Pacific Drive
Pacific Drive is a first-person driving survival game with your car as your only companion. Navigate a surreal reimagining of the Pacific Northwest, and face supernatural dangers as you venture into the Olympic Exclusion Zone. Each excursion into the wilderness brings unique and strange challenges as you restore and upgrade your car from an abandoned garage that acts as your home base. Gather precious resources and investigate what’s been left behind in the Zone; unravel a long-forgotten mystery while learning exactly what it takes to survive in this unpredictable, hostile environment.
Features
- Outrun the storm while facing strange perils in a world that shifts with every journey into the Zone
- Your car, your way – scavenge resources to craft new equipment and configure your wagon how you want. Experiment with different mods and car parts to navigate a treacherous landscape, and look good doing it
- Unravel the mystery of the Olympic Exclusion Zone, an abandoned research site in an anomaly-filled version of the Pacific Northwest
- Original score by Wilbert Roget, II and featuring 20+ licensed songs
DRIVE TO SURVIVE
It’s you and your station wagon against an unforgiving, vicious world. It’ll take more than a fresh set of tires to keep you alive, on and off the road. Your faithful wagon can be upgraded and reinforced to protect you, but the car is going to take a beating. Keep your gas tank filled and your panels intact to withstand the radiation permeating the Zone. You’ll be pushed to your limit – making repairs on the fly, scavenging materials wherever you can, and adapting your rolling fortress to tackle the many life-threatening dangers that lurk in the shadows.
INVESTIGATE THE ZONE
The experimental leftovers of the secretive ARDA organization remain scattered across the Zone, and finding answers won’t be easy. Everywhere you look you’ll find anomalies, surreal forces of a twisted nature that make your journey more difficult… or more interesting. Silhouettes in the dark, rolling piles of scrap metal, and towering pillars of earth – each trip is packed with otherworldly hazards. As terrifying as those may be, nothing compares to the overwhelming power of a Zone Storm. Stomp on the gas and outrun it if you can – these rolling maelstroms rend the landscape and obliterate anything that sticks around too long. Don’t let that be you.
REPEAT
Check the map, pack some gear for the trip, and hit the road. Gather resources and collect data as you go, there’s all sorts of useful stuff inside the walls of the Zone. Make it back safely and use the contents of your trunk to improve your car and garage. Every time you venture out, new trials await: bizarre weather, unforgiving landscapes, and experimental remnants. The golden rule in the Zone is ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ — some materials can only be found in the most dangerous places. Be smart out there, and don’t waste time — it’s going to be a long haul.
Steam User 124
thought this was a chill driving game. the car is screaming, the forest is screaming, i am screaming
Steam User 117
STALKCAR. My Summer Zone. Escape From Carkov. Roadtrip Picnic. Play it already.
Steam User 129
90% of the time, it's a relaxing game about driving through a mysterious stalker-style anomoly zone. The vibes are heckin cozy, the scenery is beautiful, the radio is playing, and everything just feels nice.
9% of the time you're on the edge of your seat, trying to desprately protect the one thing that keeps you protected from the dangers of the zone. Maybe you'll be trying to get up/down a steep hill without sliding and crashing, maybe you'll be desprately trying to stop your damaged car from falling apart completely while carefully rationing your limited resources; and maybe you'll be trying to escape an anomoly without crashing into a tree, or worse, another anomoly.
1% of the time your car will somehow be several dozen meters up in the air, flying at 80mph, completely out of control, and that will be the least of your concerns.
Steam User 62
8/10
*smacks Devs with rolled up news paper* Bad Devs, auto-saves should never overwrite manual saves.
Be aware to always have two saves, this game will *uck you and overwrite your save.
The game is pretty decent and fun, just infuriated to find that it overwrites your manual saves which is just dumb.
Steam User 75
It's long and slow but also quite unique and interesting. Exploring the zone while managing your car turns out to be more addictive than I thought it was going to be. There are a number of threats to be careful of but don't go in expecting a shooter game like STALKER or Fallout.
The environment is creepy and sometimes rather tense so it still finds ways to keep you entertained. The graphics are great and the game world looks well detailed. I'm glad I checked this game out and definitely recommend it.
Steam User 41
The genius of Pacific Drive is that it combines elements from a number of popular game genres and makes them work seamlessly in concert. It takes the slow off-road driving of Mudrunner as a base, but introduces a bunch of weird phenomena of varying degrees of lethality, and to survive, you will need to craft car body panels and mechanical components. The story is told through audio fragments, like in an immersive sim, and there is also a little something in there from soulslikes. There is a satisfying gameplay loop that alternates between exploring the zone and crafting things at the auto shop.
Steam User 47
RATING:
8/10
I wanted a chill game to play and so, I was gifted this from a friend who really enjoyed their time with it (shoutout DNX).
At first, definitely WAS NOT chill because I hate survival games and I did not know what I was in for but after 1-2 bad runs, I started to "gitgud" and learned a bit more about the game.
LOVE IT. It's super fun and if it's ever cheap on sale, definitely worth a grab.
GAMEPLAY:
The loop is roguelite.
It's you and your car on the open road, remembering that you left your shift in drive and watching it roll downhill on an incline because you didn't put it in park.
It's remembering to turn the lights off because your battery is getting drained.
It's learning that you slowly become obsessed with every little thing about your ride - and that's a GREAT thing.
Surprisingly super satisfying to do. Also, tinkering, crafting and figuring out how each special anomaly interacts and what resources you can gather has so many levels, you're REALLY encouraged to explore what the game has to give.
CORE MECHANIC:
Your car. The biggest thing I've loved about the game. From taking care of your car to unlocking upgrades, custom outfitting, detailing and just building your baby from the ground up is tangibly satisfying, especially after getting enough energy to build towards the next thing.
I really enjoyed the 'Quirks' mechanic for the car too. Overtime, your car will do... things. Really strange things. Sometimes they're cute and funny. Other times, it's the equivalent of having a pet too excited and pulling on their leash when you're walking near other people but the way it's woven in to the whole world and atmosphere was pretty great.
The cute ones you keep, the annoying ones you can fix.
PLOT/STORY:
The narrative is interesting but comes in waves. Similar to Hades, after a certain level of progression you'll unlock more and more lore, the plot starts moving forward and it's just a deep mystery for you to experience and explore. I've really enjoyed just listening to them over the radio, which speaking of -
MUSIC:
This game's OST is pretty bangin'. It's got a great soundtrack ranging from that old 70s-85s rock/blues (i dont know my music in decades) kind of vibe going on and I love it.
It's great to have on, I wish I could bring it with me out of car (if there is a way I probably haven't unlocked it yet) but it's a great soundtrack.
I want to emphasize this - TREAT IT LIKE A ROGUELITE. I treated it like it was just a chill drive snatch and grab some resources build stuff loop which it can be, but you're running quick out of resources or the storms just hurting too much too quickly.
I learned very quickly that each run early game, it's nice to just take your time or do short runs to build up resources, gather some energy and eventually your upgrades are FLYING in progression.
Always have your radio on, it's just so so good.