Pacific Drive Reviews
Balancing Pacific Drive’s scrappy systems can be punishing, but the riveting tension of each drive through its unnerving world was always enough to keep my hands placed firmly on the wheel.
A punishing, exhasperating slog, or an off-beat love story between driver and car, human and the Zone? Pacific Drive is both and then some.
A novel and challenging survival game that puts you in the driver's seat of one the best cars in videogames.
No matter how careful you are, it only takes the slightest thing to bring everything crashing down.
An intriguing set-up, with an impressively ominous atmosphere, is spoilt by overfamiliar roguelike elements that ruin the pacing and increase the repetition.
Ironwood Studio's debut is a challenging roguelite caRPG rich in atmosphere, complexity, and fascinating lore.
There’s a lot here that feels great, but it’s the inconsistency that lets it down. All those great moments are padded by a framework that doesn’t do them enough justice. Too much emphasis on scrounging, an unfocused narrative, and a generally poor feeling of momentum and progression. I’m still certain that there are some who will be able to overlook the game’s flaws and latch onto its unique charm. However, I think just as many people are going to bounce right off it. Either way, it isn’t a comfortable ride.
The premise of Pacific Drive is unique and original in many ways, although in others it can be a bit tedious and tiresome. It is a game in which we must be patient and not go crazy, because it is better to go little by little so as not to fall into despair. Being a first-person survival rogue-lite, it has its own twist and nothing will be the same in every exploration, but for my taste a third-person option would have been good for it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
For their first feature, my heartfelt applause for Ironwood Studios. Not only have they taken the roguelite formula to new ground, integrating driving, deep survival, and a captivating sci-fi story, which makes sense of their original world. Despite the bugs or the fact that the roguelite formula doesn't appeal to you, there is "something" about it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Pacific Drive is a mystery that draws you in little by little and rewards you for staying dedicated with both a better vehicle and more ridiculous threats. Every excursion left me wondering just what I’d discover, both from survival and story standpoints, as well as what kind of crazy threats were going to try to make my life harder. Fun and interesting characters and a pretty great soundtrack help to keep things fun, but maintaining the station wagon is easily the most compelling part. It’s your best friend through thick and thin, even if it’s trying to eat your mind. That can be somewhat forgiven since it makes up the core of an ultimately great rogue-lite survival game.
Pacific Drive is an imperfect but unique journey into the unknown. It is a good survival game in which the eerie atmosphere, the customization of one's car, and the adrenaline rush of racing make one forget the flaws.
Review in Italian | Read full review
After four years of development, the good people at Ironwood Studio join forces with Kepler Interactive to launch Pacific Drive. A very personal title with a brutal charisma that proves once again that small studios still have a lot to contribute to the videogame industry.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Pacific Drive is a punishing roguelike at times, but the thrill of each run provides plenty of variety and excitement in how you approach it.
Pacific Drive is one of those amazing games that I’ve fallen in love with despite it doing so much I’m inclined to loathe. It’s brilliant in its externalization of survival gameplay with a car that acts perfectly in its dual role of burden and bearer. Its humor, style, and a luxury assortment of modifier settings have kept me spellbound. I can paint my car pink. Game of the year contender.
There's much to admire in Ironwood's car-based survival sim, not least the detail that's gone into the old banger you pilot and the weird lands you have to explore, which force you to learn their quirks and keep your wits about you. As a crafting game, however, it's rather unforgiving and laborious, requiring a lot of thankless graft if you want to stay on the road and unlock more inventive equipment.
Pacific Drive toes the line between "challenging fun take on the survival-horror genre" and "too complicated for its own good." The game is full of interesting lore, hardcore crafting mechanics, and a world of driving with plenty to explore. While the driving can feel repetitive at times, if you can get a hold of the system, you'll have plenty of fun in the Pacific Northwest.
Pacific Drive is an intriguing blend of science fiction storytelling and simulator gameplay mechanics. If you typically shy away from roguelikes, this might be the one that finally nestles its way into your psyche as you tell yourself "Just one more run".
Courage should be rewarded, always. And Pacific Drive is a brave game, offering unique gameplay focused on the exploration of the Zone and the relationship between man and vehicle. We will feel helpless and powerless most of the time, banking on car upgrades to have any hope of surviving in this bleak and hostile environment. The action is slow paced as the protagonist is not an Invincible Super Soldier but an ordinary man in his beat-up car, and this may turn away some fans of driving games, but the high point of this production is the story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Pacific Drive is a unique RPG and survival crafting game in a landscape choked with unimaginative copycats and clones. That alone makes it worth checking out. Its story, atmosphere and basic loop are engaging and satisfying. At the default difficulty though, its design and mechanics can frustrate in ways that neither skill or time can overcome. Pacific Drive offers a refreshing RPG experience but the ride is sometimes bumpier than intended.
Pacific Drive is a game absolutely dripping in atmosphere and excellent spooky vibes, with an exploration-to-looting-to-tense extraction-to-crafting/upgrading and back again gameplay loop that doesn't get old, and a story that is both emotional and intriguing. While pacing issues do hamper it down some, that doesn't damage the experience enough to leave it off anyone's must-play list for 2024.