In The Precinct, players take on the role of Officer Nick Cordell Jr., a new police officer working in the dangerous streets of 1980s Averno City. His job is to enforce the law and uncover the truth behind his father’s unsolved murder. The game is a top-down action sandbox police game, drawing inspiration from older Grand Theft Auto games but with the player playing as a cop instead of a criminal.
You are the long arm of the law
The main gameplay follows a shift-based system, where players choose how to patrol the city each day. Options include walking a beat, driving a patrol car, or providing air support in a helicopter. The Crime Generation System keeps things exciting and unpredictable by creating random crimes for players to handle. These can range from small offenses like writing parking tickets, stopping littering, or cleaning up graffiti, to major crimes such as muggings, drug deals, bank robberies, and gang fights.
The game mixes realistic police work with fast-paced action, letting players patrol the city in different vehicles, on foot, or by helicopter. They can even take over civilian cars during high-speed chases.
Police procedures play a big role, meaning players must act like real officers. This includes checking IDs, searching suspects for illegal items, giving sobriety tests, and reading suspects their Miranda rights.
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Doing things correctly, like properly reporting crimes, gives the most XP, while mistakes like using unnecessary force or hurting civilians can lower scores. The game features exciting car chases with destructible environments and tense gunfights, with an optional aim assist for shooting.
Players can also call for backup using an in-depth support system, which lets them request squad cars, roadblocks, or spike strips by earning support points through good police work. Player progression depends on earning XP, which helps Nick Cordell Jr. level up. As he improves, he unlocks new vehicles, weapons, patrol options, and abilities through a talent tree that boosts things like stamina and vehicle durability.
The story develops as players complete patrols, with major missions unlocking as they collect evidence to take down gangs and solve the mystery of their father’s death. The randomly generated crimes and open-world sandbox design create almost endless gameplay options, keeping the game fresh even after finishing the main story. Recent updates have also added a solo mode and new customization choices for Officer Cordell Jr. and police cars.
The Precinct gives you a real story to follow
In The Precinct, players take on the role of Officer Nick Cordell Jr., a rookie police officer working in Averno City, a dangerous place full of crime in the year 1983. The main story focuses on Cordell Jr.’s goal to make the city safer and solve the mystery of his father’s murder, since his father was the respected police chief who died while on duty under strange and unclear circumstances.
This personal mission is connected to the bigger goal of taking down the strong criminal gangs that are causing chaos in Averno. The story is revealed slowly and is roughly divided between a structured, story-based experience and an open-world sandbox filled with randomly generated crimes. Important story missions usually become available as players collect enough evidence while doing their daily police work.
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Players move forward by earning XP from “good police work,” which also unlocks new cars, weapons, and types of patrols through a progression system. The story includes characters that fit classic 1980s cop drama stereotypes, such as a tired and cynical senior partner, Officer Kelly, tough detectives like Lee and Ferrer, and different gang leaders who must be defeated one by one.
While some reviews say the story is interesting and well-written, many describe it as somewhat overused, easy to predict, and even a little dull. The main focus is on the action-packed gameplay of being a cop in Averno City, with the story often becoming less important, especially during the middle part of the game.
This is a fun police simulator
The Precinct is generally liked for its idea, but it has several noticeable bugs and technical problems that can affect how players enjoy the game. You might see small visual and animation issues, like NPCs or character models moving awkwardly or strange visual errors, such as Officer Cordell’s badge seeming to float in the air.
More serious problems include vehicles suddenly flipping over or appearing in the wrong place (for example, on top of other cars), and NPCs sometimes getting stuck repeating the same actions over and over.
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The gameplay mechanics feel awkward and unfinished. The driving controls are overly sensitive and slippery, which makes high-speed chases difficult and leads to accidental crashes or vehicles flipping over. Similarly, combat and shooting while on foot can feel stiff, random, and not very precise, especially when using a controller, which makes the experience less smooth.
Either way, I liked the game for what it could be, and think that a sequel will likely be seen as groundbreaking if the developers fix the many issues here. We give The Precinct an 8 out of 10. Get the game on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation, or Xbox.
