A tense survival driving game

Pacific Drive is a game that has you driving around in a beat-up car, looking for parts and tools to upgrade your ride. It’s similar to the Car Mechanic game. If the aim was hunting for resources, it would be like the State of Decay game. Robotic enemies and car-damaging environments stand in the way of your car’s next upgrade.

Because this game copies so many others, it actually feels like the original. This action survival game has a very large smattering of Car Mechanic Simulator, though its world anomalies are similar to Death Stranding (but with robotic enemies). It also compares to Fallout 4, has a lot of Mad Max, and even has a dash of Far Changing Tides.

Not a typical survival game

You aren’t hunting for water or edible plants in this apocalyptic game. You survive by gathering parts for your car while avoiding anomalies and dangerous robotic creatures. Try to escape the area without taking damage to your character or your car. It deserves big credit for “Not” being another lazy zombie dystopian future game.

Limited scope and budget

This is the developer’s first game, which is why its scope is slightly limited. It cleverly paces itself by laying out the resource locations in realistic places. You’re not finding a bag of nuts and bolts behind a bush like in Far Cry 5 New Dawn. You won’t have to search online for the location of specific tools or materials.

The graphics are a really mixed bag

Sadly, the close-up graphics in this scavenger game do not feel like Playstation 5 graphics. The only compensation is that some of the game locations have a well-realized atmosphere.

Tense without being scary

The developers clearly wanted to make this game scary without being in-your-face gory or jumpy. They wanted to add an eerie, uneasy element. They have done this, but it makes the gameplay feel tense more than it makes it scary.