Pacific Drive might just be the single best game I've played in over a year, the game world is intriguing, the story and characters, while a bit on the lean side, feel believable, and the car, oh my, a 1983 hunk of steel, large engine, low power, a roof that has a step in it?? yes please!

The Story, while i personally would have _loved_ more of it, moves you forward quite well, there are ups and downs but i never felt like i was just idling waiting for the next "big thing" to happen, and the ending left me with more questions than answers, but i didn't feel unsatisfied, it didn't feel like the writers blindfolded me just to end it for the next DLC to fill the gaps.

The "worlds" are mostly randomly generated but apart from a few issues here and there (lootables spawning inside vegetation and trees, being able to see through the floor in the entrance/exits of some tunnels) there are no major issues, maps mostly feel coherent, although the manually crafted ones are obviously a bit better.

The enemies that populate these worlds are another thing, they're scary, at first, but you quickly get used to their presence, and some may even be glad to see you.
There is a good variety of enemies, some big, some small, some about your height, most of them you don't want to mess with, some of them? well... just get close and find out, turns out, not everyone is against you.

And the car? Well, what can i say, its your car, you're gonna like it, whether you want to or not.
Based on an old Buick, this hunk of electrical problems is your reliable (although moody) friend throughout the game, it will always protect you, but it will not always act in your best interest, staying ontop of maintenance and keeping the car out of sticky situations will be your plan for most of the game, as it is american, expect problems, a fix is usually just a few steps away, just don't think you can fix these problems by just throwing parts at it.

To take a step back from praising the game, the performance is not.. great. my Ryzen 9 5900x and 3060Ti on Linux were struggling a bit, sitting somewhere between 50-70 frames, although this game doesn't need a high framerate, more frames are always appreciated, the short time i tried it on WIndows i had 10-20 fps more on average, not a massive dealbreaker.
Stability was top notch, zero crashes, the only real "bug" i found was that your garage behaved a bit... unexpectedly, when loading into the game the first time, walls would be missing or corrupted, some objects would only load when behind walls, things like that, leaving the garage and coming back resolved all issues.

And if its all just a bit too stressful? Don't worry, there are _loads_ of accessibility options, you can turn off and tune just about every mechanic the game has, less enemies, less fuel consumption, less repairs? it's all available, just a menu away.

Pacific Drive is an exceptional example in "Indie Done Right", the game developer focused on one thing and stuck to it, delivering a beautiful game with a great gameplay loop, in the sea of "multiplayer open world mmo survival crafting early access" games, Pacific Drive does none of these, fully offline singleplayer, no early access.

I'll be excited what the future holds for this game, and what the developer will do next, i genuinely hope they keep going exactly like they have done now, their direction is a good one, don't mess this up, pretty please?

Thank you and goodbye.
i love you forever

[h1]Exceptional.[/h1] Pacific Drive might just be the single best game I've played in over a year, the game world is intriguing, the story and characters, while a bit on the lean side, feel believable, and the car, oh my, a 1983 hunk of steel, large engine, low power, a roof that has a step in it?? yes please! The Story, while i personally would have _loved_ more of it, moves you forward quite well, there are ups and downs but i never felt like i was just idling waiting for the next "big thing" to happen, and the ending left me with more questions than answers, but i didn't feel unsatisfied, it didn't feel like the writers blindfolded me just to end it for the next DLC to fill the gaps. The "worlds" are mostly randomly generated but apart from a few issues here and there (lootables spawning inside vegetation and trees, being able to see through the floor in the entrance/exits of some tunnels) there are no major issues, maps mostly feel coherent, although the manually crafted ones are obviously a bit better. The enemies that populate these worlds are another thing, they're scary, at first, but you quickly get used to their presence, [spoiler]and some may even be glad to see you[/spoiler]. There is a good variety of enemies, some big, some small, some about your height, most of them you don't want to mess with, some of them? well... just get close and find out, turns out, not everyone is against you. And the car? Well, what can i say, its your car, you're gonna like it, whether you want to or not. Based on an old Buick, this hunk of electrical problems is your reliable (although moody) friend throughout the game, it will always protect you, but it will not always act in your best interest, staying ontop of maintenance and keeping the car out of sticky situations will be your plan for most of the game, as it is american, expect problems, a fix is usually just a few steps away, just don't think you can fix these problems by just throwing parts at it. To take a step back from praising the game, the performance is not.. great. my Ryzen 9 5900x and 3060Ti on Linux were struggling a bit, sitting somewhere between 50-70 frames, although this game doesn't need a high framerate, more frames are always appreciated, the short time i tried it on WIndows i had 10-20 fps more on average, not a massive dealbreaker. Stability was top notch, zero crashes, the only real "bug" i found was that your garage behaved a bit... unexpectedly, when loading into the game the first time, walls would be missing or corrupted, some objects would only load when behind walls, things like that, leaving the garage and coming back resolved all issues. And if its all just a bit too stressful? Don't worry, there are _loads_ of accessibility options, you can turn off and tune just about every mechanic the game has, less enemies, less fuel consumption, less repairs? it's all available, just a menu away. Pacific Drive is an exceptional example in "Indie Done Right", the game developer focused on one thing and stuck to it, delivering a beautiful game with a great gameplay loop, in the sea of "multiplayer open world mmo survival crafting early access" games, Pacific Drive does none of these, fully offline singleplayer, no early access. I'll be excited what the future holds for this game, and what the developer will do next, i genuinely hope they keep going exactly like they have done now, their direction is a good one, don't mess this up, pretty please? Thank you and goodbye. [spoiler]i love you forever[/spoiler]