Regarding survival-themed titles, we’ve seen all the “scenarios” that you would traditionally find yourself within in that setting. Whether it be lost in a forest, trapped on an island, stuck in a mysterious building with untold horrors, etc. The concept is always the same: find things to help you survive and then get out. However, with the upcoming title Pacific Drive, it won’t be just you who’s trying to survive; it’s the station wagon you’re using to get out of the Pacific Northwest that you’re stuck in while chaos is raining down from all sides. So yeah, it’s not something you have to “deal with” every day.
On the PlayStation Blog, game director Alexander Dracott talked with Sony revealed the inspirations behind the game and why it’s focused on customizing a station wagon to survive:
“The initial idea goes back to some of my hobbies and growing up driving station wagons to go camping and out into the woods of the Pacific Northwest. The game started as simple test car in the woods, and as we started inserting more mechanics, we decided you should be able to turn the car off and on. It should have gas like you should have to refuel your car. It became apparent that there’s this overlap between the maintenance of a car you would expect and the item juggling you want from a survival game. You’re forming this relationship with this car that becomes your protector.”
Another thing he noted is that the point behind the “Olympic Exclusion Zone” is that you’re not going to be using your car to run over zombies and things like that; instead, you’re using it to figure out what these “anomalies” are and what they’re really all about. So you’ll drive through the zone to find its source and hope you survive the experience.
Interestingly, one thing that the Pacific Drive team didn’t do was try to go “even bigger” with their maps, world, and items like many other open-world survival games do. The game is large, but it’s still “contained” in various ways, and the focus is on you driving around, outfitting your car, learning about anomalies, and more. Dracott even admitted they wanted to have even more items to use and trick out your ride with but “pulled it back to a reasonable number.”
It’s good to hear that game developers know that sometimes going “much bigger” doesn’t always give players a memorable experience. The game arrives on the PS5 February 22nd.
