Review: Pacific Drive

destructoid.com:

When I previewed Pacific Drive, the standout moment for me was when, in a novice moment, I found myself driving through the hellstorm of reality’s collapse. As my car fell apart around me and my health was about to hit 0%, I managed to make it to the gateway and got shunted back to the safety of the garage.

It was intense. But, I thought, that was never going to happen again. I had learned a lesson, and it was unlikely I’d experience a moment so exciting in Pacific Drive.

I was wrong.

Further along in my playthrough, I once again opened the gateway to escape and triggered the collapse of reality. It was then I noticed that between myself and safety was a cliff that my car could not scale. I would need to take a huge detour in order to reach the destination, and I had already wasted too much time. Once again, I made it just before destruction and pulled into the garage with a charred and beaten station wagon and only a shred of life.

Unfortunately, it requires more than a battered vehicle to keep me interested, and that’s something Pacific Drive struggled with.

Pacific Drive (PC [reviewed], PS5)
Developer: Ironwood Studios
Publisher: Kepler Interactive
Released: February 22, 2024
MSRP: $29.99

In Pacific Drive, the Olympic Peninsula in Washington (state) has seen some bad science and has been sealed off from the outside world. A massive wall was erected around the zone, but you play as someone unlucky enough to get sucked in by way of weirdness. Thankfully, you come across a station wagon that will help you survive. The bad news is that it’s actually a scientific freak show and will soon drive you crazy unless you find a way to detach from its influence.

The cause of this whole ordeal was a miracle creation called LIM. LIM is a poorly defined phenomenon. What I think I understand about LIM is that it’s an energy that can re-write reality, so I guess I can see the benefits. However, an accident has resulted in it rewriting reality in the wrong way, and now the