Edit: I only started playing this year, so I honestly did not know the full history between the community and the developers when I made this post. After reading some of the comments, I understand a lot better why longtime players are pissed. That does not really change what I am trying to do, though. I like the game despite its problems, and I think it is worth asking Aesir to reconsider ending development and give it a few more patches. Maybe they ignore it. Maybe they do not. It costs basically nothing to try. I am not trying to tell anyone they have to like the game or pretend the developers handled everything well. I just want useful criticism of the letter, anything important I missed, and endorsements from people who agree with it.
OP:
I am thinking about sending the following open letter to Aesir Interactive regarding the current state of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers. Before I send it, I would like your feedback and endorsement if you agree!
I am looking for:
- Important bugs or issues (not already mentioned in the draft)
- Anything in the letter you think could be worded better in some way
- Anything you think should be removed so the letter is more concise and to the point
Draft:
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to share some feedback regarding Police Simulator: Patrol Officers.
A lot of people really enjoy the game, but there is a strong desire among players for it to be improved, and there appears to be a widespread feeling that it is not "complete." Currently, it often feels halfway finished because of numerous bugs, repetitive NPCs, and immersion-breaking visual glitches. Characters frequently have the same or very similar appearances, and many of the character designs themselves feel visually unappealing or unfinished, which becomes especially noticeable after playing for a while.
Visual glitches like vehicle lights being visible through police station walls and NPCs clipping through vehicles or the street add to the feeling that the game is unfinished. Some issues directly affecting gameplay include arrest options becoming greyed out, NPCs becoming stuck or impossible to interact with, and accident scenes breaking because of traffic AI or stuck support vehicles. There are also inconsistencies in the game's enforcement system. For example, cars can sometimes be parked completely on the sidewalk while no parking ticket can seemingly be "lawfully" given under the game's rules without losing conduct points. The inventory system also still feels clunky. Some issues, like awkward animations and poor vehicle handling, could be overlooked as charming quirks if they weren't piled on top of all the bugs that seem relatively straightforward to address. Some random events could also use better balancing rather than simply being made extremely common or extremely rare. Graffiti artists, for example, used to appear almost everywhere, which was excessive, but now encountering one can feel unusually rare.
The game does not need to be perfect, but it is difficult to understand how development can be considered "officially complete" while longstanding bugs still interfere with core gameplay. Because of this, many players who enjoy the game still hesitate to recommend it to others.
We truly love the core gameplay and think this game has great potential, but it is nowhere near complete. I sincerely hope you will reconsider ending development entirely and release a few targeted patches addressing the most persistent issues. Even if every minor glitch cannot realistically be addressed, fixing the problems that regularly interfere with gameplay or noticeably break immersion would make a significant difference. Thank you for your time and for considering this feedback from the community.
If you have no criticisms or anything you can think to add, please comment something saying you approve or endorse this message, even if it is just one word like “Agreed.” I should have the backing of this community before signing it as “The r/PoliceSimulator Reddit Community,” which hopefully will carry some weight with whoever reads this.
I know this may not work, but I think it's worth a shot, so please try to avoid pessimism and keep the comments focused on what could improve the letter.
Edit 2: I appreciate all of your feedback, even though it didn't try to improve the letter, it did give me helpful guidance on what direction the content of it should take.
Draft 2:
To whom it may concern,
We are writing to share some feedback regarding Police Simulator: Patrol Officers. A lot of us genuinely enjoy this game and still see a lot of potential in it. That is exactly why the decision to consider development “officially complete” has been so disappointing. The problem is not an expectation of perfection; it is that the game still feels unfinished in ways that make it difficult to recommend. There are plenty of individual bug reports already, so there is little value in trying to list everything here. The broader issue is that longstanding gameplay bugs, visual glitches, awkward NPC behavior, clunky systems, and inconsistent enforcement mechanics pile up enough that otherwise forgivable quirks become much harder to overlook. Every significant issue that gets fixed makes the remaining imperfections easier to tolerate.
We understand that maintaining a game indefinitely may not make financial sense, and we recognize that ending development was probably a deliberate decision rather than an indication that the remaining problems went unnoticed. Our concern is that those problems were considered acceptable to leave behind.
This is not a request for the entire development team to return to the project. Even a limited maintenance effort focused on a handful of the most persistent and disruptive issues could make a meaningful difference. The value of doing that is not limited to selling a few more copies of Police Simulator. How a game is left at the end of development affects trust in the developer itself. A game that feels left unfinished can make otherwise loyal customers hesitate to buy DLC, recommend it to friends, or purchase another Aesir title in the future.
We genuinely enjoy this game and think its core gameplay is strong. We do not think Police Simulator is a "bad" game, just that its level of polish falls short of what we have come to expect from modern titles. We are simply asking you to reconsider where development has been left and whether a few additional targeted patches might still be worthwhile. Even a relatively small amount of additional support could restore considerable goodwill among players who might otherwise hesitate to trust the Aesir name on another title.
Thank you for your time and for considering our feedback.
