Ironwood Studios has a quirky car survival adventure that is best described as Pimp My Ride crossed with Alan Wake. On the one hand, it’s a surreal survival horror told from a first person perspective. On the other, its a car mechanic simulator that’ll require you to repair and customise your vehicle to brave a supernatural reimagining of the Pacific North West.
Pacific Drive’s release date is just around the corner and its slowly starting to gain traction all across social media. Quite understandable, because the game is unlike anything we’ve seen before. It combines open-world driving, survival horror elements mixed with a surrealist ‘Stranger Things’ atmosphere, and it’s quite intriguing. Besides this, the game uniquely focuses on maintaining your trusty station wagon through intricate car simulator-styled mechanics that adds a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay.
A mysterious adventure
As far as the story goes, the game sets you on a supernatural journey across the Pacific North West. Specifically, the Olympic Exclusion Zone, a dangerous and deadly abandoned research site filled with anomalies and mysteries. It is up to you and your trusty automobile to brave these uncharted ruins and discover the long forgotten truth behind this mysterious world. And hopefully, you’ll make it through alive.
Along the way you may come across otherworldly monsters, extreme weather conditions, and copious amounts of radiation. The Zone is also home to other survivors who will attempt to contact you via radio. Some are friends, others are foes, and few hold the answers to the origins of the Zone. Do you trust them to help you, or are they all out to get you?
An abandoned makeshift garage doubles as the player home base. Here you will do much of your crafting, plotting, and intel gathering. The station wagon is your second lifeline and requires maintenance to withstand the extreme conditions of the outside world. You can also extensively upgrade it with parts you find across your journey. There’s certainly a sense of urgency, and it’ll be interesting to see how well the intricate mechanics and carefully-crafted aesthetics blend together in this open world adventure.
Pacific Drive launches on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on February 22. Thankfully, both the Epic and Steam stores are currently running a special promotion at 10% off the Standard and Deluxe Edition sticker price. The promotion runs till February 29, so there’s plenty of time to scour the Internet for trusted reviews before considering a purchase. I, for one, cannot wait until it drops.
