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Game Information​

Game Title: Pacific Drive
Platforms:

• PlayStation 5 (Feb 22, 2024)
• PC (Feb 22, 2024)

Trailer:
Developer: Ironwood Studios
Review Aggregator:


OpenCritic - 84 average - 100% recommended - 9 reviews

Critic Reviews​

Digitec Magazine - Philipp Rüegg - German - Unscored

Pacific Drive is an unforgettable ride that you should not miss out on.

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IGN Spain - Rafa Del Río - Spanish - 9 / 10

After four years of development, the good people at Ironwood Studio join forces with Kepler Interactive to launch Pacific Drive. A very personal title with a brutal charisma that proves once again that small studios still have a lot to contribute to the videogame industry.

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PC Gamer - Christopher Livingston - 86 / 100

A novel and challenging survival game that puts you in the driver's seat of one the best cars in videogames.

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PSX Brasil - Portuguese - 80 / 100

Quote not yet available

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Push Square - Stephen Tailby - 8 / 10

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.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Unscored

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.

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Shacknews - TJ Denzer - 9 / 10

Quote not yet available

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Skill Up - Ralph Panebianco - Unscored

Video Review - Quote not available

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Spaziogames - Italian - 7.5 / 10

Pacific Drive is an intriguing experience and, despite being way more complicated than it should in some of its choices, it's a compelling game that feels like a breath of fresh air for video games' lovers.

Videos:



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[Bloobs]

 

[TheStam]

Tried the demo and I got annoyed that walk speed was crawl speed and run speed was walk speed.

Seemed pretty cool otherwise.

 

[HDM]

The game appears to be at 30 fps on PS5 ? Fuck this.

 

[Stuart360]

The exploring sounds interesting but man the amount of different mechanics sound complacted, especially in terms of the car.

Dont know if its for me to be honest.

 

[analog_future]

Oh, it's a roguelike?


Damn, I was interested in this, but I'm just not into this genre.

 

[Caio]

My son wants it bad, but he's furious 'cause it is not available on our XSX. Any chance it will be on XBox later on ?
Edited : Beer Baelly is laughing, probably he found funny the fact my son is furious.

 

[analog_future]

My son wants it bad, but he's furious 'cause it is not available on our XSX. Any chance it will be on XBox later on ?

Don't worry, every screen is an Xbox

 

[Punished Miku]

My son wants it bad, but he's furious 'cause it is not available on our XSX. Any chance it will be on XBox later on ?

No one knows. It doesn't look like it's published by Sony. We've seen most of the timed indies come over, like Stray, Sifu, Solar Ash, etc. You probably wont hear anything for a year, if ever.

 

[balls of snow]

Cant wait. ACG really sold me on this. Cozy game when youre not fighting for your life outside.

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

It's so appealing but i have no time to play this just yet. I would love to.

 

[Roman Empire]

I like everything about this game but I don't have time for it.

 

[tommib]

I like everything about this game but I don't have time for it.

Join the club. I feel bad for not buying it but there’s just too much.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

Seems interesting, not sure if I have the patience for this.

 

[Roberts]

Was curious about since the first trailer. Looks like my kind of jam so I'm glad it got great reviews. Can wait for XSX release (if it ever happens).

 

[Boralf]

I tried the demo for this but it ran like shit on my old hardware. Does it run well on new hardware?
There was also way too much radio chattering/exposition at the start, but I guess that will get less after a while.

 

[skit_data]

Adding this to my wishlist. It's a very original gameplay idea and peeked my interest more than many other gamesand that should be supported.

 

[GHG]

18 dollars on CD keys.

Think I'll pick this up.

Good week between this, last epoch and le man's ultimate.

 

[phant0m]

The game appears to be at 30 fps on PS5 ? Fuck this.

This gen is so trash

 

[FingerBang]

18 dollars on CD keys.

Think I'll pick this up.

Good week between this, last epoch and le man's ultimate.

Just saw that and bought it. I didn't play the demo, but I'm really intrigued by the settings

 

[The_Observer]

Skimming through the first post the first word I stopped at was “roguelike”.
Fuck that shit, lazy design, not interested now at all.
I hope ”roguelike” will go to the gutter together with “gaas”, “bland open worlds”, ”mtx”, “woke bullshit propaganda” and similar trends when the eventual implosion of the industry happens.

 

[GHG]

Just saw that and bought it. I didn't play the demo, but I'm really intrigued by the settings

Yeh same, wasn't even on my radar but the price point and the setting from skimming through a couple of reviews say it's something I want to experience for myself.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

The game appears to be at 30 fps on PS5 ? Fuck this.

Instant no buy then from me, thank you for the PSA.

 

[GHG]

Skimming through the first post the first word I stopped at was “roguelike”.
Fuck that shit, lazy design, not interested now at all.
I hope ”roguelike” will go to the gutter together with “gaas”, “bland open worlds”, ”mtx”, “woke bullshit propaganda” and similar trends when the eventual implosion of the industry happens.

It's a roguelike in the same sense that the outer wilds was.

If you never tried that game then you owe it to yourself to do so.

 

[The_Observer]

It's a roguelike in the same sense that the outer wilds was.

If you never tried that game then you owe it to yourself to do so.

Maybe for free if I have the chance, but the world “roguelike” for me means lazy, uninspired game design and I just cannot get into any such game.

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

Skimming through the first post the first word I stopped at was “roguelike”.
Fuck that shit, lazy design, not interested now at all.
I hope ”roguelike” will go to the gutter together with “gaas”, “bland open worlds”, ”mtx”, “woke bullshit propaganda” and similar trends when the eventual implosion of the industry happens.

The core design philosophy of rogue-likes is dating back into the 80's. It was always kinda niche but gained some popularity throughout the decades. It certainly isn't a new trend.

What you see today are mostly rogue-lites, a washed down version of what it used to be.

It's ok to not like a thing but to put it together with all the other terms and to call it lazy design is just superficial and wrong.

 

[MaKTaiL]

Tried the demo and I got annoyed that walk speed was crawl speed and run speed was walk speed.

Seemed pretty cool otherwise.

Is the demo available on PS5?

 

[GHG]

Maybe for free if I have the chance, but the world “roguelike” for me means lazy, uninspired game design and I just cannot get into any such game.

Not always true, there are some absolute gems that lean on the genre. Some of which I'd even go as far to say that they are some of the most unique and inventive experiences you can have in all of gaming.

 

[The_Observer]

The core design philosophy of rogue-likes is dating back into the 80's. It was always kinda niche but gained some popularity throughout the decades. It certainly isn't a new trend.

What you see today are mostly rogue-lites, a washed down version of what it used to be.

It's ok to not like a thing but to put it together with all the other terms and to call it lazy design is just superficial and wrong.

I just put it together with the others as part of the things I hate about modern gaming. It feels like every other game is a roguelike/lite which could otherwise be very good, but this kills them for me.

GHG exactly like you say, the above also answers you why I hate it

 

[Larivel]

The game appears to be at 30 fps on PS5 ? Fuck this.

Its 60, but has some performance issues. From HobbyConsolas review:

 

[Cyborg]

Better than expected to be honest. Looks cool

 

[RAIDEN1]

Apparently the game is a long arduous slog, instead of something like Firewatch driving a car...

 

[Bartski]

very interesting idea but there is something about the control scheme and how complicated it is to do just about anything that makes me think I'd quickly lose my patience.

 

[mckmas8808]

Join the club. I feel bad for not buying it but there’s just too much.

This is one of the problems that the industry has at the moment.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Sony sure knows how to pick them.

 

[VeganElduderino]

looks cool! it looks like it could be a VR game!

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

PlayStation just keeps winning but to repeat what I said in another thread, Sony really needs to spread the fuck out when it comes to these releases, no less than *5* exclusive/console exclusives in February, Jesus Christ, I can only buy and play so much, my plate is already *extra* full.

 

[cash_longfellow]

This gen is so trash

That’s what we are basing this gen on, huh? A discounted price indie game that runs at 30fps? Wow. A lot of y’all just bitch to bitch, don’t you? Maybe just stop gaming if you are that salty??

 

[Ribi]

Definitely going on my wishlist when games run dry in a few months. The mechanics look great, the visuals, the gameplay, it all just works

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Apparently the game is a long arduous slog, instead of something like Firewatch driving a car...

I don't know man, Firewatch barely had any gameplay - it was the epitome of what constitutes a "walking sim", I kind of enjoyed it for what it was but i also got bored out of my damned mind, maybe Pacific is more game-y and involving at least ?

This seems cool but A) just got Helldivers 2 and Tomb raider collection (not to mention, I also have Robocop, AW2, Hogwart's, Phantom liberty and others on my backlog) and B) it seems kind of complicated and I don't have the time for it.

 

[lh032]

The game appears to be at 30 fps on PS5 ? Fuck this.

the f? confirmed?

 

[crackajack]

I don't think this is my type of game, but seems received well by critics, so I hope it is sufficiently succesful.

Exactly something I would not mind trying on Plus though.

 

[RAIDEN1]

I don't know man, Firewatch barely had any gameplay - it was the epitome of what constitutes a "walking sim", I kind of enjoyed it for what it was but i also got bored out of my damned mind, maybe Pacific is more game-y and involving at least ?

This seems cool but A) just got Helldivers 2 and Tomb raider collection (not to mention, I also have Robocop, AW2, Hogwart's, Phantom liberty and others on my backlog) and B) it seems kind of complicated and I don't have the time for it.

Well I am watching the game as a walkthrough, might prove entertaining, that and the fact that I don't have a PS5, or a state-of-the-art PC, I enjoyed Firewatch, especially with the banter with the woman on the other side..

 

[Krappadizzle]

Looks cool.

 

[Terenty]

Day 1. The demo sold me on the game plus original ideas need to be rewarded, fuck AAA

 

[Bluecondor]

I preordered the physical edition from Gamestop. Have to wait until April 8th for that.

 

[RDaneelOlivaw]

I used to be SUPER interested in this, but then ... it doesn't run at all on linux/proton + the worst word ever "roguelike" has totally and completely killed all interest. Too bad, because I'm sure there'll be some hack or mod to fix the first thing, but if it has roguelike cancer built into it, there's no fixing that ever.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

I used to be SUPER interested in this, but then ... it doesn't run at all on linux/proton + the worst word ever "roguelike" has totally and completely killed all interest. Too bad, because I'm sure there'll be some hack or mod to fix the first thing, but if it has roguelike cancer built into it, there's no fixing that ever.

There's a lot of stuff you can turn off in accessibility options to make the game far less annoying, tedious and frustrating, that is if you don't care about achievements.

 

[RAIDEN1]

I watched a 2 hour gameplay "snippet" (if you want to call it that..) not a game heavy on action (so far) but for a game where you are going off-road from time to time why not have a beat-up 4x4 already, you are already looking to put tyres on the vehicle of that nature anyway...

 

[XPertRU]

Best game of 2024 for me. I want Pacific Drive 2 already.