- Publisher: Kepler Interactive , Ironwood Studios
- Release Date: Feb 21, 2024
- Also On: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
-
Mar 7, 2024As I said up top, the whole game is something you’re either going to love or hate. Pacific Drive isn’t going to leave many (or any) people saying, “Enh, it was okay.” You might think it’s a brilliant take on the survival genre, or you might think it’s endless amounts of busy work without enough of a payoff, but either way, it’s guaranteed to get a reaction out of you.
-
Mar 4, 2024Pacific 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.
-
Feb 23, 2024Pacific Drive captures the spirit of working on your car in a game that heavily leans into the crafting experience over its driving roguelike elements.
-
Feb 22, 2024A love letter to Boris and Arkady that brings their anomalous horrors to the Pacific Northwest. Pacific Drive makes up for what it gets wrong in pacing with imaginative gameplay and exceptional design.
-
Feb 20, 2024A singular survival game steeped in an unnerving world, Pacific Drive pairs meticulous management with intense excursions that will test your motoring mettle. Balancing its symphony of systems can sometimes be an overly punishing process, but the riveting tension of each run was enough to keep me on my toes even through some repetitious pain points. And when my battered station wagon came screaming out of the portal to safety with no doors and a dead engine, I always felt compelled to fix its faults, buckle back in, and maybe play with the Laika bobblehead on the dash. That frustrating hunk of metal was mine, after all.
-
Feb 20, 2024Pacific Drive has so much potential. The idea of a survival game with a car as main protagonist is great, the world looks wonderful and the story is interesting. But when we have to escape the radiation, everything becomes unnecessarily annoying. The balancing and some features should get a bit of rework, then Pacific Drive will be overall really enjoyable.
-
Feb 21, 2024There’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.
-
Feb 20, 2024As unpredictable as it is rewarding, Pacific Drive can be brilliant, infuriating, and frustrating in equal measure. There's a great idea here but much of its potential is burned up by a tough mid-game learning curve, and unpredictably cruel dangers.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
-
Feb 22, 2024It’s a game of many mysteries I have yet to solve, and seriously deep systems I have yet to fully explore; and every time I roll open the garage door and pull out, the game packs up all that complexity and brings it with me. It’s all invested in a world that is bewitching both for its strangeness and its deep familiarity, and in a car that is a truly great video game protagonist in its own right. There’s always another roll of the dice, and another turn of the wheel. Maybe this time the Zone will be kind; maybe this time, you’ll make it. [Polygon Recommends]
-
Feb 20, 2024While Pacific Drive has trunk loads of atmosphere, a powerfully engaging premise, and simulates the feel of driving a quirky old machine in admirable detail, it’s all locked into a laborious framework. For all those “Get off the road!” moments, the processes of gathering, crafting and advancing through its story are fraught with irritating potholes and diversions. With all the repetition of mundane tasks, I imagine it’s closer to the reality of being in the army than that old advert ever was.