The Future Games Show Summer Showcase Powered by Intel delivered a fresh look at Pacific Drive, one of the most interesting new survival games out there right now. Where genre titles will typically thrust the onus onto protecting a character from the elements – managing elements such as thirst, hunger, and general health – Pacific Drive puts your station wagon at the heart of all the action.
And what action it is. At its core, Pacific Drive is a run-based survival game – you head out on expeditions into the Olympic Exclusions Zone, hunt for resources, and then put those materials towards improving your survivability. Here's the thing though, it's the car that you'll be improving.
Between runs you'll return to an abandoned garage, your base of operations which will allow you to conduct vital repairs, research new parts, customize your vehicle, and ultimately chart deeper routes through the dangerous zone for more valuable resources.
It's a fascinating loop, particularly as there's a surprising amount of overlap between the fantasy of becoming a mechanic in a supernatural occurrence of the Pacific Northwest and the core pillars of a survival game.
To further your connection with the car – your only real tool for survival out there in the zone, and means of escape – developer Ironwood Studios has enacted a strong sense of physicality to everything from movement, to interaction, to customization. To start the engine you need to physically interact with the key, and to get the car moving you need to shift the gear out of park – when you're trapped in an anomaly-filled nightmare, you better hope you don't stall the damn thing.
Pacific Drive is set to launch in 2023 for PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) and PS5, and we can't wait to experience more of it for ourselves. If you'd like to keep up with future updates, be sure to add Pacific Drive to your Steam Wishlist.
If you’re looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.
