GTA 6 isn’t here yet, so play the new sandbox crime game The Precinct

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 entire series upside down with its unlimited online mode. But for me – and I know this makes me sound old – the best GTA game is still the 1997 original. Dirty, nasty and low-budget, it fits exactly the tone of Rockstar’s crime sim and is reminiscent of a time when video games were underground and dangerous. Inspired by GTA’s old-school, top-down visual style, The police station It looks like a mix of modern and retro, but with a twist. With Grand Theft Auto 6 still a distant star on the horizon, you should play The Precinct today.

East coast city full of crime. Mid-1980s. Neo-noir visuals. The Precinct feels like a hard-hitting crime drama, but with extra verve. In addition to pounding the pavement and blasting bad guys like rookie officer Nick Cordell in the hunt for his father’s killer, you’re constantly thrown into breakneck car chases and near-accidental shootouts. Developed by Fallen Tree, the team behind fellow GTA-like American Fugitive, The Precinct is a crime game played on the other side of the law.

Go on patrol, uncover robberies, break-ins and assaults, then call for backup or use Dirty Harry. GTA 6’s release date may be a while away, but the New York-inspired city of Averno in The Precinct is ready to eat itself alive. It’s up to you to keep the line.

Day turns to night, violent storms replace the midday sun, and crimes are generated organically and procedurally – when you start your shift at the Police Station, you never know what you might encounter. Played from a flexible, semi-top-down 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 to launch in Q4 2024, but you can play it right now thanks to a new demo. Just go here.

If not, prepare yourself with all the other best PC games coming up, or perhaps the best open world games available right now.

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