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

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 on its head with its limitless online mode. But for me – and I know this makes me sound old – the best GTA game is still the original from 1997. Scrappy, nasty and cheap, it fits right in with 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-fashioned, 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 star on the horizon, consider playing The Precinct today.

Crime-ridden city on the East Coast. Mid 1980s. Neo-noir visuals. “The Precinct” feels like a hard-boiled police drama, but with added panache. As junior officer Nick Cordell, on the hunt for your father’s murderer, you’ll not only pound the pavement and blow up low car hoods, but you’ll also find yourself constantly involved in breakneck chases and near-shootouts. Developed by Fallen Tree, the team behind the GTA-like American Fugitive, The Precinct is a crime game played from the other side of the law.

Go on patrol, investigate robberies, burglaries and assaults and then either call for backup or go full-on Dirty Harry. The GTA 6 release date may still be a while away, but the New York-inspired city of Averno in The Precinct is ready to eat you alive. It’s up to you to hold the line.

As day turns to night, raging thunderstorms replace the midday sun, and crimes are organically and procedurally generated – when you start your shift at the precinct, you never know what’s to come. If you squint, The Precinct is played from a semi-top-down, flexible isometric perspective and feels like the old GTA games or a mix of Hong Kong Massacre, Hotline Miami and a much less philosophical Disco Elysium. It’s scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2024, but you can play it for yourself right now thanks to a new demo. Just go here.

Otherwise, get ready for the other best upcoming PC games, or perhaps the best open-world games available right now.

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