The Precinct, developed by Fallen Tree Games Limited and published by Kwalee and Microids, will be released on Xbox Series X/S, PC and PlayStation 5 on May 13th 2025. The Precinct is an action game with sandbox elements similar to those of Grand Theft Auto, but instead of being the criminal, you are the cop.
In Averno, it’s the 1980s again, with neon signs littering the streets and shining brightly in the puddles left behind in the rain. You play the role of Nick Cordell Jr, a rookie police officer on a mission to clear the city of crime and take down the people who killed his father.
In the Precinct, you will be taught how to be a police officer. Your partner, Frank, will take you on different types of patrols to introduce you to the mechanics. These patrols range from parking violations, drug-related crimes, robberies, assaults and more. This also expands onto vehicle patrols that range from catching speeding vehicles to chasing murder suspects in high-speed chases. I destroyed so much of the city while chasing criminals because of the destruction mechanics, I almost felt like perhaps I was the issue in the city of Averno. It was pretty fun chasing criminals in vehicles; the car chases felt similar to those in Driver, where they’re really intense and full of action. You’ll also get to take on the job as a police helicopter pilot and follow police chases as they unfold, reporting and helping the others capture the criminals at large.
The game mainly focuses on Nick working his beat, doling out parking tickets and fighting drug dealers in the streets, while the story is drip-fed in parts between the patrol work moments in a non-intrusive way. I personally liked how you’d be in a sandbox police experience for one part, and then you’d get little beats between that would advance the story. The transition between both story and sandbox transitioned perfectly for the pacing side of it, so that I was never bored between moments, filling time before the story continued. The Precinct felt very interactive and offered many different ways to tackle everything as you progress through. There are also little side stories to discover along the way, that need to be completed by using little mini games such as racing.
In the city of Averno, you will have to arrest people due to the crimes they are committing or give out fines. This involves checking their IDS, searching them and making sure you match up the crimes with the accusations. The more you get right, the better the XP, and you’ll soon climb the police ranks. You’ll meet all sorts of characters, from police trying to help Averno City, the gangs, informants, and corrupt officers working for the gangs themselves. You will learn a lot about characters as the game advances and get to know your beat better with each new day that comes. I enjoyed interacting with all of the NPCS in the game; it truly felt so immersive, and The Precinct feels like the ultimate police sandbox game that also has an engaging storyline going alongside it to bring those who killed your father to justice and investigate these criminal gangs in great detail. Along the way, players will be able to level Nick up to upgrade both his policing skills and personal skills to make sure you’re the best cop you can be. As you progress, you’ll also get access to better vehicles and equipment to take down the criminals and make sure that Averno is as safe as it possibly can be. In the copy I played on Steam, there were a few little glitches along the way, nothing game breaking, a few vehicles were getting clipped into each other which I’ll show in the screenshot below, people flying away a little to hard after a bump, but honestly it was more funny than anything. The game allows both mouse and keyboard, but recommends using a controller. I found both easy enough to play with.
The Precinct graphically looks great, you are thrown back into an 1980s city full of neon lighting, a wonderfully done day and night cycle that both lights up the city in different and unique ways, it’s beautiful. It reminds me of the early police movies, and it captured the feel perfectly. The voice acting is what I would expect from an 1980s cop thriller. It feels the top-down approach reminded me a bit of Grand Theft Auto, but not as extreme; it works well for it all, especially in a game where you have to keep your eyes peeled for the goings-on around you. In The Precinct, nothing ever felt the same in its design; each corner of the street looks uniquely different from the next and learning the roads in this game is key. A lot of effort has gone into the design of the game, including the sounds of the city, immersing you further into the police sandbox title.
Verdict
The Precinct is a joy to play, the storyline fits between the sandbox police work perfectly, which creates the best blend of game mechanics. The immersion that I felt within the world of Averno City was great, and I could have spent many more hours handing out tickets or arresting criminals for nefarious deeds. There are a bunch of police simulators out there that never truly capture that spirit that The Precinct has managed to recreate. I feel that there’s a ton of depth to this game, and I can’t get enough of it. I ran into a few little glitches here and there, but nothing game-breaking, and it all ran smoothly, no matter how crazy the police chase on screen was. I hope to see more from the team in the future.
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