GTA 3 has the atmosphere, Vice City has the soundtrack, San Andreas has the freedom, GTA 4 has the story, and Grand Theft Auto 5 turned the whole series upside down with its limitless online mode. But for me – and I know this makes me sound old – the best GTA game is still the 1997 original. Grungy, nasty, and low-budget, it fits the tone of Rockstar's crime sim exactly, and it's reminiscent of an age when videogames were underground and dangerous. Inspired by GTA's old-school, top-down visual style, The Precinct feels like a mix of modern and retro, but with a twist. With Grand Theft Auto 6 still a distant wanted star on the horizon, you should play The Precinct at Steam Next Fest.
Crime-riddled east-coast city. Mid 1980s. Neo-noir visuals. crime game played from the other side of the law.
Go on patrol, scope out robberies, break-ins, and assaults, then either call in backup or go full Dirty Harry. The GTA 6 release date might be a while away, but The Precinct's New York-inspired city of Averno is ready to eat itself alive. It's up to you to hold the line.
Day turns to night, raging thunderstorms replace midday sunshine, and crimes are organically, procedurally generated – when you start your shift in The Precinct, you never know what you might come up against. Played from a semi-top-down, flexible isometric perspective, if you squint, The Precinct feels like the GTA games of old, or a cross between Hong Kong Massacre, Hotline Miami, and a much less philosophical Disco Elysium. It's scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, but you can play it for yourself right now thanks to a new demo that launches on Monday October 14. Just go here.
Otherwise, get prepared with all the other best open-world games available now.
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