Pacific Drive

I really enjoyed playing through this game. i like driving in my car, collecting resources, repairing my car, and then preparing for my next "road trip"..i do not like doing these things in real life.

This game is fantastic.
Pacific Drive has been described as "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is happening in the Pacific Northwest and all you have is a car". However, the gameplay loop feels more like Subnautica. There are no classical enemies, no combat -- every threat is environmental; you are trapped in a part of the world being overrun by Anomolies, many of which are mobile and almost all are dangerous. Hailing from your garage in a small pocket of peace, you forage out deeper and deeper into increasingly dangerous zones, driven by the plot and a desire for more difficult-to-obtain resources.
The game is insanely atmospheric, and as immersive as you could ask for. Every element, from graphics to sound design to environment building, is crafted to evoke the experience that is Pacific Drive. Especially the music. I have not fallen in love with a soundtrack like I have the one on this game's radio in ages. I've added music from Pacific Drive to my playlist so I can listen to it when not playing the game.
I was not expecting the game to be so intense. You can never return the way you came, so the only way back to your safe base is by generating a portal. Doing so requires collecting enough of your zone's energy and triggering the portal with a device that only works at a distance. The moment you do, the zone begins to collapse rapidly around you, prompting a mad dash to reach the portal. Deeper zones require more unstable energy types which in turn require opening the portal from farther away. Making those mad dashes progressively longer, through more dangerous territory with a more oppressive ticking clock.
The zones are hand-crafted, but hazards and resources are randomly generated, as is your entry and exit points, allowing you to explore almost-familiar areas repeatedly while never knowing just what you will find or experience.
The plot is thin but solid, sold by excellent voice acting (including a character who will never not sound like Captain Janeway to me). The lore you can scrounge up is fun, especially the multi-part documentary you can round up the pieces of, giving some great history and an outsider's impression of a situation you are far more familiar with. The decision to make the car, the center of your experience, basically an SCP, allows a lot of game mechanics (like what happens if you die) to be rooted directly into the story rather than require player departmentalization.
Praise to the developers for many extremely good mechanical decisions. First and foremost, for me, was their attention to the needs of gamers who suffer motion sickness. There are multiple settings to eliminate (or at least minimize) issues.
Beyond that, the game has a large number of settings that allow you to customize your gameplay experience, tailoring Pacific Drive. I love that you can adjust your QoL in this game, allowing or disabling things like swapping parts with a part you are holding, or how long you have to hold the key to turn the ignition. Additionally, you can adjust elements which may alter the difficulty, but make the game far more enjoyable depending on your playstyle. (Halfway through the game, I turned off the non-gateway-related zone timer so that I could spend my time immersing myself in exploration without feeling pushed to speedrun each zone.) And major kudos for none of these adjustments disabling achievements. I, for one, don't care about achievements; but it never sits well when a game tries to punish you for playing your way. Pacific Drive never does that.
Some of the additional touches just made my day. Like representative car stickers being included for free, or the decal set you can find which decorates your car in the style of the Scoobie Doo Mystery Machine.
As for the bad, there is so very little that the flaws barely detract from enjoying Pacific Drive. In over 90 hours of gameplay, I experienced only two bugs. The first, getting stuck in a submenu, was a minor annoyance that was solved by navigating to another part of the menu rather than trying to close the menus directly. The second was considerably more problematic: sometimes, upon loading a save, the zone graphically glitched. I had to reload several times on multiple occasions, but the game always eventually loaded properly.
In addition to these two bugs, there are two design features that I did not appreciate. No, this isn't a rant about being unable to save while on a run. I understand how problematic that can be for many. But I also understand the developer's decision and appreciate the feeling of threat added by not being able to save-scum anything out there. I adjusted my settings to allow pausing, and that took care of any issues I personally had with RL interruptions.
Rather, the two issues are these: most of the late game equipment requires a large amount of a resource called Olympian Fragments which are exceptionally rare and in areas you cannot farm conveniently. Thankfully, you need none of that equipment to successfully get through the end of the game. Which is fortunate because you will have virtually none of it. The other issue I had was that cosmetics -- paint and decals -- have limited use. Which means if you find a design for your car that you fall in love with, you won't be able to keep it when parts start wearing out unless the RNG is kind.
But like I said, these things are not enough to sour the game. Not even a little.
I have driven all the way to the end. And now I'm free-roaming the area. Just for a little bit longer. I'm not ready to leave yet.

Seems really good so far, fun and very interesting.
2 things though that I'd have to agree on with some other comments down here:
1. We need more available save options
2. Please, for the love of god, let us close the garage door. Amen

Pacific Drive is not an easy one to review....
I could say PD is a rogue-lite driving sim with stage-based levels and world progression, with RPG elements, looting and has a narrative focus like Firewatch. Kind of like a mixture between Firewatch and My Summer Car.
Is it though? Ehhhh, we need to get into the details.
So, in Pacific Drive, you, a nameless driver, is cruising along a nice looking road in the woods, when suddenly, you get sucked into a vortex of some sorts. When you wake up, your car is in pieces, but you find another one in shambles, but working.
You hop on and you drive, until you start to hear the voices of different people who explain the basic gist of the situation. Essentially, you are near a "zone of exclusion" like in Chernobyl, and you need to cooperate with the people talking with you, the car, and the environment to get out of there and understand just what the heck is happening.
The first few hours you'll need to explore your surroundings, understanding what anomalies do and how to navigate the map, and that's when one of the first big positives came up to me: The car handles great. You can "feel" (even if using a keyboard like myself) the loss of traction and how every bump affects the handling. Braking feels a bit off, specially when driving fast (it's as if the front gets lighter and turns the car, which doesn't make sense), but I'm nitpicking. For a game that does not even attempt to be a sim, it handles far better than many racing games I've played.
As you keep on driving, possibly terrified of everything due to the amazing atmosphere the game generates, including sounds, you'll probably damage the car, be it because you forgot to put it in park and it rolled away, it was stolen, you dumped it into acid, crashed into a mine, got into a thunderstorm or just flew too high and landed hard.
Anyways, you gather up resources by disassembling wrecked cars, getting into abandoned houses and exploring, you need to gather up enough energy to warp back to your safe garage. This leads to an improvised race where you must find the most efficient way (be it the fastest, safest, most fun, etc) to it and floor it so as not to get destroyed by a radioactive storm. Even if you have the best gear or are an amazing driver, you are bound to make plenty of mistakes, or find yourself in very precarious situations because of this, which makes even the most rudimentary runs a joyride of trying to get to the warp point in time and in one piece.
When you finally make it, you'll find yourself back in your garage, where the scientists that were talking to you try to piece together what is happening and telling you what to do next. All the while you are fixing back your car, nurturing it and tuning it with different pieces. You'll find your car's quirks (small details that come up as you drive, like a car door opening when you go in reverse, or battery draining faster when the lights are off). You'll also plan your route for the next run; as you move forward, you'll realise that certain sections have different effects, like eerie darkness, storms, extra enemies, or constant stability (there is no time limit). This will be very useful as you explore, as it will help you make a path towards where you want to go (and FYI, if you want to move to a section up north, you need to go through all previous sections, hence the planning).
As you progress, the difficulty ramps up; you'll need to farm more materials to upgrade, and more runs to clear a path. Nearing the end game the requirements for farming get a bit ridiculous, specially considering that by then you have the driving down to an art and you'll put yourself in "dangerous" situations more often just for the heck of it (I did at least), but the game also commits a serious crime by dropping the ball narratively, in my opinion.
The game gets REALLY interesting narratively speaking, and while you don't really get a say on anything that's happening, you do feel a part of it. At one point in specific, something happens which is a rather emotional moment and is very well shown through the voicing (which btw, really sells you in on the story). After that though, it feels as though the game loses its gravitas, and it just doesn't have the same effect as you'd expected. The ending is.... also, rather bland, unfortunately.
So what else? Let's see:
-Graphics look very stylized, but the game does not run very well and needs a few optimization passes or turning down settings for it to run accordingly.
-Farming can get annoying, specially in the end-game.
-Story gets REALLY interesting, but then drops the ball hard late.
Played on:
Intel I7 12700k
32gb RAM 3200mhz
Tested on RTX 3070 Ti at 1440p
NVME Drive

Options -> Difficulty -> Save loot on death -> Esc -> Abandon Run -> Autosave

A lot of negative comments are about not being able to save where you want - yes, it's true.
What they don't mention is the fact that what you need for a run to be completed is about 20-30 minutes at a time, You choose how long a run is - you can gather resources you need to exit straight a way....this game really doesn't require you to have a 2-3h runs. It is completely up to you.
It gives you an opportunity to push your luck in order to get more/better resources....but you don't have to do it. It's very similar in that way to other roguelites. Your run can easily be contained to a 20/30 minutes game-play session - but if you want better loot it will take longer and be more dangerous. Your choice.
I feel it really needs to be stated to make it clear as negative comments make it seems like you need an extensive game play session at a time to achieve anything.
I get it - it would be nice to save and quit, but pushing you luck and deciding whether you want more or you are ready to exit is whole point of a game loop here. You don't have to explore every single location on the map - if you do it's your choice. And it's your choice that it takes longer that way and is more dangerous.

The bones of a truly magnificent game are all here. It really is one of the most unique games I've played and something about the vehicle being the very core of gameplay was extremely satisfying. The loop of venturing out, scavenging, repairing and upgrading etc. is an addiction and some of my favorite moments of the game are spent in the garage repairing and preparing my car for my next outting.
After you venture into the world for 25ish hours, however, the game begins to lose the magic of its gimmick. And to be fair what game doesn't after that long? The anomaly variety isn't all that great and after you get some great parts and experience behind the wheel, the stakes aren't so high anymore. I also feel like there's an indescribable flaw with the way you are incentivized to gather resources. The loop explains itself. Drive to zone, gather items, use items to build tools or parts that help you get to next zone and better resources. But I felt like this process could have been more dramatic, more explicit. I was never found wanting for materials, resources, or tools so long as I hoarded enough and explored enough. And of course it can't be a review without mentioning that the ending leaves much to be desired. Those devs better be cooking up something great DLC wise.
It's easy to make the review sound negative hot of the heels of completing the game, but rest assured: if this game sounds like it's your jam, it most certainly is. It's unique, rewarding, a complete blast, and highly immersive. I haven't experienced a game with mechanics quite like it. It kept me well entertained for nearly 50 hours (given that a lot of that time was spent farming and stalling so that I didn't have to finish the game because I enjoyed it so much).