izigame.me

For me this game felt a lot like a high school relationship.
It starts all crazy and interesting. You're slapping glowing goop on stuff so you can continue to have a good time. There's a bunch of little details that that are super neat, and you're just really enjoying yourself, but then you start to realize that there's no depth. Every day feels the same. Every drive feels the same. Now and then you learn something new and you stick around a little longer.
Like, I'm gonna finish this game because the story is certainly good, but is the gameplay?
I really don't know about that. I think some people will love this game from start to finish. Looking at my friends list, of the 6 people that have it, half of them stopped playing at the 3 hour mark. Not statistically significant, but worth mentioning. I think part of the reason for the steep drop off is that this world promises danger and excitement, but ultimately the excitement fades as the player realizes that while this world looks very dangerous, it's really not... I suspect most players will finish the game with fewer than 2 deaths, and many of them will finish with none. I say this because I've only come close to dying once in my play through. Don't get me wrong, the world definitely does get more dangerous as you go deeper into the zone, and the atmosphere changes accordingly in a way that is very well executed. However, the danger comes exclusively from anomalies, and at the end of the day they're all just pot holes on steroids. You will NEVER be attacked. To me, it doesn't really matter if the pot hole glows, or moves around while making loud threatening noises, it's still just a pot hole. OH, I almost forgot. This is the loudest game I have ever played. The sounds the anomalies make are oppressive. I've never had the audio in a game make me feel genuinely on edge before, and that's actually a plus for PD. I think it will help the player to feel like they are in danger for longer than they otherwise would have.
So lets talk about the loop. You basically always do the same thing. You fix your car (fixing the car is full of lovable details), you go back into the exclusion zone (the exclusion zone is cool as hell), drive as close to any new anomalies as you can to scan them (the anomalies feel unique and interesting); after that you drive around them as best you can. You go to the same 3 buildings, shack, science trailer, tower, oh right also gas station. Shows you how forgettable it all becomes. At those places you loot chests for colored rectangles that represent various resources used for crafting upgrades (the upgrades feel rewarding like more storage in the back seats you are definitely not using for passengers). Later areas feature new resource nodes which adds a picking "apples from trees" vibe to gathering and there's less grabbing rectangles from boxes, which is good. Finally, you occasionally find documents you can read or listen too, but its at random so it doesn't really make any of it feel significant when found. Game would have benefited greatly from more hand crafted structures that contained those story elements.
Far and away my favorite part of this game is the excitement I felt racing towards the exit as the map collapsed around me. These moments were 10/10 when it comes to atmosphere, sound design, and excitement factor. Imagining myself teleporting back to base, steam coming out of my hair, car mostly dissolved, with 3 out of 4 tires popped is great! Unfortunately, as humans everything gets old. If a volcano erupted a safe distance from my house I would think its super cool, but if it it erupted every day...?
Not everyone will tire of their "neighborhood volcano" at the same rate, but around then is when the game play loop starts to feel like a lemon to me, pardon my car pun. You fix your car (a boring blow torch has partially replaced the lovable glowing repair goop), you go back into the exclusion zone (the exclusion zone only really comes in 3 flavors: Washington coast, Washington coast on "fire" at night, and totally f'ed), drive as close to any new anomalies as you can to scan them (the anomalies feel like objects to be scanned rather than dangerous); after that you drive around them as best you can... You upgrade your car (the upgrades feel like lateral moves, your car is faster, but you're spending more time going around stuff).
Repeat until more story elements appear.
Playing through this game I'm very much reminded of Dredge, both are spooky, atmospheric games featuring a vehicle you upgrade, but despite the fact that I think the story in this is better, I think Dredge is just a better game. The game play is better, cuz fish tetris ;) and the story TELLING is better because its way less linear and direct. PD's story telling is 99% over the radio dialogue, which can totally work, look at Firewatch, but the difference here is you're a silent protagonist. Hell, the story is interesting enough to keep me playing even after the game play loop got old, but its not unique story telling in any way, and they should be critiqued for that. For example it could have been revealed over time that the car is conscious and trying to communicate, because then there would be two interwoven narratives, making everything feel less linear. The car even has a button that lets you appreciate it with some Tomagachi style pixel art, but that goes no where. Alternatively game's like these never let you see the people you're talking to on the radio, they could have elevated their story by subverting that expectation somewhere around the midway point.
Back on the topic of Dredged, when I finished Dredge I wanted more of an excuse to keep playing and my review reflected that.
With this game, I'm not even done and I'm here to say that all I really want from this relationship going forward is more of the story because the physical side of things has gotten stale; so I think it would be better if we just stay friends. I might get back together with Dredge. Who know's? Realistically though, I'm just going to move on, but Pacific Drive, I need you to know... I really did have fun for the majority of the time we were together.
For people who made it all the way to the end and still want something a bit more concrete, here you go:
This game is worth $20, and I am very firm on that.


TL;DR:
Pros: Visuals and audio in this game are perfect, no changes needed. The way the map gets darker and more dangerous as you head deeper into the exclusion zone highlights this fact. Upgrading the car feels rewarding both visually and with the QoL improvements they provide.
Cons: Game either overstays its welcome, or does not offer enough new content as it progresses to make me feel like sticking around. I cannot decide which it is. So maybe its both?
PS: I'm almost positive the car itself is a nod to Dr. Manhattan because the hood ornament is nearly identical to the symbol for hydrogen on Dr. M's forehead, and the default color of the car is the same color as Dr. Manhattan in the comics. So that's super neat
Edit from the future: I have now expanded upon my review like I said I might, and in that time I still have not finished the game. Take that how you will. I will finish this story, as updating this review has motivated me to see how close I got with my guessing and how let down or thrilled I will be with the ending. At that time I will likely make add a comment containing light spoilers as this review is 98% spoiler free and already quite long.

Anyone who has read literally all of this, you are a LEGEND and I have more reviews that you would probably enjoy. Thank you so much for your time!