The Precinct Review – XBOX Series X

The Precinct, from indie studio Fallen Tree Games, invites players to swap high-octane chaos for slow-burn procedural work, trading rocket launchers and bank heists for callouts, citations, and car chases through the flickering neon haze of 1980s Averno City.

This top-down, open-world police sim wears its influences proudly, borrowing aesthetic cues from L.A. Noire, their own previous effort American Fugitive, and a stack of VHS-era buddy cop flicks.

It’s a refreshing proposition, delivered with confidence. But while the badge may shine, the uniform doesn’t always fit.

The Beat Goes On

You play as Officer Nick Cordell, a newly assigned cop patrolling a city where corruption creeps in from the gutters upward. The story leans into well-worn noir tropes – revenge, following a father’s footsteps into the force, systemic rot – but delivers them with enough cinematic flair and environmental detail to make them stick.

Sounds cliched, but the city of Averno isn’t just a backdrop – it’s a character in itself. Street signs glow with promise and menace as the world slowly opens up, the dispatcher’s voice crackles from your cruiser’s radio, and every alley feels like it has a story, even if the people walking it sometimes behave like extras in a B-movie. The writing is functional, the performances mixed, but the vibe? Spot on.

Wheels Good, Guns Bad

Where The Precinct excels is behind the wheel. Pursuits are the backbone of its gameplay loop, and they’re a joy – tight, frantic, and packed with cinematic touches. Pulling off PIT manoeuvres or weaving through traffic as your siren blares feels genuinely exciting, and that sense of tension and destructible environments carries across the driving experience.

Unfortunately, when the sirens stop and you’re on foot, things fall flat. Gunplay is stiff, animations are limited, and the cover system feels like a throwback in the worst sense. You’re encouraged to apprehend suspects non-lethally, which is fine in principle, but the mechanics often make it more frustrating than rewarding.

A great aspect is the degree to which you’re expected to carry out civic duties – giving citations for parking violations, pat-downs, remembering to read Miranda Rights to every perp, choosing the correct crimes to charge them with, and even bundling them into the back of a cop car is a cool immersive element which is deftly handled, despite complex console controls.

The procedural mission generation gives your shifts purpose, but they cycle quickly – respond to a theft, chase down a mugger, break up a fight, rinse and repeat. There’s fun to be had in the repetition, especially early on, but don’t expect long-term variety.

Sights and Sounds

The soundtrack, composed by Gavin Harrison and Sleepless Nights, is a highlight. Retro synths, cinematic cues, and deep basslines give Averno a real identity. Whether you’re tailing a suspect or cruising aimlessly, the pulsating music keeps things consistent and compelling.

On Xbox Series X, The Precinct runs at a locked 30fps with solid visual fidelity. Load times are reasonable, and the game handles large-scale chases well. Series S, however, is less reliable. Frame pacing issues, stuttering during high-speed segments, and softer image quality all detract from the experience.

The game offers basic accessibility features – scalable subtitles and remappable controls – but nothing beyond the standard console-level options. It’s functional but falls short of the bar being set by other titles in 2025.

There’s no multiplayer, but replayability comes from how you choose to play. Be a by-the-book cop or dispense street justice – the city and your standing react accordingly, at least to a point.

After around 15 to 20 hours, most players will have seen much of the mechanics and mission types on offer.

A dense set of levelling mechanics, as well as a Mordor-style web of putting lower-level baddies behind bars to gain access to gang bosses lends some real overall depth to proceedings.

Even after a couple of early patches, The Precinct still shows signs of needing backup. Cars that spawn on top of one another, NPCs trapped in endless loops, and UI overlays that don’t clear are all present. A particularly painful save bug saw us lose hours of progress…busting us back down to Officer.

The Precinct launches without microtransactions or content paywalls and at £24.99, it’s priced smartly for what’s on offer. It’s not a sprawling epic, although the story evolves in interesting – and unexpected – directions.

Final Verdict

Fallen Tree Games has delivered a distinctive take on the open-world formula – one that swaps chaos for cadence, and does so with genuine style.

The Precinct is at its best when it lets you lean into the rhythm of the job – responding to calls, chasing perps, and soaking in the atmosphere. When it falters, it’s solely due to a creeping sense of repetition, occasional combat jank, and performance inconsistency.

A fresh spin on the genre with strong style and focused ambition. Rough around the edges, but well worth pounding the pavement for.

Code supplied by publisher for review.