First Impressions

[ptarn]

I wishlisted this game as soon as I saw the trailer for it. I downloaded and installed the demo as soon as I saw it was available. Played it as soon as I could.

And I was not disappointed. I loved what I saw, loved what it looked like, loved the mechanics and the lore, and I was sad to see I reached the end of the demo. GIVE ME MORE!

Yes, I will buy this game as soon as it comes out. I love repairing things in-games as long as it's an integral part of the game itself and adds to it instead of being 'a mechanic'.

[DetCord12B]

It certainly has an interesting concept, though obviously much of it's concepts are ripped from the Stalker franchise. Overall I thought it was 'Meh' with regards to the game-play loop, though it is hard to tell what the game will actually be like given the limitations of the demo.

I'll be waiting on user reviews for this one.

[Permyack]

Originally posted by ptarn:

I wishlisted this game as soon as I saw the trailer for it. I downloaded and installed the demo as soon as I saw it was available. Played it as soon as I could.

And I was not disappointed. I loved what I saw, loved what it looked like, loved the mechanics and the lore, and I was sad to see I reached the end of the demo. GIVE ME MORE!

Yes, I will buy this game as soon as it comes out. I love repairing things in-games as long as it's an integral part of the game itself and adds to it instead of being 'a mechanic'.

You can use one trick and "lengthen" the demo if you don't bring all the parts for the antenna in one trip.
Split it into two parts (you can do more, but there's no point) and assemble the antenna.
If you do it right, you'll have the antenna and the ability to further modify the garage and car as much as is even possible with one level.

Meaning.
Collect 5 plasmas so the game tells you to collect another piece.
Throw away the plasma part or the very thing and go back to the garage using the anchors.
Then on your next trip, collect the missing parts and assemble the antenna, but never assemble all the parts at once.
Once the antenna is assembled, you can ignore this quest.
Disadvantage - Anchors will stop being marked on the map. But you can still find them on your own.

[Ersatz]

Originally posted by DetCord12B:

It certainly has an interesting concept, though obviously much of it's concepts are ripped from the Stalker franchise.

I mean, the Stalker games were massively inspired by the Tarkovsky movie of the same name, which was in turn massively inspired by Roadside Picnic as a book, and I'm sure the chain of ripping off goes way deeper than that, as tends to be the way with human creativity. For me it feels more inspired by the Annihilation trilogy than anything else.

As games series, they don't play much like one another at all, I don't think.

Personally, I found the demo of Pacific Drive to be utterly spectacular and I can't wait for the final release. The voice acting (Oppy especially) is fantastic.

[DetCord12B]

Originally posted by Ersatz:

Originally posted by DetCord12B:

It certainly has an interesting concept, though obviously much of it's concepts are ripped from the Stalker franchise.

I mean, the Stalker games were massively inspired by the Tarkovsky movie of the same name, which was in turn massively inspired by Roadside Picnic as a book, and I'm sure the chain of ripping off goes way deeper than that, as tends to be the way with human creativity.

Concepts and inspiration certainly flow back and forth, especially within the Sci-Fi genre, though my observation was based solely upon both games having what are essentially interchangeable worlds, themes, and a very similar loop. Not how those themes and concepts appear in other works.

For me it feels more inspired by the Annihilation trilogy than anything else.

I hope not. Vandermeer is overrated at best and intellectually dishonest at worst.

As games series, they don't play much like one another at all, I don't think.

Never alluded that they did, I simply pointed out that both games have similar themes and world building.

• You're stuck in the 'Zone'.
• You're going to encounter dangerous 'Anomalies'.
• You have to study said 'Anomalies'.
• You have to get out of the 'Zone'.

The major difference being that Pacific Drive is a walking simulator in the guise of a car, it has no combat to speak of and you as the player are afflicted by an artificial timer constantly nipping at your heels.

Personally, I found the demo of Pacific Drive to be utterly spectacular and I can't wait for the final release. The voice acting (Oppy especially) is fantastic.

Thing is, if you've played one walking sim you've played them all, but I'm certainly glad you like it. I'll be waiting for reviews.

[FourMore]

I liked the game but my biggest issue is that you spend like 15% of the gameplay actually driving. If the full game will have such small maps I'll be insanely disappointed.

[FourMore]

Originally posted by DetCord12B:

obviously much of it's concepts are ripped from the Stalker franchise.

There is literally nothing wrong with this.

This just shows how influential the STALKER games are.

[Ersatz]

Originally posted by DetCord12B:

I hope not. Vandermeer is overrated at best and intellectually dishonest at worst.

I don't really know anything about Vandermeer personally, but I liked the Southern Reach Trilogy. But then what do I know? I've enjoyed books written by some real ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ over the years.

Originally posted by DetCord12B:

Never alluded that they did, I simply pointed out that both games have similar themes and world building.

• You're stuck in the 'Zone'.
• You're going to encounter dangerous 'Anomalies'.
• You have to study said 'Anomalies'.
• You have to get out of the 'Zone'.

The major difference being that Pacific Drive is a walking simulator in the guise of a car, it has no combat to speak of and you as the player are afflicted by an artificial timer constantly nipping at your heels.

Sure, but really when it comes down to it "you're stuck in a dangerous place and want to leave" is a pretty common video game thing, and I don't think it's anything you can really hold against Pacific Drive.

In terms of the Walking Simulator and the Timer - well, that's really just down to preference. I quite like walking simulators now and then and I also enjoy timer/route optimisation in games. I don't really see how the timer is any more artificial than anything else - it's just part of the game design, themed as "the shifting landscape will eat you".

Originally posted by DetCord12B:

Thing is, if you've played one walking sim you've played them all, but I'm certainly glad you like it. I'll be waiting for reviews.

They look to tell stories as a genre, which is why I like them. You can apply If you've played [genre] you've played them all to pretty much anything - for walking sims they're differentiated by the tale they tell, in the same way that FPS games (which, for the most part are about putting your crosshairs over the thing and clicking it) differentiate themselves with new mechanisms.

But yes, absolutely wait for reviews. As you'll probably note, despite my enthusiasm for the game, I've not preordered it.

[Martial.Lore]

In the demo you can lose a wheel and bang up your car enough to put parts of it into pretty sorry shape. You can get zapped or poisoned. An anomalous entity can "grab" your vehicle and take you for a ride. The light can drop low enough to necessitate headlight use. The most diabolical weather can move in and greatly diminish visibility. And if you fail to make it back to the garage you lose everything you collected.

All of this could theoretically happen simultaneously whilst on a mission, so I'm definitely keeping this on my wishlist.

Plus there is a story to puzzle out as you attempt to obtain all the prerequisites to escape the Zone. I'm looking forward to the reviews, too, but I wouldn't pre-order a solid gold bar on Steam anymore. If the reviews match my expectations from this demo, then it should be more than enough to keep some of us happy for a while.

[Candarian]

when i saw the videos i wishlisted it but now after playing the demo removed it
this demo of this game was such a disapointment
not enough (off-road)driving for a driving simulator
no survival aspects(yes u can die - if you are stupid)
building your car was fun but there are better car repair simulators out
it feel like they tried to put many type of game in one and failed entirely
at least the grafic is good but that still dont make the game good
and the worst thing no 3rd person driving

[Mr. Groovy B]

Guys, I loved the demo but my little laptop is struggling. I have a Ryzen 7 and a GTX 1650 (I am under the specs)
So I am so sad. But despite skirting 30 FPS in the beginning of the demo on low settings I had fun. As soon as I went to the next zone it tanked the fps

[Major]

Originally posted by DetCord12B:

I hope not. Vandermeer is overrated at best and intellectually dishonest at worst.

Please can you qualify your statement on Vandermeer. Really curious. Thanks