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Pacific Drive is, without a doubt, the most unique survival game of 2024. Palword is gargantuan, V Rising is vampire-filled, and Enshrouded is doing well, but none of these have what Ironwood Studios’ latest does: a car. An extension of yourself, you’re exploring to keep you and your wheels alive. Accompanied by a roguelike loop and apocalyptic sci-fi setting, there’s nothing else like it. If you’re yet to dive in, then, or fancy taking it for another late-night road trip, Pacific Drive just got even more content.
The aptly named ‘Drive Your Way’ update has some big additions for Pacific Drive, and it’s all free. You can now choose between six gameplay presets with over 50 adjustable settings, giving you complete control over difficulty, mechanics, and realism. The survival game’s new Iron Wagon preset is by far the hardest, with much harder challenges and a new permadeath mode. If you’d rather take it easy though, Scenic Tour does the opposite: there’s no death and the challenge is significantly lower.
You can also choose presets that impact how the car functions, lower the need for resources and crafting, or even fill the sci-fi-infused Pacific Northwest with some “low dose” radiation – it’ll still kill you though. Then there are over 50 gameplay settings, so you can tune things like engine power, crafting requirements, storm controls, and flat tire severity to whatever works for you. Essentially, you’ve been given complete control in Pacific Drive, so now’s the perfect time to jump in. Espeically after the big summer update as well.
Don’t speed off just yet though, because there’s even more in Drive Your Way. You can now fully paint bumpers and wheels and find new collectible cosmetics, giving you a touch of home as you drive through the wasteland. I’ve saved the best for last, though, as your own tunes can be put in the game now. Simply put the songs you want in-game in a file, and then they’re available on the car radio or via the jukebox. Yes, that means you can blast Dolly Parton during nuclear storms.
Ironwood Studios has now dropped Pacific Drive’s free Drive Your Way update on all platforms, including Steam. There’s also the new Anomalous Cosmetic Pack, which comes with loads of customization for your car for $5 / £4.29.
Our own Pacific Drive review heaps praise on the roguelike survival road trip, with Nat giving it a 9/10. “The resistance to overreach has produced an experience that sits at the junction of multiple genres, bolted together by highly iterated mechanics, to create an experience that’s simultaneously familiar but entirely new,” she writes.
If you’re jumping into the atmospheric driving adventure for the first time, we’ve got loads of guides to help you out. We know exactly how to get Pacific Drive Lead Platelets, Pacific Drive Unstable Energy, and Pacific Drive ThermoSap Crystals as well. Just because you’ve got a car it doesn’t mean scavenging is any easier.
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