skip this and you worked for free.
• Shredder — archive rejects. Putting them on the scanner is the mistake that earns comment-section grief.

A short playable example from creator videos: a porch-theft report naming a suspect such as Carl Nelson can be a clean green stamp if the ID block matches. A form that lists the wrong city, a mismatched birthday, or a gender that does not match the photo is a red stamp plus a stated cause.

After the first fax

Once HQ is receiving clean files, two things happen. Reputation ticks up, and the station starts asking for a proper detective corner. That is when you buy the scanner and evidence board and follow how to solve cases instead of faxing everything blindly.

Do not hire a full roster on day one. Hiring is for the moment the lobby queues faster than you can stamp. The Winston Springs map and patrol units matter more in the Demo and the upcoming full county campaign than in the tiny Prologue.

What this game is not

This is not a street-level patrol sim in the style of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, and it is not the Unreal community project also titled Police Chief. You will spend more time with stamps, boxes, and a rotary phone than with a rifle. If that loop appeals to you, wishlist the full game from the official links page and keep the release date article handy.

When the first shift feels messy, read beginner tips for the ten mistakes that waste a Demo evening, then confirm your PC specs if the station stutters once NPCs fill the lobby.