Pacific Drive: Hands-off look at the upcoming Road-lite

Last year, after the hubbub of summer was over and done, Ironwood Studios revealed its upcoming video game. This project is unlike a lot that is on the market in this day and age, as it combines survival mechanics with that of a first-person driving simulator, all in a world that is based on and resembles the pacific northwest region of North America. Known as Pacific Drive, with the title slated to launch this year, I've recently had the chance to check out this game, as part of a hands-off presentation led by developers from Ironwood.

But before I touch on what was shown and how Pacific Drive is shaping up, let's talk a little about the story and what the game asks of the player, because it is quite a unique premise.

The idea is that you, the protagonist, head to a region of the US (the Olympic Peninsula) to explore a walled off area of the country that has been exposed to all manner of dangerous new prototype technologies, turning it into a hazardous biome. Upon poking your nose into this Exclusion Zone, you become trapped inside, and must then scramble to find necessary tools and items in order to mount an escape, which will require exploring deeper into the ever more treacherous environment. And this is where the driving mechanics and the survival element comes into effect, as you soon come across a damaged but working station wagon, which you use to mount expeditions across multiple biomes all to learn more about the Exclusion Zone and to acquire items and resources necessary for upgrading this very car and the gas station hub location that you have turned into a headquarters.

As you can see the actual idea of Pacific Drive is quite straightforward, it's when looking into each of the gameplay elements that things start to become more complex. As was shown in the hands-off session, the car mechanics are more than simply accelerating, decelerating, and braking, as here you will have to actually manually engage a handbrake, open doors, turn on window wipers if necessary, and so on, meaning getting in and out of the station wagon is a bit of challenge. Then to add to this on the car front, you will need to improve and upgrade your car by fitting it with a better engine, different tyre compounds, sturdier bumpers, and a variety of other improvements that all come from gathering materials on expeditions and then manually upgrading them when back in the garage.

In the spirit of expeditions, how does this work you ask? In a roguelite fashion, you plot a path on a map, which then takes you to one (or more) respective open world maps. Once here, you can travel around as you see fit, and can complete all manner of tasks, including using saws and other tools to scrap ruined cars to gather metals and other resources. You can interact with strange flying drones that trickle out narrative beats that delve into the plot of the game, and even come across pickpocket drones that will steal doors off your station wagon and cause other kinds of trouble and nuisances. The idea is that you gather as many resources as possible so that when you return back to base you can build the necessary upgrades to mount deeper and more dangerous expeditions.

But the catch is that while there isn't combat in this game, you will always be at risk. Rotating storms and powerful winds can cause you to lose control of the station wagon, and unusual creatures known as Bunnies (like dust bunnies, which is what they resemble) will stick to your car and cause damage until you literally rip them off. And this is vital to do because while player health is a factor and something you will need to manage (because the outside world is not a pleasant place), your car is your safe haven that will heal you and protect you from the nasty open air, and if it breaks down on you or is too severely damaged, you will fail an expedition.

This brings me back to the upgrading and resource part of the game, which is ever important. You will need to gather resources both to create new car parts, but also to craft tools and items that are required for fixing and repairing your station wagon on an expedition. With tool durability being a factor, you really don't want to be stuck up a creek without a working blowtorch, so to speak. While I will say that from what I saw the hazards aren't particularly threatening, the battle royale-esque storm circle that comes into effect when you are looking to leave an expedition is a genuinely terrifying problem if you get caught in it, meaning you will want to put a lot of effort into making sure your car is a well-oiled machine, if you catch my drift.

When you match all of this up with a rotating weather cycle that brings rain, sunshine, rain, more rain, and even more rain (it is the pacific northwest of America at the end of the day), and a 24-hour day and night cycle that means you'll both have to undertake day and night expeditions, it does seem like a lot of individual things to have to manage, which is why the HUD system in your station wagon is all the more important. When you get in the driver's seat, you'll be able to study a map that pinpoints various interesting areas in each level, as well as keeping tabs on the damage your car is taking and where that damage is occurring. Combine this with a storage system that can be found in the station wagon's boot where you can offload and store gathered resources, and everything seems to come together to make a rather unique survival experience.

While I won't be touching on the upgrading menus/UIs and finer details about this area any further as the game is still in development and it was difficult to get the full gist of things here, I will say that from what I saw I am intrigued with how Pacific Drive will manage to continue to entertain players after several hours, as the gameplay, while unique, did come across as something that could fall a bit flat after a while, as can be the case with a lot of survival titles on the market. Hopefully, it won't be too long until we get to actually play the game to no doubt abolish these concerns.

Pacific Drive will arrive on PS5 and PC sometime later this year.