In this PS5 game, you survive in a car

Pacific Drive is a different road trip.

The still young development studio Ironwood has been allowed to present its first game as part of Sony’s State of Play. This is another roguelike (or roguelite, respectively), but don’t worry, you’ve never experienced the genre like this. Pacific Drive not only mixes loop mechanics with horror aspects but also with a racing game. Although you’re also on foot, most of the action takes place in the driver’s seat.

This is what Pacific Drive is

It’s history: Pacific Drive tells a different story. New technology was being researched on the Olympic Peninsula in the northwestern United States, but an accident left behind radioactive emissions, environmental degradation and supernatural phenomena. In 1955, the area was finally declared a government restricted area. Your task is to find out what exactly happened on the peninsula.

In order to escape the horror you’ve been caught in while searching, you must cross the restricted area. As nature goes haywire and lightning rains down from the sky, this is not possible on foot. Fortunately, in the middle of the forest, you find a tired and barely usable station wagon. At least the cart goes to an auto repair shop, which explains it to the base of operations. Here you can plan your races and improve or repair the car.

The announcement trailer gives a first impression of the crazy premise:

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Pacific Drive Trailer Showcases Auto Survival Roguelite

Pacific Drive establishes the “road-lite genre”

Here’s how a loop works: Like I said, Pacific Drive is a roguelite. This means that if you get caught, you start over from the workshop and the game world is (at least partially) reset – but the storms should make it look different every time you run. There is not yet more information on the mechanics, but the improvements to your car will probably remain. So there is constant progress.

These gameplay mechanics await you: Exactly how exactly Pacific Drive plays is anyone’s guess so far. Most routes are traveled by station wagon, while foundries and industrial complexes are explored on foot. There will likely be first-person combat as well, as there are monsters waiting in the forests that have yet to be revealed. A self-made weapon can also be seen in one of the images.

Weapons appear to be made from found parts.

Finally, there are survival mechanisms. In the style of apocalyptic horror games, you comb the environment for resources. A look inside the car reveals various displays such as wheel status, a battery indicator and a health indicator. So there are several aspects you need to take care of if you want to get out of the zone.

The roguelike market is currently flooded with so many games that even solid titles are struggling to stand out from the crowd. Ironwood Studios achieves this feat with Pacific Drive by not developing another side scroller or dungeon crawler, but by putting a car at the center. I’m definitely hooked on the concept and will be watching the game closely until it releases on PS5 next year.

How do you like the somewhat different Pacific Drive roguelite?