Pacific Drive: Deluxe Edition

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.

Ironwood Studio's debut is a challenging roguelite caRPG rich in atmosphere, complexity, and fascinating lore.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Fans of survival games have something unusual to look forward to. The car will be our friend, and it will be our safe passage out of the anomaly zone where we have been teleported.