Pacific Drive Reviews
Pacific Drive is an unforgettable ride that you should not miss out on.
Review in German | Read full review
Pacific Drive is an intriguing survival title that appeals to the unknown and the player's curiosity, with unique and engaging moments. By merging vehicle and survival, Ironwood Studios nails its proposal and boldness.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A novel and challenging survival game that puts you in the driver's seat of one the best cars in videogames.
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 is an ambitious and rewarding debut from Ironwood Studios. It's an unusual combination of factors that all coalesce; roguelike exploration, deep and challenging survival mechanics, an interesting narrative to follow, and a central vehicle that brings everything together. Fiddly controls and complex UI mean it's not free from annoyances, but the pleasure found in incrementally upgrading the car and throwing it into the unknown trumps the setbacks. It might be an arduous journey at times, but it's definitely worth the trip.
Pacific Drive is an intriguing experience and, despite being way more complicated than it should in some of its choices, it's a compelling game that feels like a breath of fresh air for video games' lovers.
Review in Italian | 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.
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
Ironwood Studio's debut is a challenging roguelite caRPG rich in atmosphere, complexity, and fascinating lore.
If you fight your way through, Pacific Drive is a solid survival game, but it can only really shine with the car upgrades.
Review in German | Read full review
Finding the balance between survival and cozy Sunday drives is tricky, but Pacific Drives manages to nail it. This is a road I want to travel again without a doubt.
Pacific Drive is about laboring towards something and enjoying the results – feeling the sense of progress, along with the satisfaction and motivation such tangible progress brings with it. There are undoubtedly hours upon hours of gameplay to be had for those possessing unrelenting patience, those true warriors of attrition that would see Pacific Drive’s systems through to their ultimate culmination.
An intriguing set-up, with an impressively ominous atmosphere, is spoilt by overfamiliar roguelike elements that ruin the pacing and increase the repetition.
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.
No matter how careful you are, it only takes the slightest thing to bring everything crashing down.
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 takes each genre it tackles in a bold new direction, and creates something that’s not necessarily unheard of, but feels entirely unique in its design, care, and the way in which it pulls you into its world. You’ll immediately begin to care for your car as you keep it safe, and exploring the Zone consistently provides new, refreshing things to keep you engaged and daunted. Though the milder aspects can feel repetitive, it adds to a worthwhile experience that is absolutely worth playing.
Ironwood Studios' debut game accomplishes to be an immersive survival driving adventure. Its intense treks through mind-bending obstacles are balanced with humor and relaxing moments provided by crafting and upgrading useful tools and car components, along with Pacific Drive's catchy alternative rock soundtrack. It's an incredibly impressive debut game that should put the new studio on the map: "there's no peace of mind or place you'll see, like riding on Pacific Drive."
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.