Interview: The Precinct - A Mix Of Police Simulator And Old-School GTA

It's ridiculous how many amazing indie games we're getting on Xbox this year, and The Precinct looks set to be another one in the near future! This mix of Police Simulator and old-school GTA is being brought to us by the team behind 2019's American Fugitive, and it looks to be shaping up extremely well based on the footage you see above.

Ahead of launch, we were really keen to talk to developer Fallen Tree Games about what to expect from The Precinct, so we sat down with Art Director Lewis Boadle to talk gameplay, inspirations, and of course... working with Xbox!

Pure Xbox: Hello! Firstly, could you introduce your role on The Precinct and give us an overview of what it is?

Lewis: My name is Lewis Boadle, and I am the Art Director of The Precinct. The game is set in Averno City in 1983. You play as a rookie beat cop fresh out of the Academy, exploring and dealing with the ever-shifting criminal underbelly of Averno City. The plot of the game also requires players to solve the mystery of their father’s murder in the line of duty. There is a lot for players to uncover in the game.

Pure Xbox: What kind of gameplay can we expect from The Precinct?

The Crime Generation system generates crimes all over the city. Some are reported over the radio while others are discovered by patrolling the streets and back alleyways.The core loop of the game is handling these crimes and following the main plot of the game. Players can progress by earning XP for good police work which can be used to unlock new vehicles, weapons, and patrol types. The game has upgrade trees as well. The long-term goal for the players is to take down the gangs controlling different parts of the city.

Pure Xbox: We're really interested in these "procedurally-generated crimes". How do they work?

We refer to it as the Crime Generation System. As players go about their patrol shifts—whether on foot, in a vehicle, etc.—the system generates incidents throughout the world. These incidents fall into four main categories:

• Dispatch Callouts: These are crimes reported to Dispatch and communicated to the player via radio. Players can choose to accept or ignore these callouts. Accepting them assigns the player to respond urgently, often due to potential threats to life or property.

• Examples: Store robbery, gang shootout, vehicle theft.

• Proximity Crimes: Serious offenses that occur near the player's location. Players can decide to Accept and turn them into active callouts, or ignore them. These are usually visible and encourage players to observe their surroundings closely.

• Examples: Drunk driver, mugging in an alleyway, drug deal.

• Infractions: Minor offenses that happen very close to the player. Engaging with these turns them into active callouts, depending on how strictly the player chooses to enforce the law.

• Examples: Parking violations, graffiti artist tagging a wall, littering.

• Incidents: These are general police duties that don't necessarily involve a crime but can lead to the discovery of criminal activity.

• Examples: Road traffic accident.

Some shift types will give more XP to successfully dealing with certain categories of crime. For example, if you choose ‘Drug Crackdown’ patrol, you’ll get more XP for arresting drug dealers.

Pure Xbox: The game is described as a "love letter to classic cop movies". Did you have any specific inspirations in mind?

So many movies and TV inspired the game that it’s hard to know where to begin, but if we had to single out a few, we would probably say “Driver” (1978), “Fort Apache, The Bronx" (1981), "The French Connection" (1971), and “Taxi Driver” (1976). As well as those incredible movies, TV shows like “Hill Street Blues” (1981-1987) and “Cagney and Lacey” (1981-1988) are burned into our childhoods!

Pure Xbox: The Precinct is your next game after American Fugitive, which itself was very popular. What did you learn from AF that you've implemented into The Precinct?

AF was an incredibly ambitious project for such a small team (as is this one), and we learned a lot! Some of those pearls of wisdom might include:

• Give the player more to do after the story finishes. This is where our crime- generation system can excel, creating new crimes and scenarios long after the story has been completed.

• Voices! We only had the time to do a ‘text-only’ story on AF, so this time we wanted to go further and have worked with some amazing voice-actor talent to bring the story alive. The difference is night and day!

• Embrace the craziness! Whether you’re a fugitive on the run or a cop trying to bring order to chaos, the player is going to find ways to create their own fun, do silly things, and generally try to mess up your plans, so we try to facilitate that wherever possible. Wanna commandeer a garbage truck for a pursuit? Take a shower with your clothes on? Go for a swim in the ocean?

Pure Xbox: You've racked up tons of views and a lot of social media interest in recent weeks - you must be very pleased with the reception so far?

We try to read as many comments as we can, so we know what the players expect from the game. The reception has been extremely satisfying and we are working hard to deliver the best possible experience for our players.

Pure Xbox: In terms of the Xbox release, can you advise what kind of specs you're targeting? What will the resolution and frame rate be across Series X and Series S?

The Xbox platform is truly impressive, offering enhanced power that allows us to elevate the visual quality and overall experience of our game. I can't provide specific details on resolution and FPS at this moment as we're still working on optimising the performance.

We'll share more specifics soon, and we're committed to delivering the best possible experience for Xbox players.

Pure Xbox: How has your experience been working with ID@Xbox on this release? Do you have any thoughts on the indie situation in general as it relates to Xbox right now?

We’re so proud to be part of the Indie scene in general, and some of the games being created for Xbox are just incredible. Titles like Palworld, Astor: Blade of the Monolith, and Centum are just oozing quality, and are prepared to try things and take risks that the ‘AAA’ titles just can't.

But it’s great to see Xbox working closely with indie developers to help them bring more exciting games to the platform.

Pure Xbox: Finally, is there anything else you'd like to share ahead of The Precinct's release?

The Precinct was planned to release on August 15, 2024, but we've decided to give it a little more time for some final polishing and bug fixing. We want to ensure we can give our players the best experience possible. While we don't have a specific date yet, the game is coming out in Fall 2024.

We'd like to extend a huge thanks to Lewis for chatting with us! As mentioned, The Precinct doesn't have a release date just yet, but it'll be arriving at some point later this year. We'll let you know when more details are announced.