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Since the survival genre is one of the most saturated in the industry year in and year out, it is always exciting when a title breaks the mold with a fresh idea. While most stick to the tried and true formula of running from monsters or eating and drinking water to survive, Kepler Interactive has broken the mold to create something original. Pacific Drive is a game I figured I would eventually get around to when it came out, but thanks to some recent hands-on time, it is now at the top of my list of most anticipated releases of 2024. With a sense of immersion that I haven’t felt from a game in years, unparalleled art, and original features, February can’t come soon enough.
And The Road Becomes My Bride
While I had already seen the trailers and read about this game in a hands-off preview we had, nothing prepared me for what awaited me when I got behind the wheel myself. The game starts with your character looking at a pile of papers and driving through a bleak landscape. The music seeps into your ears, and if you have 3D audio-capable headphones, which I recommend, there is nothing but the roar of the car engine, the ambient tones of the forest, and the open road in front of you waiting to be tamed. That is, of course, until a vortex sucks you in, and you appear inside the Olimpyc Exclusion Zone.
If you didn’t know or haven’t followed the game up close, Pacific Drive combines survival and rogue-lite elements, or as the studio calls them, road-lite elements. Like any other title of the genre, when you die during a run or a match, you lose your progress; all of these things make sense, thanks to the story behind this game.
Since it was a preview build, I was only able to play the opening hours of the title, but here’s the gist: you get to the Olympic Exclusion Zone, where the government experimented with strange technology, and due to something going terribly wrong, it decided to wall off the place, which I personally think make for some great conspiracy theory type of plot. This makes way to an ever-changing environment, which leads to every biome being different, every zone having varied resources, and all of these shifts between runs. In turn, this creates an addictive gameplay loop that is hard to put down.
You begin your day at the garage. The game gives you a checklist that you can cross off or ignore and just hit the gas. This place gives you the amenities to prepare your vehicle for your ride. A few materials to fix panels, bumpers, and tires, a gas pump, a battery charger, and even some terminals that allow you to unlock permanent upgrades for your subsequent travels. At first, it is pretty easy to prepare for a journey. However, the further you want to venture into the zone, the more you have to prepare your station wagon.
Even if preparation might seem mundane to some, it is one of the most engaging mechanics I experienced during the preview and what I feel makes Pacific Drive so immersive. You have the tunes fire up in your car’s stereo while you see the animations of the bumpers coming on and off. It’s a pretty realistic car-repair simulation that reminds me of Project Zomboid‘s vehicle features. Grabbing your supplies and packing them on the truck as you mark things off your checklist makes every journey feel special, even when heading to your imminent doom. The most exciting part about this is that the game hasn’t even started because once you’re ready to hit the road, that’s when the fun begins.
Wherever I May Roam
Once you’re ready to hit the road, you can check the terminal that contains the map and plan your route. Initially, you’ll only have a few spots to venture to, but after the first run, you’ll unlock other roads that are full of different hazards and rewards. Here’s where the next part of the planning comes into play because once you have your materials, tools, and car parts, you ask yourself, “Will these things get me there?” If you’re feeling daring, you can venture deeper, but as I learned, it might not be a good idea.
As I mentioned, there is a terminal with permanent upgrades you can unlock, and I was aiming to upgrade my tires. For that, I decided to pick an unknown route that had a weird circle around it. Yes, it seemed dangerous, but I thought, “Me and my car can handle it.” What followed was a series of screaming for my life, asking a higher power to take the wheel, and eventually flying through the air because pillars were lurching out of the ground. If that wasn’t enough, the road was booby-trapped with explosive mannequins, so yeah, it wasn’t my brightest idea to go there.
Still, I found the learning process amazing. I am a sucker for rogue-lite games such as Slay the Spire, and while I should feel frustrated from losing the materials for my new tires, I wasn’t. It was great to go back to the drawing board and choose a safer route to come back to the garage faster, create better car parts, and hit the road once more. On the next few runs, I drove slowly, took in the sights, parked the car properly, and went to explore many of the buildings that pop up along the road to better tackle the more challenging trips.
Other than that, the best thing during my Pacific Drive preview was how the developers augmented the realism through the HUD. Here, you don’t have to navigate through a thousand-and-one screens just to see your map, inventory, or other things. Everything is in your car. If you want to check your inventory, you must head to the trunk, open it, and check the boxes. Do you think your tires might be getting flat? The dashboard will indicate that. You can even turn the camera to your right side to see the map panel and put a waypoint should you want to reach a better place.
With this sort of realism come other dangers, which usually are player-created. Some games have pampered me to expect certain things to be automatic that I forgot countless times to put my car in park, only to get a notification of something hitting my poor station wagon as it traveled down the road. It might seem like extra steps for some, but when you’re facing a vortex of radiation and a storm that turns your screen red because you’re about to die in seconds, learning these lessons and incorporating them into your routine becomes a satisfying practice.
What a Strange Road It’ll Be
Overall, my excitement for Pacific Drive has shifted into high gear after trying this preview. It’s a thirst for adventure that I can only quench with gasoline, and I can’t wait for the full release of this title. While there are a few things that need fixing, I didn’t find anything that broke my immersion. I always felt like it was me and my vehicle against this twisted version of the Pacific, full of anomalies and dangers. And I’m more than sure that those looking for something that breaks the boundaries of the survival genre are in for a non-stop ride.
