in 45 minutes i got everything the game was going for. The grind was not that appealing.
Dropped it mostly cause of the absolutely abysmal optimization, with the type of graphics the game boasts having 30 fps is a little cringe.
Dropped it mostly cause of the absolutely abysmal optimization, with the type of graphics the game boasts having 30 fps is a little cringe.
Joguei em torno de 4 horas e posso afirmar que, de início, é no mínimo interessante. Mas, infelizmente, não posso continuar a jogar. Meu PC não aguenta rodar o game de forma decente durante as missões, e colocar todas as configurações no "Low" faz o jogo parecer uma massinha de modelar, horrível. Isso tira toda a ambientação do local, que é super importante pro jogo, pelo que deu a entender na história e no contexto geral do que aconteceu e do que tá rolando na Península Olímpica. Quando eu tiver um PC que tanke mais, talvez eu volte para jogar, mas por ora realmente não tem como ter uma experiência boa com esse péssimo desempenho.
On paper, this game was made for me. Setting, sound design, mechanics, all very much in my wheelhouse. But most of my 20 hours of play were spent on the line between challenging and tedious, with too much time spent dipping into tedium. I know you can adjust the settings extensively, but even with many of the offending mechanics turned off I still found the majority of the gameplay to be just fine, at best.
Aşırı keyif aldım, araba üzerinde yaptığımız değişiklikler ve bölümlere olan etkimiz çok güzeldi. Müzikler tam atmosfere uygun tarzda.
feel like i got catfished. the gameplay loop here entirely kills this for me - i was under the impression Pacific Drive was gonna be a linear(ish) journey to the heart of the Stalker Zone but it ends up being an almost roguelike experience centred around going out on missions from your garage hubworld. it's more of a loot-centric game than a driving one, one way less lonely and more game-y than i hoped. i'm not into crafting survival games at all but the concept really intrigued me, just not enough to not groan at its opening garage tutorial segment or not feel like it was getting tedious after two missions. not bad, if you're into these sorts of games you'll defo find something valuable here, just really let me down personally.
📌 RUS Version
Стэндалон игра про Буханку из «Metro: Exodus» не удалась
Очень тихо и незаметно прошёл релиз «Pacific Drive», и вот почему:
Игра не может предложить ничего больше концепции "ты мастурбируешь лут, кастомайзишь своё корыто и катаешься по тихоокеанскому побережью вокруг аномалий".
Это всё. Никаких откровений, сюрпризов, интересного нарратива, крепкого сюжета или глубокого геймплея.
📝 Здесь есть множество скучных записок и главный герой, который настолько "никто", что у него не только голоса, но и тела нет. Помимо него есть ещё три заэкрановых персонажа: постоянно что-то болтают, и только по радио. Их озвучивают классные актёры, но играть им особо нечего. Все сюжетные линии вроде подходят к концу, но в итоге сам сюжет по сути это — даже не громкий, а — просто «пук».
🎮 По геймплею игра сама не понимает, чем она хочет быть.
Дефолтный режим в какой-то момент становится перегруженным различными переменными и хочется его поменять. Но других сложностей или режимов в игре нет. Есть огромный список модификаций-читов с настройкой отдельных пунктов от «негаснущих фар» до «неполучения урона от конкретной стихии».
То есть, мне не совсем понятно, как сам разработчик видел этот геймплей.
Потому что если всё это поотключать и чиллить на лесных пейзажах, ну хз, они не настолько грандиозные или ламповые. Визуал приятный, но слишком дженерик, чтобы им наслаждаться. Да и никакого геймплея, кромке жмяканья на газ больше не останется.
В общем, играть в увлекательное "сам себе геймдизайнер за свои же 1500р" я не захотел и остался на дефолте. Но уже через пару абзацев будет твист.
✨ Аномалии не работают комплексно и не создают уникальных ситуаций — хотя это выживач — жанр, где игрока закидывают в песочницу с экосистемами, которые генерят ему истории —. Они либо разбросаны то тут, то там, либо сваливаются разом большой пачкой и заталкивают тебя в гробан.
Через пару часов это уже начинает сильно заёбывать. Особенно, когда до сюжетных участков трассы нужно добираться каждый раз заново через миллион одинаковых развилок — это же авто-рогалик —, где ты просто давишь тапку и едешь к воротам на следующий уровень.
А когда на 70% сюжета ставят гриндволл...
На этом моменте я решил сбавить градус духоты ♨️, и воспользовался всеми возможными внутриигровыми читами, подрубил трейнер и проехал до концовки — ни о чём не жалею. Очень редко так делаю, почему бы и нет. Так бы я её вообще не прошёл, а досматривать на ютубе не хотелось.
В общем, кастомайзить машинку было прикольно, но оно того не стоит.
____________________
https://t.me/kuznyade ← подписывайтесь на мой Telegram-канал, пишу там тепло про 🎮, 🎬, 🎸 и 📚.
____________________
📌 ENG Version
The Standalon game about UAZ-Bukhanka from "Metro: Exodus" failed
The release of "Pacific Drive" was very quiet and unnoticed, and that's why:
The game cannot offer anything more than the concept of "you masturbate loot, customize your trough and ride along the Pacific coast around anomalies."
That is all. No revelations, surprises, interesting narrative, strong plot or deep gameplay.
📝 There are a lot of boring notes and the main character, who is so "nobody" that he does not only have a voice, but also a body. Besides him, there are three other off-screen characters: they are constantly talking, and only on the radio. They are voiced by great actors, but they don't have much to play. All the storylines seem to be coming to an end, but in the end the plot itself is — in fact not even loud but —, just a "fart".
🎮 According to the gameplay, the game itself does not understand what it wants to be.
The default mode at some point becomes overloaded with various variables and you want to change it. But there are no other difficulties or modes in the game. There is a huge list of cheat modifications with the setting of individual items from "non-extinguishing headlights" to "not receiving damage from a specific element".
That is, it is not entirely clear to me how the developer himself saw this gameplay.
Because if you turn it all off and chill on forest landscapes, well, they are not so grandiose or lamp-like. The visual is pleasant, but too generic to enjoy. And there will be no more gameplay, there will be no more gas pressure on the edge.
In general, I did not want to play the exciting "my own game designer for my own 30 bucks" and remained in default. But in a couple of paragraphs there will be a twist.
✨ Anomalies do not work comprehensively and do not create unique situations — although this is a survival genre where the player is thrown into a sandbox with ecosystems that generate stories for him. They're either scattered here and there, or they come down in a big pile at once and shove you into a coffin.
After a couple of hours, it's already starting to fuck up a lot. Especially when you need to get to the plot sections of the route every time again through a million identical forks — this is an auto-bagel — where you just press the slipper and go to the gate to the next level.
And when they put grindwall on 70% of the plot...
At this point, I decided to reduce the degree of stuffiness ♨️, and took advantage of all possible in-game cheats, cut the trainer and drove to the end - I don't regret anything. I very rarely do this, why not. So I wouldn't have passed it at all, and I didn't want to watch it on YouTube.
In general, it was fun to customize the machine, but it's not worth it.
Стэндалон игра про Буханку из «Metro: Exodus» не удалась
Очень тихо и незаметно прошёл релиз «Pacific Drive», и вот почему:
Игра не может предложить ничего больше концепции "ты мастурбируешь лут, кастомайзишь своё корыто и катаешься по тихоокеанскому побережью вокруг аномалий".
Это всё. Никаких откровений, сюрпризов, интересного нарратива, крепкого сюжета или глубокого геймплея.
📝 Здесь есть множество скучных записок и главный герой, который настолько "никто", что у него не только голоса, но и тела нет. Помимо него есть ещё три заэкрановых персонажа: постоянно что-то болтают, и только по радио. Их озвучивают классные актёры, но играть им особо нечего. Все сюжетные линии вроде подходят к концу, но в итоге сам сюжет по сути это — даже не громкий, а — просто «пук».
🎮 По геймплею игра сама не понимает, чем она хочет быть.
Дефолтный режим в какой-то момент становится перегруженным различными переменными и хочется его поменять. Но других сложностей или режимов в игре нет. Есть огромный список модификаций-читов с настройкой отдельных пунктов от «негаснущих фар» до «неполучения урона от конкретной стихии».
То есть, мне не совсем понятно, как сам разработчик видел этот геймплей.
Потому что если всё это поотключать и чиллить на лесных пейзажах, ну хз, они не настолько грандиозные или ламповые. Визуал приятный, но слишком дженерик, чтобы им наслаждаться. Да и никакого геймплея, кромке жмяканья на газ больше не останется.
В общем, играть в увлекательное "сам себе геймдизайнер за свои же 1500р" я не захотел и остался на дефолте. Но уже через пару абзацев будет твист.
✨ Аномалии не работают комплексно и не создают уникальных ситуаций — хотя это выживач — жанр, где игрока закидывают в песочницу с экосистемами, которые генерят ему истории —. Они либо разбросаны то тут, то там, либо сваливаются разом большой пачкой и заталкивают тебя в гробан.
Через пару часов это уже начинает сильно заёбывать. Особенно, когда до сюжетных участков трассы нужно добираться каждый раз заново через миллион одинаковых развилок — это же авто-рогалик —, где ты просто давишь тапку и едешь к воротам на следующий уровень.
А когда на 70% сюжета ставят гриндволл...
На этом моменте я решил сбавить градус духоты ♨️, и воспользовался всеми возможными внутриигровыми читами, подрубил трейнер и проехал до концовки — ни о чём не жалею. Очень редко так делаю, почему бы и нет. Так бы я её вообще не прошёл, а досматривать на ютубе не хотелось.
В общем, кастомайзить машинку было прикольно, но оно того не стоит.
____________________
https://t.me/kuznyade ← подписывайтесь на мой Telegram-канал, пишу там тепло про 🎮, 🎬, 🎸 и 📚.
____________________
📌 ENG Version
The Standalon game about UAZ-Bukhanka from "Metro: Exodus" failed
The release of "Pacific Drive" was very quiet and unnoticed, and that's why:
The game cannot offer anything more than the concept of "you masturbate loot, customize your trough and ride along the Pacific coast around anomalies."
That is all. No revelations, surprises, interesting narrative, strong plot or deep gameplay.
📝 There are a lot of boring notes and the main character, who is so "nobody" that he does not only have a voice, but also a body. Besides him, there are three other off-screen characters: they are constantly talking, and only on the radio. They are voiced by great actors, but they don't have much to play. All the storylines seem to be coming to an end, but in the end the plot itself is — in fact not even loud but —, just a "fart".
🎮 According to the gameplay, the game itself does not understand what it wants to be.
The default mode at some point becomes overloaded with various variables and you want to change it. But there are no other difficulties or modes in the game. There is a huge list of cheat modifications with the setting of individual items from "non-extinguishing headlights" to "not receiving damage from a specific element".
That is, it is not entirely clear to me how the developer himself saw this gameplay.
Because if you turn it all off and chill on forest landscapes, well, they are not so grandiose or lamp-like. The visual is pleasant, but too generic to enjoy. And there will be no more gameplay, there will be no more gas pressure on the edge.
In general, I did not want to play the exciting "my own game designer for my own 30 bucks" and remained in default. But in a couple of paragraphs there will be a twist.
✨ Anomalies do not work comprehensively and do not create unique situations — although this is a survival genre where the player is thrown into a sandbox with ecosystems that generate stories for him. They're either scattered here and there, or they come down in a big pile at once and shove you into a coffin.
After a couple of hours, it's already starting to fuck up a lot. Especially when you need to get to the plot sections of the route every time again through a million identical forks — this is an auto-bagel — where you just press the slipper and go to the gate to the next level.
And when they put grindwall on 70% of the plot...
At this point, I decided to reduce the degree of stuffiness ♨️, and took advantage of all possible in-game cheats, cut the trainer and drove to the end - I don't regret anything. I very rarely do this, why not. So I wouldn't have passed it at all, and I didn't want to watch it on YouTube.
In general, it was fun to customize the machine, but it's not worth it.
2 AM - Olympic Exclusion Zone - Outer Zone
I kill the engine, close my eyes and sit back in my car seat. The wind and rain batters the protective outer shell of my car, threatening to lift it off the ground and toss it down a ravine at any moment.
“There’s no such thing as a ‘Cursed Wheel’” I tell myself; and I believe it, I really do. It must have been my judicious use of the handbrake or driving a little too fast over a small pile of stones or a little too close to the Hot Dust 200 yards back. That’s why my front left wheel is loose for the fourth time on this excursion. It’s not Cursed.
I believe this despite being frequently pursued by semi-sentient balls of possessed trash and flying robots that want to steal my car. I believe this despite the existence of the Friendly Dumpster and the enigmatic-but-useful Pacemaker. I believe this despite every single piece of evidence to the contrary. There is no such thing as a Cursed Wheel.
Leaving it is an option. I can drive for miles without tending to it, I might even make it home if the conditions are perfect. Conditions are never perfect. A rogue squall could drift across at any moment and I could be left trying to repair so many more issues under a battering of acid rain or a confusing storm of Bollards and Shakers throwing my car and my self around like toys. Best to deal with it while the weather is only pre-apocalyptic.
I slide out into the maelstrom and tighten the wheel. It’s literally a moment’s work, even with my tools haphazardly thrown into a side-storage container. I even check around the car for any signs of weakness in the vehicles doors and panels, it’s the kind of thing that can save your life in the Olympic Exclusion Zone. All good, I slide back into the driver’s seat, soaked but satisfied. It’s time to head home.
I pick an exit point (why do they have to be so far away?) and all hell breaks loose. The real storm is coming and I am going. Fast. Tearing across the terrain in the near pitch-black at 100, 120, 140 km/h, squinting through the pouring rain. While my back was turned, exploding Tourists have drifted into the road causing me to veer into a ditch and mow down two dozen saplings before colliding with a tree. I check the dashboard console, no serious damage but the hold-up means that the initial storm has overtaken me and the worst is still to come.
Pulling back onto the road and flooring it, I can feel the true nightmare breathing down my neck, my exit point so near and yet not-near-enough. It’s a damn good job I dealt with that wheel.
An alert chimes on my dashboard.
There is No Such Thing as a Cursed Wheel
I kill the engine, close my eyes and sit back in my car seat. The wind and rain batters the protective outer shell of my car, threatening to lift it off the ground and toss it down a ravine at any moment.
“There’s no such thing as a ‘Cursed Wheel’” I tell myself; and I believe it, I really do. It must have been my judicious use of the handbrake or driving a little too fast over a small pile of stones or a little too close to the Hot Dust 200 yards back. That’s why my front left wheel is loose for the fourth time on this excursion. It’s not Cursed.
I believe this despite being frequently pursued by semi-sentient balls of possessed trash and flying robots that want to steal my car. I believe this despite the existence of the Friendly Dumpster and the enigmatic-but-useful Pacemaker. I believe this despite every single piece of evidence to the contrary. There is no such thing as a Cursed Wheel.
Leaving it is an option. I can drive for miles without tending to it, I might even make it home if the conditions are perfect. Conditions are never perfect. A rogue squall could drift across at any moment and I could be left trying to repair so many more issues under a battering of acid rain or a confusing storm of Bollards and Shakers throwing my car and my self around like toys. Best to deal with it while the weather is only pre-apocalyptic.
I slide out into the maelstrom and tighten the wheel. It’s literally a moment’s work, even with my tools haphazardly thrown into a side-storage container. I even check around the car for any signs of weakness in the vehicles doors and panels, it’s the kind of thing that can save your life in the Olympic Exclusion Zone. All good, I slide back into the driver’s seat, soaked but satisfied. It’s time to head home.
I pick an exit point (why do they have to be so far away?) and all hell breaks loose. The real storm is coming and I am going. Fast. Tearing across the terrain in the near pitch-black at 100, 120, 140 km/h, squinting through the pouring rain. While my back was turned, exploding Tourists have drifted into the road causing me to veer into a ditch and mow down two dozen saplings before colliding with a tree. I check the dashboard console, no serious damage but the hold-up means that the initial storm has overtaken me and the worst is still to come.
Pulling back onto the road and flooring it, I can feel the true nightmare breathing down my neck, my exit point so near and yet not-near-enough. It’s a damn good job I dealt with that wheel.
An alert chimes on my dashboard.
There is No Such Thing as a Cursed Wheel
I knew I’d dig Pacific Drive, but I didn’t expect the car maintenance to become my favorite part of it — or for it to keep me invested for nearly thirty hours.
My play style in games like this is to play the janitor: grabbing everything not bolted down and tossing it in my sack. That served me very well for the incredibly robust crafting system, amassing a large tool shed of doo-dads. Unfortunately, I think it also kept me too far ahead of this game’s best moments where everything is going wrong and you have to be like Matt Damon in The Martian to “science the hell” out of the problem, crafting the essentials to keep you going.
It pays to pay more attention to the details than I did: figure out where to find what kinds of resources and just grab what you need to have the best freeform experience. If you’re an anxious little thing like me, you might burn yourself out a bit on stopping for resources too often and losing momentum on some of the more grand objectives. As with any immersive RPG like this, it’s a dance between what you need to do versus trying to do everything. Finding that balance makes for the best trip.
Just like the best immersive sim games, there’s a tradeoff for the endgame that you either end up having the final mission that tests you in every lesson you learned — or lets go of the gas and lets you walk through a shoegazey reflection. This one fixes eyes to shoelaces, where I maybe wanted to really show-off, but it might be best for a game about driving to have at least one joyride.
My play style in games like this is to play the janitor: grabbing everything not bolted down and tossing it in my sack. That served me very well for the incredibly robust crafting system, amassing a large tool shed of doo-dads. Unfortunately, I think it also kept me too far ahead of this game’s best moments where everything is going wrong and you have to be like Matt Damon in The Martian to “science the hell” out of the problem, crafting the essentials to keep you going.
It pays to pay more attention to the details than I did: figure out where to find what kinds of resources and just grab what you need to have the best freeform experience. If you’re an anxious little thing like me, you might burn yourself out a bit on stopping for resources too often and losing momentum on some of the more grand objectives. As with any immersive RPG like this, it’s a dance between what you need to do versus trying to do everything. Finding that balance makes for the best trip.
Just like the best immersive sim games, there’s a tradeoff for the endgame that you either end up having the final mission that tests you in every lesson you learned — or lets go of the gas and lets you walk through a shoegazey reflection. This one fixes eyes to shoelaces, where I maybe wanted to really show-off, but it might be best for a game about driving to have at least one joyride.
For the first 20 hours of this thing I felt like I was playing an all-time cult classic. Phenomenal weirdo atmosphere, incredible blend of a really satisfying survival loop and beautiful cinematic worldbuilding. Everything about fighting your way out of a storm, repairing the car, and upgrading it piece by piece feels so tangible in the best way. Maybe I loved it too much early on, cause I spent so long in act 1 that I left myself a lot of game to get through by the time things started to feel repetitive and worn out. It just doesn't feel worth taking any time to engage with the mid-zone and deep zone in any way when you've done the same routes 10 times over and the only reward will be incremental upgrades that aren't remotely needed to complete the main story. My lasting memory will definitely be those first 20 hours though. Absolutely nothing else that feels like this
Enjoyed this a lot, but in the end, the loading times killed the enjoyment for me.
The ending is kind of bland and uneventful but the moment to moment minutia of gameplay more than makes up for it.
Fuck you Pacific Drive GOTY 2024
I never thought I would enjoy the story in a game about driving. This is basically like Jalopy, except way more fleshed out in terms of scope. The sense of progression is fantastic and the looting and inventory management were superb, and, the story was very good and the characters were all very wonderful, I found myself engaged in their conversations at times and I would laugh with them here and there. The driving physics were fantastic also, every bump the car feels it has great and the weight transfer of the car when braking felt solid also. Overall, great game, but lacks challenge; I died maybe twice in my 40 hour playthrough.
i dont like it
A fun game, albeit a flawed one. The game is not very good at communicating with the player and it gets very very grindy near the end. Had some great moments though !
Starts out amazing, oozing with atmosphere, with a great soundtrack and so much to look forward. After a dozen good hours it falls flat; not enough tracks to listen to, gameplay loop gets tedious, and obtaining upgrades irrelevant.
It's an interesting take on the survival gathering game. Your car is your lifeline and your mobile base. Early on it's interesting but there was a certain lack of variety in the gameplay. And just some friction.
Partly why I stopped playing is that I needed to complete a mission, but you can't just go from your base to the mission, you have to go from map to map. For this one I had to go 3 maps deep and I ultimately end up failing the mission due to something popping out of the ground I couldn't avoid. Ultimately wrecking my car and losing quite a bit of stuff I had spent the last 90 minutes collecting. And the game wasn't grabbing me enough to do it again.
A toolbelt would have also helped, half my inventory was just tools.
The concept is neat but it could use some iteration to keep it interesting after the first few hours. The story has been done before and the concept of voices over the radio explaining everything isn't particularly compelling.
Partly why I stopped playing is that I needed to complete a mission, but you can't just go from your base to the mission, you have to go from map to map. For this one I had to go 3 maps deep and I ultimately end up failing the mission due to something popping out of the ground I couldn't avoid. Ultimately wrecking my car and losing quite a bit of stuff I had spent the last 90 minutes collecting. And the game wasn't grabbing me enough to do it again.
A toolbelt would have also helped, half my inventory was just tools.
The concept is neat but it could use some iteration to keep it interesting after the first few hours. The story has been done before and the concept of voices over the radio explaining everything isn't particularly compelling.
I'm very early in but it's very much my type of game. I enjoy collecting loot, crafting, exploring maps and unlocking items. The story seems interesting enough, reminds me of Under The Dome a little, which is a compliment, I love that book. Runs well and looks beautiful. Sound design is excellent. Lots of thought, love and effort on display here.
Too mush hassle early on to motivate me to get to what I bet is a great game 15-20 hours in.
Great visual design. Good sound design with a killer sound track that is waaay too short. Too hard and confusing early on, made me more frustrated than anything by the end of a rough route.
Great visual design. Good sound design with a killer sound track that is waaay too short. Too hard and confusing early on, made me more frustrated than anything by the end of a rough route.
başta keyifli, sonra sıkıcı... Üzdü
I absolutely loved this game its just the little things that make this game an awesome game, the way you had to build/repair your car was so much fun. I also really liked the story, I would recommend this game 100%
Me divierto mas arreglando el auto que viajando
So boring, the story isn't there and doesn't provide enough crumbs to keep me interested.
I was pretty onboard with the vibes of Pacific Drive from the start. While it began and maintained as an oppressive "What the f is going on??" vibe, you slowly begin to piece together some understandings of how the Zone functioned. Combined with satisfying upgrade and crafting mechanics, it kept me quite entertained for its roughly 20 hour run time.
To start things off, I'm not much of a survival game person. I eventually find a lot of these types of games rather aimless or frustrating to the point where it loses me. I was surprised to find myself not in this situation (for the most part) in this game. I always had the next thing I'm looking forward to getting and was able to make decent progress towards that objective. While death is quite punishing, you can definitely alleviate some of these design decisions with generous accessibility options.
Combined with a satisfying upgrade system is a semi-roguelike system where you make "runs" to collect resources and make it further into the Zone. I did notice towards the latter half of the game that running earlier zones just to collect some early-game resources was rather tedious. But, as you begin to understand the anomalies that pepper the Zone and make longer trips, the game turned into quite a satisfying loop.
What accompanies these loops in the Zone is a narrative that features several disembodied voices that supports you as you make your way around the Zone. While you never seem them, I noticed myself getting quite attached to these characters as I went along. While I can totally see why some folks might find their presence annoying, I really enjoyed the light-hearted banter in such an oppressive environment.
Finally, the upgrade system and narrative comes to a head in the final stretch of the game. I did notice towards the end of the game that the amount of endgame resources required to get some of these upgrades became, for the lack of a better word, a tedious chore. Combined with an ending that ends up not really explaining anything and just kind of...ends, I can see why a lot of people were disappointed with the ending. For me, I realized that by the end of the game that I cared more about the characters rather than the Zone itself, and I'm glad the game structured the main mission line to not make some of these late-game upgrades a necessity to finish the game as it probably would've ruined the pacing.
Overall, I'm mildly surprised by the fact that I enjoyed Pacific Drive so much. I found that the game is pretty uncompromising in what it set out to do. I'm sure as soon as players noticed how meticulous Ironwood has built out the player's interactions with the car (For example, you can hurt yourself by dropping the rear door on your end), a lot of players would have bounced off. But for me, the satisfying car upgrade / loot run loop, the familiar and unsettling vibes of the Zone set in my home of Washington and the cast of characters allowed me to enjoy an experience that I haven't quite seen in other games. I look forward to what they do next!
To start things off, I'm not much of a survival game person. I eventually find a lot of these types of games rather aimless or frustrating to the point where it loses me. I was surprised to find myself not in this situation (for the most part) in this game. I always had the next thing I'm looking forward to getting and was able to make decent progress towards that objective. While death is quite punishing, you can definitely alleviate some of these design decisions with generous accessibility options.
Combined with a satisfying upgrade system is a semi-roguelike system where you make "runs" to collect resources and make it further into the Zone. I did notice towards the latter half of the game that running earlier zones just to collect some early-game resources was rather tedious. But, as you begin to understand the anomalies that pepper the Zone and make longer trips, the game turned into quite a satisfying loop.
What accompanies these loops in the Zone is a narrative that features several disembodied voices that supports you as you make your way around the Zone. While you never seem them, I noticed myself getting quite attached to these characters as I went along. While I can totally see why some folks might find their presence annoying, I really enjoyed the light-hearted banter in such an oppressive environment.
Finally, the upgrade system and narrative comes to a head in the final stretch of the game. I did notice towards the end of the game that the amount of endgame resources required to get some of these upgrades became, for the lack of a better word, a tedious chore. Combined with an ending that ends up not really explaining anything and just kind of...ends, I can see why a lot of people were disappointed with the ending. For me, I realized that by the end of the game that I cared more about the characters rather than the Zone itself, and I'm glad the game structured the main mission line to not make some of these late-game upgrades a necessity to finish the game as it probably would've ruined the pacing.
Overall, I'm mildly surprised by the fact that I enjoyed Pacific Drive so much. I found that the game is pretty uncompromising in what it set out to do. I'm sure as soon as players noticed how meticulous Ironwood has built out the player's interactions with the car (For example, you can hurt yourself by dropping the rear door on your end), a lot of players would have bounced off. But for me, the satisfying car upgrade / loot run loop, the familiar and unsettling vibes of the Zone set in my home of Washington and the cast of characters allowed me to enjoy an experience that I haven't quite seen in other games. I look forward to what they do next!
Tarkov meets eurotruck simulator
This game made me empathize with a car
This game made me empathize with a car
Eu esperava outra coisa, um long drive de terror menos guiado, não foi oque recebi. o jogo não é ruim só não é oque eu pensei pelos trailer. é na verdade um roguelite de carro com bixos meio ??? vc mais anda do que dirige eu senti sei la
talvez no futuro eu dê outra chance com outros olhos pra isso
talvez no futuro eu dê outra chance com outros olhos pra isso
This review contains spoilers
Listen I know the Balatros and Final Fantasies of the gaming world are overshadowing this one but here me out: Pacific Drive is so worth your time. It's vibe-y, it's got some genuine heartfelt moments, it feels /good/ to play (the controls for turning the car on, turning on your wiper/lights, doing maintenance in the garage... it's all intuitive and engrossing and yum), it's pretty, it's a perfect length, it's engaging... My only complaint is that the looting got to be a tiny bit tedious after a while (but by that time I was wrapping up the game anyway) but otherwise this is near everything I look for in a gaming experience. Great stuff 👍
I also want to note that the game has a ton of accessibility and difficulty options, you can really tailor the game to how you want to play. And to sum up the loop: you venture into each layer of the Zone for various narrative reasons one "stop" or area at a time and at each "stop" you can loot new crafting materials and scan spooky stuff, if you want, but it's not necessary to stop at each junction. I think the game is strongest when you're venturing deep into the map and just driving most of the time. But as you unlock further junctions, you get better armor and tools for being being more prepared each "run" and in that way, it's got light roguelike characteristics. By the end my car (affectionately named Barbara or The Barb) looked like a mean, capable, blue machine with her end game armor and fun paint job. We love a plethora of car customization options. Ok that's all bye 💙
I also want to note that the game has a ton of accessibility and difficulty options, you can really tailor the game to how you want to play. And to sum up the loop: you venture into each layer of the Zone for various narrative reasons one "stop" or area at a time and at each "stop" you can loot new crafting materials and scan spooky stuff, if you want, but it's not necessary to stop at each junction. I think the game is strongest when you're venturing deep into the map and just driving most of the time. But as you unlock further junctions, you get better armor and tools for being being more prepared each "run" and in that way, it's got light roguelike characteristics. By the end my car (affectionately named Barbara or The Barb) looked like a mean, capable, blue machine with her end game armor and fun paint job. We love a plethora of car customization options. Ok that's all bye 💙
The ending was rather abrupt. The upgrade pacing was also a bit iffy but otherwise excellent in almost every other way. This game exudes atmosphere, in a way that shows how much love has been pumped into it. For a new IP riddle with so much progression, I'm excited to see what this studio does next.
This is why Oregon is superior to Washington
Pacific Drive is a fun, unique game but has it's flaws. The overall experience however is solid. It provides a satisfying driving game with survivor elements included perfectly. Manually refilling your car and repairing your car is extremely fun. The game doesn't run out of ideas as well with randomly generated areas and a random assortment of anomalies.
However, the game has faults. The main one in my opinion is the progression system. Throughout the game you will find new materials and items which can help you craft new items. Firstly this requires a bit of a grind, but then all you unlock is either more storage or better armour which you will probably have to replace after a trip further out in the zone.
Solid game that just some tweaking and modifying to make the playthrough more enjoyable and entertaining.
However, the game has faults. The main one in my opinion is the progression system. Throughout the game you will find new materials and items which can help you craft new items. Firstly this requires a bit of a grind, but then all you unlock is either more storage or better armour which you will probably have to replace after a trip further out in the zone.
Solid game that just some tweaking and modifying to make the playthrough more enjoyable and entertaining.