All police work isn't glorious in indie game 'Beat Cop'

Things aren’t going great for Officer Jack Kelly. Formerly a detective, he’s been demoted and shunned by his colleagues after being framed for murder. His ex-wife is demanding alimony and his new boss hates him. And on the first day of his new beat, another cop takes a bullet meant for him. He’s got 21 days to figure out who’s trying to kill him and why he’s being framed. Jack Kelly’s going to get his old life back or die trying.

If that sounds more like a 1980s cop show than a video game, that’s because it’s exactly the tone Beat Cop is going for. Created by independent Polish developers Pixel Crow and 11 bit studios (makers of This War of Mine), Beat Cop is an adventure game full of foul-mouthed humor set on the streets of Brooklyn. In his new role as a beat cop, Jack Kelly spends his days talking to local business owners and handing out enough parking tickets to keep his boss off his back. It’s a far cry from his previous role, but Kelly’s not giving up on his detective skills entirely – he’s still got his own case to solve.

With a name like Pixel Crow at the helm, it’s probably not very surprising thatBeat Cop embodies the pixelated art style that’s so popular among indie game developers right now. The throwback design suits Beat Cop especially well given the '80s vibe it aims to convey.

As Pixel Crow’s Maciej Miąsik played through Kelly’s first day on the beat, I got a sense of what the disgraced cop’s day-to-day looks like. Each day, he’s got a to-do list full of orders and a quota of tickets to meet. In between handing out violations for illegally parked vehicles, Kelly needs to respond to incoming orders, like when there’s a robbery or a dead body in an alley—or sometimes both. The work day is only so long, and the clock is always ticking, creating a sense of urgency. Beat Cop’s campaign is over in 21 days, or sooner if Jack gets killed along the way, and Miąsik told me it is possible to end in a fail state without the larger mystery being solved.

Player choice affects Kelly’s standing with four key factions: the rest of the police force, the mafia, street gangs and the people of New York. Helping one of these groups might harm others, and according to Miąsik, keeping the balance is an important part of Beat Cop’s strategy. You’ll need to think carefully about how each action and dialogue choice will affect your reputation; each decision has a consequence, and I was told it gets harder to make those choices as the three-week period drags on.

The limited timeframe and day-by-day storytelling reminded me a bit of Papers, Please, although tonally Beat Cop has nothing in common with the dystopian title. The sense of urgency and the importance of choice are what really intrigue me, and the demo left me wanting more – in a good way.

I couldn’t help but think about the choices I’d make in Kelly’s shoes. Would I stay on the straight and narrow or accept kickbacks from the mob? Could I keep the people of New York happy and earn the respect of my fellow officers? And how many tickets could I possibly give out in one day?

We’ll find out in a few months; after two years in development, Beat Cop is set to launch this fall on PC.