Exploring a new part of the Olympic Exclusion Zone, players must contend with a mysterious cult. There are new characters to interact with (all fully voiced), maps and junction types with “strange altars.” Of course, that means new car parts and ways to customize its looks alongside new anomalies, route modifiers, and garage stations.

However, perhaps the biggest new gameplay system is the Artifacts, which increase the overall challenge and add more spice to end-game runs. If that wasn’t enough, composer Wilbert Roget II returns for a frightening new score.

Alongside Xbox Series X/S, Pacific Drive is available for PS5 and PC. It launched in February 2024 and sold one million copies in its first year. Check out our review of the base game here.

Whispers in the Woods becomes available after the initial few hours and promises a new eight to 12-hour story. As players explore the mysterious woods, filled with new maps, altars, route modifiers, and resources, they’ll also discover new Anomalies and parts for customizing the station wagon.

There are also new Artifacts that bestow “mysterious changes and effects” while increasing the challenge. It sounds like a risk vs. reward mechanic, but we’ll need to wait for more details (and the release date).

Pacific Drive is available for PS5 and PC. It sold one million copies as of February 2025. Check out our review for the base game here, but it’s changed significantly since launch with new gameplay settings, Permadeath, Expeditions, and more.

The newest addition is in the name – Expeditions. They offer “unique” rewards but promise to test your skills. Other notable changes include new spawning systems and improved tools, but perhaps the best addition is Suspend Run. You can now save and quit mid-run, retaining your progress.

Players can also look forward to more than an hour of new music, more lore, new decorations for the Garage, Ida’s Exchange. Stay tuned for additional details when the patch notes drop.

Pacific Drive is available for PS5 and PC. It’s sold one million copies and received three other free content updates. You can check our official review – we gave it an eight out of ten, praising unorthodox gameplay systems and presentation.

Available for PS5 and PC, Pacific Drive is set in the Olympic Exclusion Zone, where mysterious experiments unfolded. The player stumbles upon it in their station wagon and finds themselves transported into the Zone, fighting – or rather, driving – vociferously to avoid the Anomalies. By obtaining various materials, plotting different routes and upgrading their vehicle, they aim to escape the Zone.

Check out our review for Pacific Drive here – we gave it an eight out of ten, praising its atmospheric visuals and intriguing gameplay. It’s received three free updates since launching, bringing new cosmetics, garage decoration, and over 50 customizable gameplay settings.

Players can even embark on new modes like Iron Wagon (permadeath) and Nuclear Journey (more radiation and severe environmental hazards). There’s also and Joyride, which lowers crafting requirements and damage received, for a more relaxing experience.

One year, three major updates, and one million copies sold. ♥️

Thank you to everyone who’s played our surreal survival driving adventure! 🌲🚘

Your passion and appreciation have meant the world to us – and we’re not done yet.

We’ll see you back in the Zone very soon. pic.twitter.com/qdHkE1c1eD

— Ironwood Studios | Pacific Drive is Out Now 🚘 (@ironwoodtweets) February 19, 2025

Found on various mutated trees, the Goldshells offer new cosmetics for your car and garage…if you can open them. As for the latter, there are 30 mounting locations and 23 cosmetics, ranging from posters to neon signs and other goodies to give the base some personality. The Frosted Customization Pack, meanwhile, offers some Winter-themed items for your car, from the Snowflake antenna topper to the Blizzard Decal Kit.

Pacific Drive is available for PS5 and PC. Check out our review, where we gave it an eight out of 10. It’s sold over 600,000 units as of July and received two other content updates, adding new gameplay options, difficulty settings (including Easy mode), and permadeath.

The new presets are probably the most significant addition. There are six new gameplay presets to choose from- Iron Wagon is a permadeath mode, and comes with increased difficulty, while conversely, Scenic Tour is an easier mode that removes death and reduces driving, hazards, damage, and crafting requirements. Joyride is another easier mode that lowers penalties and requirements, but keeps the rest of the gameplay experience intact.

Nuclear Journey will add more lose dose radiation to every map while making storms more dangerous; Mechanic’s Road Trip sees driving impacted by terrain and the condition of your car, with repairs costing more and crafting being restricted during runs; and finally, Olympic Gauntlet, as its name suggests, is a harder difficulty mode that essentially cranks everything up to eleven. 

In addition, the Drive Your Way update also adds several new gameplay customization settings and a couple of new free cosmetics. Ironwood Studios has, meanwhile, also released a paid cosmetics pack dubbed Anomalous Customization Pack. Priced at $4.99, it adds six new cosmetic items. 

Pacific Drive is available on PS5 and PC. 

“We are blown away by the response to Pacific Drive,” said Ironwood CEO and creative director Alex Dracott in a press release. “This isn’t a milestone we expected to reach when we first started working on it. It’s a dream come true.

“It is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Ironwood Studios. We are deeply thankful to our community for believing in our vision and joining us on this journey. None of this would be possible without their support, and we’re thankful for the chance to continue supporting Pacific Drive and improving their experience.”

The recent update adds new features to existing Garage tools alongside a new ability, the Junk Jet, for strafing. The Zone also sports some variations on ARDA trailers, obstructions, and more. Photo Mode is finally available alongside a new paid cosmetic pack themed around the Friendly Dumpster.

Ironwood Studios has more updates planned for Fall and Winter. The former adds new difficulty modes, customization settings and free cosmetics to go with another paid cosmetic pack. The latter is “redacted”, so expect more details in the coming months.

Pacific Drive is available for PS5 and PC. Check out our review, where we awarded it an eight out of ten.

The developer has shared a post-launch roadmap for Pacific Drive, which indicates that the game is set to receive at least two more free updates in the months ahead- one in the fall, and one in winter.

The contents of the latter are completely redacted, but where the fall update is concerned, players can look forward to new difficulty modes, new game customization settings, and just like the recently-released summer update, both free and paid new cosmetics. Presumably, we’ll be learning more about both upcoming updates in the weeks and months ahead.

Pacific Drive is available on PS5 and PC. Read our review of the game through here.

Photo Mode has numerous settings for changing the time of day, weather, focus, exposure and more, alongside various filters. Gameplay-wise, there are two new upgrades for the Garage. The first is the Smart Matter Deconstructor, allowing you to toss junk or items straight inside to reduce them to raw materials.

The Vargas Auto-Pac-Vac is the other, prioritizing transferring materials directly into your trunk. One new ability is the Juke Jet, allowing you to quickly strafe or even execute drifts, making it much easier to avoid obstacles. Speaking of the Zone, players will find find new points of interest, including rooms, a coastal-themed Highway in the Outer Zone, and more.

PS5 players can also take advantage of a new Performance Mode, though Ironwood is looking to improve it and general performance. Finally, a new $5 cosmetic pack themed on the Friendly Dumpster is available, containing five items to customize your vehicle and a new decal.

Pacific Drive is available for PS5 and PC. Check out our review here. You can also learn more about future upcoming updates here.

However, regardless of whether you stay for the moody aesthetic, supernatural sights, engrossing mystery or survival-focused gameplay, Pacific Drive is a trip. It’s many trips rolled into one, figuratively and psychologically. There are some places where it can be tightened up and further polished, not to mention room for further expanding on its systems, but right now, it’s one of the more unique gaming experiences of the year.

"If the Instability doesn’t kill people, then it’s the various roaming Anomalies, each manifesting in nigh-unpredictable ways."

Pacific Drive starts innocuously enough as your character ventures into the Pacific Northwest on what seems to be a road trip. A note to stay on the roads and some warning signs later, you encounter the massive walls of the Olympic Exclusion Zone. After going slightly off road, your vehicle and surrounding electronics shut down as you’re teleported inside the walls. Once inside, you discover a beat-down station wagon and use it to escape the encroaching Instability while becoming further acquainted with Francis and Tobias, two individuals who have been in the Zone for a long time.

As you arrive at what seems to be an abandoned Auto Shop, you’re introduced to Dr. Ophelia Turner or Oppy. She’s none too thrilled with your presence, but it’s not long before all three characters note the nature of the station wagon. It’s a Remnant, an object with a mysterious power that binds itself to people, causing them to obsess over it before eventually driving them insane. Before that happens, you need to find a way out of the Zone…which is easier said than done.

Thanks to experiments conducted by the mysterious organization, ARDA, the Zone’s makeup changes constantly. If the Instability doesn’t kill people, then it’s the various roaming Anomalies, each manifesting in nigh-unpredictable ways. The voice-acting for each character is top-notch. Francis comes across as level-headed but can get emotional; Tobias is almost obsessed with urban legends and conspiracies but is generally easy-going; and while Oppy acts cold and distant, she’s lost a lot and feels responsible for the Zone’s current situation. The banter and arguments between all three feel natural and drive the plot along quite well.

Even by survival crafting standards, the points of interest – from research laboratories to houses – are little more than resource nodes that you quickly clear.

Pacific Drive combines survival crafting with driving, but it’s not a traditionally linear campaign. You choose a route, with procedurally generated Junctions serving as the main areas of exploration. Depending on the parts visited, you’ll encounter harsher conditions, an abundance of some resources, a lack of others, and other dangers, which we’ll get into.

How you proceed through a Junction is up to you, whether it’s to explore the different buildings and scavenge for materials, scrap any cars on the highway or collect Stable Energy for the Arc Doc. Not only does the latter open a gateway to teleport back to the Auto Shop, but it can also be used to unlock new blueprints and devices.

There is a rogue-lite flavor to it all, especially since you can lose some (or none) of your items if you fail a drive. However, even by survival crafting standards, the points of interest – from research laboratories to houses – are little more than resource nodes that you quickly clear. There aren’t puzzles or combat per se – if anything, the tension is closer to a horror title as you stop at a location, frantically gather resources, and either flee or avoid detection from the Anomalies.

It allows for an overall faster pace, with the procedurally generated buildings striking a fine line between complexity and pacing with their layouts (even if they can feel a bit too familiar on repeated drives).

"The overall exploration of Pacific Drive, specifically the vehicular handling, feels pretty good. When compared to driving an actual broken-down station wagon, it’s fairly realistic…"

The Anomalies are also interesting because they’re not all enemies as much as phenomena like the weather. Yes, Abductors will latch onto your car (or you), but for the most part, you can move around the exploding Tourists and predict the Can Opener’s path to avoid swift disassembly. Some may cause different effects, like swapping left and right controls on your car, providing a sudden burst of speed or healing you. A Squall can also emerge from nowhere, pushing you around or – even worse – causing multiple pillars to block your path.

Alternatively, you could deal with different kinds of anomalous Dust Bunnies stuck to your vehicle, which provide resources when destroyed with the Scrapper. The tension is real, though, especially when you’re on foot and can hear the hum of an Abductor as it skulks around a building. Sometimes, the number of Anomalies can get somewhat overbearing, especially when you gather Stable Energy, but they keep things spicy.

The overall exploration of Pacific Drive, specifically the vehicular handling, feels pretty good. Compared to driving an actual broken-down station wagon, it’s fairly realistic, with the vehicle easily sliding out on muddy terrain and stalling if attempting to climb slopes. Subsequent upgrades improve it, from the damage resistance to different tyres that better manage specific terrain.

Steel Plates and Doors provide more health, but you may want to invest in Insulated versions for electric resistance or extra radiation shielding with Lead-Plated variants. Similarly, you have Offroad, All-Terrain, Puncture-Proof and Paddle tyres with different affinity ratings for navigating water, rocky environments and regular roads.

"As a narrative experience, Pacific Drive may not be the longest title if you stick closely to the story (at least for me), but the range of items to craft and side quests add to it"

On top of this are upgrades for more storage space (both in your backpack and in the Auto Shop), new tools, repair kits and much more. There is a decent amount to unlock, and while the interface can look daunting at first, it’s easy once you’ve got the hang of it. Your vehicle can also develop Quirks over time, which must be diagnosed with the Tinker Station (and careful observation) to correct them.

On-foot controls are also easy to pick up, especially once you learn the difference between equipping objects in quick-use slots and simply carrying them in your hands. I also appreciated the immersive aspects of Pacific Drive, whether it’s having to manually start your vehicle and shift it into drive when heading out or repairing different parts by splashing Repair Putty, sealing punctures in tyres and so on.

While it can feel like a daunting experience at times, the sheer range of accessibility options works wonders, from brightening up the nights to making it so that no items are lost if you die. Alternatively, you can dial up the difficulty and immersion in many cases for an even more harrowing time.

As a narrative experience, Pacific Drive may not be the longest title if you stick closely to the story (at least for me). Fortunately, the range of items to craft and side quests add to it, and exploring different Junctions of the Zone to catalogue all the Anomalies or unique conditions that abound can be fun.

"However, even with its faults, Pacific Drive a compelling experience you’ll want to see through to the end."

The aesthetic, combined with the soundtrack, does make you want to embark on an evening drive now and again if only to soak up the atmosphere. It’s backed by solid performance on PC, barring some stutters when destroying certain objects, and a strong level of polish, with very few noticeable bugs throughout my experience.

It’s not easy to point fans of rogue-lite, driving or survival crafting games to Pacific Drive simply because it combines all three genres in unexpected ways. However, even with its faults, it’s a compelling experience you’ll want to see through to the end and maybe revisit to unravel its deeper mysteries.

This game was reviewed on PC.