The Precinct Steam Charts & Stats

[h2] The Precinct – A Love Letter to ’80s Action Movies [/h2] I’ve been playing The Precinct for a week straight and absolutely loving it. The game perfectly captures the vibe of classic ’80s action films like Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop. From the streets flooded with night lights and a bit of neon, to the synth-heavy soundtrack, everything feels spot-on. The gameplay is incredibly addictive. Driving through Averno City is a blast—smooth, fast, and just the right amount of chaotic. The destructibility is especially impressive—you can pretty much level the environment during a chase, which adds to the cinematic feel. And those pursuits? Pure adrenaline. Every high-speed chase or shootout feels like a scene ripped straight out of an action movie. I’ve got all the achievements, so I’m going to miss this game. But for you, it could be a lovely adventure.

I really, REALLY wanted to like this game. I had it wishlisted forever. It is astonishingly boring. The gameplay isn't just repetitive, it is almost insulting to the player as it removes any sort of detective work in a police game. Ask for ID - Frisk - tells you what the charges are - pick the charges it just told you. I chase a perp, he hits someone with his car and runs, and I can't charge him with a hit and run? Christ. Lose me with this crap. This game sucks.

Pretty fun top down driving/shooting game. Not bad story. The only problem with the game is thats its VERY short for the 30$ pricetag. It took me about 11ish hours to finish it and then 2 more to finish all the achievements. If its on sale for about 20$ its definitely worth a buy.

[b]The Precinct[/b] is a neon-noir action-adventure game developed by Fallen Tree Games. Set in the fictional Averno City during 1983, players assume the role of rookie officer Nick Cordell Jr., navigating a top-down open world inspired by classic cop films and early Grand Theft Auto titles. The game emphasizes authentic police procedures: issuing tickets, conducting arrests, and responding to crimes ranging from minor infractions to gang-related activities. Players must adhere to proper protocols—such as reading Miranda rights and avoiding excessive force—to progress effectively. While the game offers a variety of missions and dynamic events, some players have noted that the gameplay loop can become repetitive over time. [b]The Precinct[/b] offers a distinctive take on the open-world genre by placing players in the role of a law-abiding officer, emphasizing procedural authenticity over chaotic gameplay. While its unique approach and nostalgic setting have garnered praise, the game's repetitive mechanics and technical shortcomings may deter some players. For those interested in a methodical police simulation with a retro flair, The Precinct presents an engaging experience, especially if approached with tempered expectations or during a discounted sale. [h1]7/10[/h1] DISASTER | BAD | MEDIOCRE | OKAY | [b][u]GOOD[/u][/b] | GREAT |AMAZING| MASTERPIECE [quote] Reviewed on: Win11 Home 64-bit, Intel i5-11600K, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB TUF, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, 2 x Kingston NV1 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, Internet Broadband 1000/1000 Mbit[/quote] [quote] If you like this review, then please consider giving it a thumbs up. I've also reviewed other games that you might find interesting. If so please follow [u][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27418263/] Top of the Chart.[/url][/u]

The core gameplay, the style, and the setting all have a lot of potential. But there's one major issue that currently makes the game unplayable for me: I understand that this isn't meant to be a police job simulator and is more focused on action. However, the story, the world, and the overall immersion are completely destroyed by the fact that you can't drive 50 meters without someone shooting at you, someone getting murdered, a store being robbed, or something else completely over-the-top happening—stuff that might occur once a year in a real police career. No joke, you're explicitly supposed to hand out tickets, but you don't even get the chance because something dramatic happens 10 seconds into your shift that no police officer could just ignore. I eventually managed—after arresting five people and killing two others—to finally reach a car that was illegally parked, only to have someone steal the car while I was writing the ticket. It's completely absurd. Why isn't there a setting to adjust this? I know many players want fast-paced action and quick progress, but this completely eliminates an easy opportunity to open the game up to a wider audience—players who might actually want to go on patrol and look out for speeders. I mean, why else is that feature even in the game in the first place?

I wish I could leave a mixed review for this one. I really like the mechanics (driving is weird but imo not horrible), graphics, and characters. However, this game desperately needs to break away from the "shift" concept. Just make it open world. The game sets up a great open world concept, then needlessly wraps in a limited game mode? Why? It feels awkward and forced.

[H1]A Missed Opportunity Disguised as A Promise[/H1] Just like American Fugitive, FTG's latest game, The Precinct, collapses under the weight of expectations the moment you move past the trailers and get your hands on the actual experience. Promoted as an open-world sandbox police simulator, the game initially hints at freedom and emergent gameplay. Instead, it funnels players into a rigid structure dominated by lackluster story beats, showing once again that FTG doesn’t trust its own audience to play creatively. This was a major issue in their previous title, and the fact that it’s repeated here suggests that feedback has either been ignored or dismissed, which is something you might expect from a AAA studio burdened by executive mandates, but not from a smaller developer with fewer creative constraints. The game opens with a predictable storyline that serves as a tutorial for the basic mechanics. You're quickly thrown into a generic plot involving the murder of the protagonist’s father, a narrative that fails to engage or justify its role as the game’s main motivation. Voice acting is present, but the performances are flat and disconnected, clearly recorded in isolation, and paired with writing that rarely if ever rises above mediocrity. The characters themselves are represented through static 2D illustrations that never change expression or pose, most of which resemble stock photos from a failed fashion shoot. The result is a presentation that makes visual novels seem extremely dynamic by comparison. Dialogue choices are occasionally offered but have no real impact other than the chronology in which the mandatory dialogue is presented. These moments exist only to feign interactivity and break up the monotony. Once the tutorial is over, the game introduces its “shift” system, which theoretically signals the start of open-ended police work. In reality, the game splits into two equally underwhelming options: Unannounced and automatically triggered "story shifts" that push you into more lifeless dialogue and scripted missions (usually involving basic shootouts or car chases), or "open shifts" with minor variation, where you pick from four generated mission confined to specific city zones and objectives. Shifts last up to 12 in-game hours, but even when choosing the longest shifts the game signals their eind with a warning about unauthorized overtime the moment you get somewhat immersed. Since most interventions take 2 to 5 minutes, you rarely get to do more than three or four before being prompted to return to the station, only to start a new shift, which in game terms does nothing more than separate earned XP from one day to the next, but in gameplay terms just breaks up the fun by announcing you're not actually free at all to define when you want to call it a day. This artificial pacing feels more like micromanagement than game design. It’s the kind of rigid structure players are increasingly rejecting, especially as studios like Ubisoft struggle to stay afloat after relying on this same checkbox-heavy formula for way too long. And just in case that wasn’t restrictive enough, you're forced to drag along an AI partner who slows you down, repeats generic lines, and adds nothing to the experience other than the occasional capture of a secondary perpetrator that, if not captured, reflects negatively on your own XP, even when you're busy chasing or arresting another criminal. There's also no meaningful or (actually) funny banter, no co-op option to replace the "partner" with a friend, just a lifeless mechanic that could’ve been a highlight had it been designed with co-op in mind. Reused assets from American Fugitive are everywhere, especially the vehicle fleet, which is virtually unchanged. And with every recycled element, it becomes harder to see where, if at all, any real progress has been made to improve on any of those elements. The overall feeling is one of creative stagnation, like a studio spinning its wheels rather than moving forward. To be clear, building upon past work isn’t inherently bad. Reusing systems and assets can be smart, especially for small teams. But The Precinct rehashes American Fugitive without improving on any of its core flaws. The only noticeable changes are that you no longer need to load a new area/map when crossing bridges and the camera system has been updated to allow for a better viewing angle whilst driving and a free moving camera when traversing on foot. Driving mechanics are still arcade-style, which fits the game’s tone, but the vehicles remain overly floaty. Physics are exaggerated to the point of absurdity: hitting a brick wall at 30mph causes it to explode, while steel barriers do nothing to stop you, even when just brushing against them they'll break. These over-the-top effects hurt the gameplay more than they help sell the action, especially during high-speed chases, where the smallest mistake can launch your car into oncoming traffic or worse, into the surrounding ocean, forcing you to swim to shore and find a new vehicle. The story itself attempts to paint the game's world as a gritty, crime-riddled city inspired by 1970s–80s New York, but any potential atmosphere is neutered by over-sanitization. FTG clearly wanted to launch across as many platforms as possible on day one (including consoles like the PlayStation 5) which meant adhering to a PEGI/ESRB rating if they wanted to get away with selling it to as broad an audience as they could manage with a game like this. The result is a “crime fighting sim” that’s afraid of showing mild offenses or gore effects. Dialogue that is clearly written to replace insults and graphic language is cringe-worthy at best to the point of it breaking the entire illusion, there’s no blood or grit, and any chance of mature tone or tension is drowned in corporate-safe content. In 2025, it’s baffling to see a game set in a lawless city so devoid of edge, especially when the same teenagers it’s trying to incorporate in its overly broad "target" audience have likely played GTA V for years and and if anything, aren't at all limited or intimidated by a mature rating that itself would be shattered by the content these kids see when browsing Instagram for 10 minutes straight. So, what kind of game is The Precinct, really? It’s not a simulator, there’s too much handholding. It’s not an RPG, because player choices have minimal to no consequence, seeing the story follows a linear path regardless of what you do. It’s not a co-op game, despite having a “partner” system that begs for it. Instead, it's a tightly guided experience that occasionally lets you drive and dabble in surface-level police work, but mostly the gameplay just serves as a vehicle for a lackluster, cliché story nobody was waiting for. In short, The Precinct is American Fugitive 2.0: A reskin with minor tweaks and no meaningful innovation. It’s a game that micromanages the player, forces them through uninspired narrative beats, and fails to deliver on the promise of a dynamic police sandbox. The most frustrating part? With small adjustments to systems and values, FTG could’ve delivered something far more engaging, something closer to the original GTA sandbox games in spirit. But instead of an actual sandbox, they chose the path of least resistance, chasing broad appeal and lack of effort at the cost of depth, freedom, and fun. As for the game's positive reception, I suspect it's driven more by its potential than anything else. It scratches the surface of a game people want but doesn’t commit to actually being that game. I’ll be keeping my eyes open in the hopes a solo dev out there will eventually make the true open-world police/crime sim in the vain of GTA and Schedule 1. Until then, this game might scratch that itch a bit during the occasional in-between session. Just don’t expect it to get rid of the itch entirely. Based on FTG's current track record, it most likely never will.

A game with great potential but lacking in variety. Let’s start with the positives: this game is refreshingly unique since you get to play as a police officer instead of the usual villain. It brings back memories of the classic Police Quest series, which was a blast! I had high hopes for this indie title, especially with its impressive visuals, decent humor, and the classic satire woven into the characters. However, the content is where it stumbles. It’s so repetitive that after just an hour, you might find yourself yawning. Some of the shifts feel quite short, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I do enjoy patrolling from the helicopter, playing the "eyes in the sky" without having to deal with a clueless partner. Speaking of partners, yours is a cop close to retirement and generally fine, but his logic is questionable. He’ll dash off to chase a fleeing suspect, leaving you to handle the one in front of you. But if you decide to check on his progress, he’ll abandon the perp as soon as you get in your car. More than once, I’ve seen the bad guy standing there with his hands up, completely unattended. Another amusing quirk is when you’re on foot and spot a high-speed chase; your partner will take off after them! It’s hilarious for about 1.23 seconds. You hop in your car, and suddenly he’s running back towards you, forcing you to wait. The citizens of this city are a wild bunch, always breaking the law! On my first patrol, I didn’t even need to move; enough crimes happened right where I was standing before my shift ended. There are four crimes that pop up way too frequently: 1) Drunk driving 2) Fighting 3) Drugs 4) Burglary It feels like you can’t take five steps without hearing about a crime or seeing your partner witness one. And let’s not forget the police in the game! When you call for backup, you can watch as the cop car arrives, crashes into another vehicle, backs up, moves forward, and crashes again—all while there’s plenty of space to get closer. Clearly, driving lessons were not part of their training at the Police Academy. I’ll keep playing, but in small doses. This game definitely needed a bit more polish and refinement before hitting the shelves. I can’t recommend it because of how quickly it becomes repetitive, the clueless bots, the overwhelming crime rate, and a partner who’s like a dog chasing every squirrel it sees (on foot).

It's a solid game, but it made me realize how badly I want a third-person (or even first-person) open-world action-adventure police game with a gritty, dark tone. It's kind of wild that it has never really been made with an AAA budget. Imagine you have an open world where you can go around stopping crimes, from petty to major crimes, and then also have a full-on campaign story about taking down major crime syndicates. Why hasn't anyone made this? Anyway, in this game, there are some good and some bad. The open world is pretty cool, and they have a wide variety of crimes you get to stop. The tone is that you are a complete Boy Scout, though, where I would have preferred a morally gray tone. The game immediately stops and forces you back to a checkpoint if you do anything unbecoming of a straight-edge police officer. Even if you are dealing with a POS criminal. The story itself is also very bland and unimaginative. The story is also a little too happy/upbeat, considering you are a cop in a crime-ridden city that is run by gangs. It just feels a little too Disney, I guess, and doesn't match the subject matter at all. Regarding the gameplay itself, it's pretty fun overall. Combat ranges from some light melee situations to full-on shootouts. You get a revolver, taser, and baton to start. From there, you can upgrade to better weapons and equipment. The shooting is kinda rough to be honest, but it's manageable. That can often be the case in isometric games, but I would say it's even a bit worse here. I would also have liked to see a crouch button and a reload button. Unless I somehow missed those, they oddly do not exist. Lastly, getting into cover is implemented poorly. It works sometimes and doesn't at others. This is a huge issue when you are in a major shootout and your character is just standing there like an idiot right next to the covered position while you are slamming the cover button. That is something that can be improved with a patch, however. All in all, I do recommend it if you have always wanted a game that puts you in the shoes of a police officer. This is probably the best one out there. That said, it often had me wanting a game that doesn't exist or thinking of ways I wish they had handled things differently. It's a solid 7/10.

[h1]The Precinct – Neo-Noir Nostalgia with Some Growing Pains[/h1] [b]Hours Played:[/b] ~12 [b]Progress:[/b] A little over halfway through the main storyline [hr][/hr] [h2][u]The Good[/u][/h2] [b]Aesthetic & Atmosphere:[/b] The game nails the old-school neo-noir vibe. Feels like a spiritual cousin to [i]L.A. Noire[/i] with a modern indie twist. [b]Storyline:[/b] So far, the narrative is immersive and keeps me engaged. [b]General Vibe:[/b] It's refreshing to play a cop game that leans into style and mood over pure action. [hr][/hr] [h2][u]What Needs Work[/u][/h2] [b]Driving:[/b] The vehicle handling is way too loose. Hitting a curb spins you out and you often lose suspects in chases. I’ve done more damage to the city than the criminals at this point 😅 [b]Tackling AI:[/b] Sometimes when I tackle a suspect, it just doesn’t register and they keep running. Not sure if it’s RNG or just a bug. [b]Active Call Interference:[/b] I’ve had other criminals rob my suspect while I was in the middle of arresting them. Once I’m on a call, random crimes should chill out. [b]Partner Usefulness:[/b] In crimes with multiple suspects, if they split up, I can only get one. My partner won’t even search a dumpster — he just gives up and says they got away. That lost XP hurts. [hr][/hr] [h2][u]Wishlist[/u][/h2] Improved driving physics Smarter partner AI with actual functionality More crime variety and mission depth Expanded city areas Uniforms, maybe car customization? [hr][/hr] [h2][u]Final Thoughts[/u][/h2] Even with these flaws, I’m really enjoying [b]The Precinct[/b]. The potential is huge, and I’m excited to see how it develops. The devs clearly have a vision — they just need to tighten the mechanics. This game scratches an itch I didn’t know I still had. [b]Recommended?[/b] [u]Yes – if you’re okay with some jank and want a unique cop experience with major promise.[/u]