Pacific Drive Review: A Supernatural Road-Like (PS5)

Ever since 2022 when I first saw the reveal trailer at Sony’s State of Play, Pacific Drive has been on my radar. A road trip survival game through a warped supernatural area of the United States sounded like a great time. Thankfully after almost two years of waiting, I can safely say it is and more. Pacific Drive, developed by Ironwood Studios has you take the role of the protagonist known as The Driver. You explore a walled-off section of the Pacific Northwest, USA, containing supernaturally oddities and otherworldly forces. Go on numerous runs upgrading and repairing your vehicle and look for the truth of what happened here.

Pacific Drive is available for PlayStation 5, and PC (Epic, Steam)

If you want to get ahead of your first playthrough through the Olympic Exclusion Zone, then take a look at our Beginners Tips & Tricks guide. 

Story – Mysteries of The Olympic Zone

The tale that Pacific Drive tells is simple but still adds enough mystery for players to invest in. Starting with a somewhat cryptic drive towards The OEZ’s (Olympic Exclusion Zone) wall, you get sucked into a portal landing you on the other side where all the mysteries and rumours lurk. From there you make a mad dash, trying to escape the surrounding radiation and stumble upon a station wagon. You then hear mysterious voices from the radio and begin driving towards the safety of an Auto Shop. This is where you’ll be fixing up your car alongside upgrading it to further progress through the story. 

The Wall of The Olympic Exclusion Zone

After a few runs, you are acquainted with the mysterious voices on the radio. They reveal themselves to be former employees of the secret ARDA organisation, asking you for assistance. They explain that the car is a supernatural entity known as a Remnant and that it’s bonded with your character. The goal for the rest of Pacific Drive is to travel deeper and deeper through the zones to break the bond and escape. You’ll of course accept missions from your new allies alongside getting to know them and finding out more about what happened here. 

Like I said it’s a simple premise but luckily not a letdown since The OEZ does feel interesting and has a great atmosphere mixing wonder and horror. The numerous obstacles are fascinating and remind me of SCPs or the Altered Items in Control. Pacific Drive also has you playing as a record keeper of sorts, having you scan items and anomalies. You’re rewarded with bits of lore from random ARDA employees that can be read in the logbook. Alongside being able to tick off requirements for certain upgrades in the Auto Shop.  

Amusing Ramblings From Smart People

The folks you meet on this journey are mostly ex-members of ARDA who I found comedic, though a little sketchy. These are Tobias Barlow, Francis Cooke, and Ophelia “Oggy” Turner. Tobias is very outspoken and likes to ramble on and on about whatever comes into his head. Francis feels the opposite where he’s a bit more timid but comes off as highly intelligent. Oggy is an older woman who comes off as cranky and clearly wants to be left alone. After the opening act, these characters assist you in your pursuit of freedom from the Exclusion Zone. However, as the story progresses, other agendas arise regarding the Remnant and an event years ago that caused mass hallucinations. 

Each voice actor did a phenomenal job at portraying their characters, giving off likeable performances. Definitely one of Pacific Drive‘s stronger points in regards to the narrative. I loved hearing all their ramblings about the different events that occurred, the random experiments that went on, and when they were arguing about pieces of folklore. I found myself liking Oggy the most out of the cast since she was intriguing and had great comebacks when she and Tobias would argue. Plus she owns the Auto Shop and is practically your tutorial mentor, so the bond was just assured.

Behold! Your chariot awaits

Gameplay – Driving Down A Ferocious Road

The gameplay for Pacific Drive comes in three layers, driving, scavenging, and crafting. While in your car, you’ll be driving towards your destination while avoiding tricky obstacles that can damage the vehicle. You’ll make many quick scavenging stops throughout the game, collecting as many resources as you can. Then either on your run or at the Auto Shop, you’ll be crafting items and car parts to assist you. Driving can be unforgiving, throughout runs your vehicle can adopt weird quirks that affect you whilst driving. Things like the hood opening up and blocking your vision, car doors behaving strangely, and fuel consumption increasing while the headlights are turned on. These can be fixed by using a terminal at the Auto Shop. However, it is quite frustrating to use since it’s practically a guessing game where you have to match the cause with the issue from a list of numerous choices. 

One unique aspect I did enjoy within Pacific Drive‘s gameplay loop was the thrilling way you exit a level. This would be done by acquiring Anchors, glowing orbs that can be found in the majority of levels. Acquiring enough Anchors will let you open up a gateway back to the Auto Shop. The gateways are these giant orange pillars of energy that look absolutely spectacular. However, the downside is that they disrupt the Instability, creating a battle royale-esque storm that closes in on the gateway. The absolute thrill and suspense I get from driving as fast as I can towards the exit is beyond my expectations for what I thought I’d get from playing Pacific Drive. 

After summoning a gateway, Drive fast or Die.

Crafting & Customisation

Within the Auto Shop, you can create tools, vehicle parts, maintenance items, upgraded attire, and so much more. The upgrade station is fueled by the energy from anchors, allowing you to purchase upgrades. There’s a multitude of different blueprints to unlock to further your knowledge of crafting. The Auto Shop can be upgraded with new machines able to assist you in and out of your runs.  Some of the machines I used the most were the Matter Deconstructor and the Matter Regenerator. The MD helped me get rid of car parts and items that I no longer needed and scrapped them for helpful resources. While the MR could heal car parts while I’m out on a run so when I come back with an almost destroyed vehicle, I’ve at least got some replacement parts ready to go.  

Customisation wasn’t something I fully expressed with my vehicle when it came to using the numerous paints and decals that can be found on runs. I mainly just focused on the interior and the front of the car, like changing the design of the steering wheel into something that you’d find in the Delorian from Back To The Future. Added a fluffy penguin for the dashboard, an 8-ball shifter stick, and a pirate ship hood ornament. These were probably some of the main items I’d not take risks with when I found any on my runs. One thing I would say that turned me off from painting my vehicle was that the paint can run out. Considering I would come back from runs with at least some of the parts of the car missing, I never wanted to take the risk if I lost my favourite door. 

The Auto Shop, a safe zone away from the horrors of The Instability

Tools of The Trade

Tools like the Scrapper assist with harvesting metal from broken cars and other machines. It can also help with taking care of certain anomalies that stick to your car, causing damage over time. Then there’s your trusty Crowbar, able to pick locks by breaking them alongside being able to smash things (though it does take a bit). A tool called the Impact Hammer can break certain locks to gain access to buildings full of loot. Its primary use though, is to break open glass containers containing plasma, which is needed for progression and certain upgrades. Repair Putty, a paint-like mixture can be used to repair singular parts of the car, they are imperative to your survival on harder runs. There are also tools to assist with navigating through the dark like Flares, though I quickly upgraded to the Relightable Flare that resembled a flashlight. 

There are also tools I never really bothered with like the Flare Gun. It felt like an unnecessary alternative for a simple Flare. Especially since most of the time, I’d use Flares up close rather than from afar. Anchor Radars were another one I never really used since I could already mark anchors on the map. There were other tools I never properly got a chance to play with on my runs but most tools you get later on are just upgraded versions of the starting tools. 

Shred into cars to collect their resources

Anomalies of Both Horror and Splendor

In Pacific Drive, you don’t fight enemies per se, instead, you manoeuvre around them. These supernatural inhabitants of The OEZ are known as Anomalies. They come in all shapes and sizes and mostly desire to stop you in your tracks. Most are found surrounding Anchors while the rest are scattered around the level. To highlight a few, an early one I met was the hovering junkyard abominations known as Abductors. These absolute irritations will float around sections of the level and wait for something (mostly you) to go under them. They would then quickly catch up to you and shoot a plunger that sticks to the station wagon and begin to “abduct it” by going any direction they choose. Mostly they chose the direction of either another dangerous Anomaly or simply threw me off the road. Yeah, they weren’t my best friends on my runs. 

Other Anomalies to mention are the Bunnies, a small junkyard scribble-like ball that roams the level. They usually bounce about at high speeds and love to cling on to the car causing specific damage depending on what type of Bunny they are. Luckily a quick grind on the Scrapper would immobilize them. The last notable Anomaly is the Tourist, a crash test dummy mannequin. This Anomaly is truly Pacific Drive‘s greatest example of having a horror atmosphere. Usually, when you find them they are in groups and are bunched about. However, once you’re not looking at them and say they were near an Anchor that you’re about to take. Prepare for a scare once you turn around. Oh, did I mention they explode when you get close to them? 

Out there in OEZ, you’ll see some crazy encounters including a band of sinister crash test dummies

Graphics & Audio – What’s On The Radio?

The visual style of Pacific Drive’s world reminds me of games such as Alan Wake 2 and The Forest with them both being heavily set in a woodland environment. The atmosphere is chaotic and can be spooky at times but contains unique moments of beauty. The retro aesthetic of all the technology appeals to me since I always enjoyed seeing a mix of old tech in places that don’t match the era they were created. I’m truly spellbound when I begin exiting a level, seeing the change in the environment and the bright orange beacon in the sky illuminating through the trees. Added to this are the creative designs of all the Anomalies, the bright colours and imagination of each one bringing a smile to my face.

One thing I never thought I’d feel while playing Pacific Drive was fear. Both visual and sound effects come together in such a way that I feel constantly paranoid behind the wheel. When exiting the vehicle to search for supplies and I hear Anomalies passing me or attacking my car, it continues the suspense and my immersion in this accidental horror game. That said it’s not all doom and gloom, Pacific Drive has a wonderful selection of music to listen to. Containing over 20+ songs, this soundtrack brings good vibes to whatever you’re doing in The Exclusion Zone. Whether you need some backing music for scavenging or something to calm you down whilst in the enhanced darkness. There’s a song for every occasion. 

Pacific Drive was reviewed on PS5 with a key provided by Tinsley PR.