Pacific Drive Reviews
Pacific Drive is a must-play for narrative fans or those who want a more rewarding survival experience that doesn’t rely on the genre’s usual tropes. Heck, even if that’s not a big enough selling point, the game has an excellent soundtrack.
Pacific Drive is fantastic once you sit down and play it correctly. The game's core mechanic is survival, but many might fail to see that. Anyone who enjoys survival games should definitely give this one a go. Even if you usually don't enjoy survival games, you might be interested in building and driving your car. But before you do, you might want to fiddle with the levels of difficulty and accessibility settings to find a setting that suits your playing style. Pacific Drive is fantastic; driving through it has been a unique experience and arguably the year's most unique survival game entries.
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 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.
Pacific Drive is made for fans of survival games and sci-fi adventures. With its captivating anomalies and subtle horror, the hugely important and extensive maintenance of the station wagon and the somewhat frustrating ruthlessness. Pacific Drive offers a unique experience with a charming flair and is a great debut from Ironwood Studios.
Review in German | 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 thoughtfully translates simple yet overlooked human aspects through an experience that is truly unique and unforgettable.
Pacific Drive successfully reinterprets the core of the survival genre, centered around the bond with your station wagon. While the POV driving mechanics and the anomalies often provide relentless, occasionally exhausting challenges, the game still retains a charm that makes you want to take the wheel once again.
Review in Korean | Read full review
Getting used to its well thought out progression systems might take a little too long due to its user interface but once you do it, it’s hard to stop playing Pacific Drive.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Pacific Drive will end up as a highlight of 2024 for anyone seeking a fresh experience. Unfortunately, some quirks and genre trappings make it a little less wondrous than the Zone itself.
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 successfully balances many systems and delivers a creepy, unnerving rendition of the Pacific Northwest. If you thought Alan Wake's world was spooky, Pacific Drive offers a pretty worthy contender for what is an outrageous and outlandish supernatural roguelike.
Pacific Drive can be broken down easily into other genres, but it's unlike anything available in terms of tone, atmosphere and execution.
Pacific Drive is like a road trip: It requires a lot of preparation and planning, but the journey is always worth the experience. Just watch out for the radiation.
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".
While some of its looting mechanics feel a little stale in comparison to how it evolves other areas of the genre this likely won’t deter most players from seeing this intriguing story through to the end. Instead, Pacific Drive is one of the most intriguing games I’ve played in 2024 so far. It borrows concepts from the likes of STALKER and Firewatch, and combines them to create an accessible survival rogue-lite that’s a joy to engage with. Seeing your car gradually transform from a heap of junk to essentially a life support system is a satisfying experience, and only enhanced by the weird and wonderful world you get to drive it about in.
Pacific Drive offers a chance to take a beautiful vintage car to the forbidden Zone with a total of radiation and anomalies. Aside from the dangers, there's no avoiding the elaborate micromanagement on this trip, where every part of the car must be inspected, upgraded, and weaponized down to the smallest detail. Yet the driver's role is purely pacifist and collectible. Collecting resources is essential to continue on the road, as is crawling through every wreck. The atmosphere at this point is so thick it could be sliced, helped by the well-balanced audiovisual aspect, which is underlined by the fact that the authors have managed to create an authentic night in which you can't see a step. Charismatic characters, subtle humor, and an intriguing storyline all make this a dangerously addictive ride.
Review in Czech | Read full review
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.
Pacific Drive delivers a refreshing spin on survival horror gameplay, with its original atmosphere and inventive use of genre elements. Despite minor flaws, its innovative approach captivates players, offering a truly unique gaming experience that pushes boundaries and keeps the genre exciting.
Review in Persian | Read full review
