For a moment I thought it was Heidelberg 1693 and got excited...

trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeu0BVfy7Mc

Really, the only thing that lets Beat Cop's perspective appear kinda strange, is the "flatness" of it all.

But if you divide the picture in its three main segements (street, sidewalk and back alley), it's still visually apparent, that all takes place on the same plane (apart from the little curbside between street and sidewalk).

And that's exactly the flaw with "Plague: London 1665"'s perspective:
visually, there are at least three (maybe even four) different planes (A + B + C [+ maybe D]), where there should be only two (A + [B+C+D combined]).

Of course, I get, what the dev, respectively their artist wanted to do (have a street on plane B, a sidewalk on plane C and the background on plane D)...but because they drew plane B in //// direction and plane C in === direction, they make our brains think, plane C is a wall, sitting on plane B.

If they had simply drawn plane C also in //// direction (while keeping the lighter color for the cobblestones), it would have been apparent immediately, that plane C is supposed to be a sidewalk, running along the street (= plane B).

Btw: it also doesn't help, that all the lamp posts' ends are "lined up" along the upper rim of plane C.
Might have helped (at least a little) already, if they would have been longer (stood over the upper rim of plane C into plane D).

Alas...it is now at it is...and can't be changed anymore.
But that nobody noticed this during development...sigh

Thanks for the warning, my first thought looking at Yes, Your Grace was "wow, that one looks so nice". My memory isn't good but I have a vague sense that I might have removed it from my wishlist after a previous warning from you or possibly someone else. (Please GOG, give us an Ignore button that can also attach a note).

You can do the same with Beat Cop as with this one. The cars do not look like they are tilted at the angle you show but at a much shallower angle so the sidewalk can also look like a wall, it is just easier to not see it like that.

Another game in need of a warning if you're not already aware of it is The Pale Beyond. I was so looking forward to that one until I found a review titled 'The Pale Beyond' is a dangerous video game for dog lovers. I'm not even a dog lover and find them slightly tolerable at best.

Exactly.
And it would be even easier, not to see it like that, if the joints in the sidewalk were slightly tilted.

Though, in that case, the buildings in the background and the cars, and just about everything, would look totally off, since they are also not drawn "in perspective".

One can look at it, any way one wants:
the fact remains, that the optical effect (to see a wall, where none's supposed to be), is much more distinct in "Plague: London 1665"'s case.

Thanks, I hadn't even noticed that one. I think this review might be what you mean or at least covers the situation. I've added it to my avoid.txt file, hopefully I'll actually remember to look at it :). I'm with you on Plage too, not my idea of fun. Despite my misanthropic side I avoid the ones with cannibalism and what seems like excessive cruelty (I avoided Frostpunk for a while thinking I wouldn't like it then eventually tried it and returned it). Some get frustrated by the less violent ones, though.

Sounds like we are in loud agreement then :).

That is the exact review I was referring to. I didn't link to it myself because of the screen shots. As the reviewer said, you have the respect the game for going there and being honest about what would really happen to dogs in this situation. Respecting that the developers went there doesn't mean that I'll ever want to play it.

The subject of harsh realities is worth bringing up with Plague: London 1665 because I feel like this is going to be a sanitized version of the plague, especially since there's also the Great Fire of London that burned down most of the city in 1666.