The Precinct Review - A Sandbox Cop Game Worth Investigating?

Freeze! Alright, anything I say or do in this review might be used against me, but that’s okay—I am happy to risk my freedom for indie visibility! With the GTA franchise being one of the largest in all of gaming, I am honestly a bit surprised that we don’t see more games trying to emulate its success within the indie gaming scene. Sure, there have been a few releases, such as Rustler or Shakedown: Hawaii, but honestly, there’s not nearly enough of these.

Perhaps this style of open-world, sandbox crime-infused playground is beyond the budget of most indie studios, but that hasn’t deterred developer Fallen Tree Games, who previously released American Fugitive and are now backing the blue in The Precinct—a game where you get to be the good guy!

But is The Precinct worth further investigation? Or should it be suspended without pay? Let’s find out in our full review!

The Precinct is a top-down sandbox game set in Averno City, where you control rookie officer Nick Cordell Jr., the son of a famous cop who was well-respected within the force. You’ll drive cruisers, helicopters, and patrol on foot, performing a variety of tasks—ranging from handing out parking tickets to surviving intense shootouts. Your main goal is to gain experience and work your way up the ranks, progressing through the story, which might take around 8 hours to complete, with plenty of missions and reasons to keep playing afterwards.

If you were hoping for a rich detective storyline, you’ll likely be disappointed. The Precinct’s story is told through static cutscenes in a visual novel-esque style, featuring voice performances that range from average to downright terrible. I’d be surprised if these actors recorded their dialogue together, as these characters have about as much chemistry as Daniel Radcliffe and Bonnie Wright. It’s a ho-hum tale of working your way up the ranks, stopping criminals and drug dealers, and naturally, rife with predictable twists you’ll see coming a mile away. The plot serves the purpose of driving the game forward, but not much else.

Okay, so the story isn’t great, but as is the case in many video games, we don’t need literary brilliance as long as a game is fun to play. And honestly, much of The Precinct is. Players will typically receive orders for the day at the police station, which serves as the game’s main hub. While progression is initially linear, expect to eventually be able to pick which tasks you’d like to perform.

Each new day plays out as a shift, where you’ll work a designated amount of time before reporting home for the day. During that time, you might be patrolling the streets looking for trouble, driving around doing much the same, or piloting a helicopter to track down criminals by shining a spotlight on them.

The Precinct offers a decent variety of tasks. Some are more mundane, such as handing out parking tickets, while others can require lethal force. You are generally assigned to specific areas of the city, which are highlighted on your map, and then given experience for completing missions. I honestly thought the game did a pretty decent job of emulating at least some of the tasks that come with being a cop, despite its oftentimes over-the-top antics. Yes, just like a GTA game, The Precinct is not an accurate simulation by any means, but there are still drug busts to break up, petty crimes to thwart, speeders to pull over, and gangs to take down. One could argue that The Precinct is a bit tame compared to the more violent world of GTA, especially in regards to mature themes, but I wouldn’t exactly say this is a game for kids either.

Controls, at least on a controller, might take a little bit of getting used to, but they work effectively enough once you get a handle on things. Cordell Jr. can walk, jog, or sprint, though sprinting will drain your stamina bar and thus needs to be used appropriately. He’s also equipped with a variety of weapons that can be toggled between, such as a billy club for non-lethal force, and guns when the going gets tough. Players should expect to unlock more weapons as they progress. Where things get a bit more clunky is in the aftermath of an arrest. A combination of buttons and wheels will have you scanning criminals' IDs, selecting which crimes they’ve committed, and even hitting them with a breathalyzer if you suspect they’ve been drinking.

Awkwardness aside, interrogating offenders is also one of The Precinct’s most interesting aspects. As I mentioned, you gain experience based on arrests, but the amount earned can vary. Selecting the appropriate crimes nets you additional XP, while charging someone with a crime they didn’t commit results in a loss of experience. It’s a fun system that, while not always accurate in my experience, was almost always entertaining. Experience earned leads to leveling up at the end of each shift and earning skill points that can be used to upgrade your character. New abilities, additional health, and other fun perks can eventually be unlocked alongside new vehicles and more. All of this is to say—there’s a bit of an RPG element at play.

When not on foot patrol, driving your cruiser around the city brings excitement of its own. You may find yourself in high-speed shootouts or simply busting ordinary folks for parking in front of a fire hydrant, but regardless of the task, the driving feels surprisingly decent. In fact, the only place where The Precinct truly stumbles is in its on-foot shootouts, where the game suddenly introduces a rudimentary cover system and some rather sloppy gunplay. Let’s be real—this genre isn’t known for its outstanding firefights, but here we have a very basic pop-and-shoot gameplay mechanic that just isn’t all that fun. These sections felt extremely scripted and bland compared to the rest of the game. Traversal, on the other hand, is mostly well done with a great map and plenty of indicators to show players which direction they should be heading. There’s even the ability to call in backup if the going gets tough, which I thought was pretty rad. 

Visually, considering this is an indie release, The Precinct looks decent. The city is detailed enough, there’s solid lighting, average explosions and effects, and animations that, while sometimes janky and a bit glitchy, are mostly fine. I’ll commend any indie studio that can pull off an open city like this, and Fallen Tree Games have done just that to some degree of success. The character portrait art is decent, and no, it won’t win any awards for its visuals overall, but they weren’t bad. The same could be said of the sound effects, with plenty of sirens and chaos. Voice performances, as I said, were pretty poor overall, but the game’s retro synth soundtrack is downright excellent. As someone who loves 80’s synth, I ate up these tracks and only wished there were more of them.

The Precinct features a few different difficulty options, though I found the recommended difficulty setting quite comfortable. There’s also a decent selection of visual settings, ensuring that most rigs should be able to run the game without much issue. On my 4070, with a bit of tweaking, I was able to enjoy the game at high frame rates—even at 4K resolution. The recommended graphics card is a 2060, but I feel like even older rigs should be able to run it, depending on how many concessions players are willing to make. Players on Steam Deck will find that the game comes preloaded with a custom quality setting, but unfortunately, it runs at 30fps. You’ll also encounter some pretty long load times on Valve’s handheld, though they aren’t overly frequent. Despite these drawbacks, The Precinct maintains a stable 30fps for most of the experience on the Deck, and the visuals look fairly decent by handheld standards. I did encounter a few bugs along the way and plenty of jank, but nothing game-breaking and to my surprise, no major crashes. Further patches are also said to be on the way!

Overall, I was impressed with The Precinct. It is far from perfect—yes, some of the missions did get just a tad repetitive, the acting and writing aren’t great, and its story might end too soon for some—but it’s an ambitious indie release with a great open-world city to mess around in. There's a decent weapon and vehicle variety, a unique leveling system that is entertaining, and I thought the game tried some different things by allowing players to be the good guy in the role of a cop. If you’ve enjoyed some of the GTA games and crave a more bite-sized, slightly less over-the-top version, The Precinct is worth a go. It might not be the chief of police, but it’s good goofy fun in a genre that doesn’t get enough indie love. Just keep your expectations in check.

GOOD