GTA 6 is going to dominate 2025. Nobody wants to go up against Rockstar's crime epic, and it's easy to see why. Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online are still some of the biggest games of all time, ten years on, and paving the way for GTA 6 to be all anyone thinks about for the next decade as well. While you wait then, this crime game channels old-school GTA with a twist, and even though it's just been delayed it'll still be out well before Rockstar's magnum opus.
This is The Precinct. Adopting GTA 1, 2, and Chinatown Wars' top-down perspective, you trade out busting jewelry stores and going on rampages for the life of an '80s cop. Thrust into a gritty crime drama after the death of your father, you find yourself on the other side of Grand Theft Auto's Wanted system – chasing felons, going on patrol, and handing out dreaded parking tickets.
A love letter to classic cop movies, you respond to an array of procedurally generated crimes on top of the main story in the open-world game. You can either chase a perp on foot, through back alleys and busy sidewalks, or call in backup and set up roadblocks, police patrols, and more for all your high-octane car chases.
Unlike in GTA, being a cop means you're bound by procedure. You need to handcuff, check IDs, search, and talk with your assailant to get to the bottom of the alleged crime, and sometimes you might even come across someone who's innocent. At least you don't have to handle the paperwork, that's your partner's problem.
As we wait for the GTA 6 release date, The Precinct developer Fallen Tree Games has released another trailer, which you can watch below:
I was really excited about The Precinct Steam release date when it was revealed, but I'd much rather Fallen Tree takes its time and polished everything ahead of launch. As the mirror universe version of Grand Theft Auto, The Precinct shows a lot of promise, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.
The Precinct has been delayed from Thursday August 15 to fall 2024, so expect it to release between September and December of this year. You can keep up to date with the game by wishlisting it on Steam.
There are plenty of great old games if fancy taking a trip down memory lane instead.
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