A rouge-lite, a survival game with supernatural horror, and cars? Ironwood Studios’ debut game Pacific Drive has quite the combination of genres.
Revealed at the September 2022 State Of Play broadcast, Pacific Drive has you investigating inside the Olympic Exclusion Zone, located somewhere in the Pacific Northwest of the USA.
The area has rumours of strange anomalies, and there’s only one way to find out- go out there with your car and see it for yourself. Each time you go out of your garage, the Zone’s land shifts and changes- because it’s a rogue-lite, where the levels have to be somewhat procedurally generated each run.
While you’re in the zone, you can step out of the car to scavenge for resources and investigate the area in first person. Keep the car in good condition and you can keep driving deep into the Zone. The car can be customised as well using the resources you salvage.
Pacific Drive has been three years in development before this reveal. First-person driving games with simulation/survival elements are somewhat common, especially on PC. But not necessarily on consoles. The striking visuals and the hook of having weird anomalies to investigate also makes this game stands out of the “road-lites” out there.
Pacific Drive will be out on PS5 and PC in 2023.