Pacific Drive | PS5, PC | 22 Feb 2024 (digital), 9 Apr 2024 (disc)

Okay, I just watched ACG's review and I'm in!

I hope Pacific Drive is half as good as the rollercoaster you've just put us through.

Cuttooth wrote:I hope Pacific Drive is half as good as the rollercoaster you've just put us through.

There was everything, wasn't there? Hope, belief, uncertainty, emotion... it had it all! Pre-ordered . I had a £5 PSN credit to use, too .

Don’t worry Jawa, I’m sure by the time you actually play it they will have patched all the issues out

It's one of the reasons why the physical disc is better to wait for as they would probably patch things out during the time.

ITSMILNER wrote:Don’t worry Jawa, I’m sure by the time you actually play it they will have patched all the issues out

Oh! There's no tech issues reported so far! It's just me understanding the challenges around how the game plays .

I can see them patching in an easy mode. The game has had a spotlight on it for some time now due to the lack of original games making it out. Some of that is likely to result in a larger than anticipated, frustrated section of the userbase who will react badly and send death threats to the developers.

I can absolutely see it having a no fail type setting patched in like Dredge did. Or at least something to minimise the mechanics.

Anyway, it looks good to me, and I might pick it up physical. Game Central only gave it a 5, but they seem to be all over the place nowadays.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:I can see them patching in an easy mode. The game has had a spotlight on it for some time now due to the lack of original games making it out. Some of that is likely to result in a larger than anticipated, frustrated section of the userbase who will react badly and send death threats to the developers.

I can absolutely see it having a no fail type setting patched in like Dredge did. Or at least something to minimise the mechanics...

When I watched that ACG review, towards the end the guy details the options/settings menus and there are lots of things to adjust in terms of making the game easier or tougher. This hasn't been mentioned in other reviews that I've seen and I'll definitely be taking a look at what's on offer there.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Anyway, it looks good to me, and I might pick it up physical. Game Central only gave it a 5, but they seem to be all over the place nowadays.

Yeah, that is the lowest score for the game on Metacritic. I am okay with the review too; it just seems that the reviewer didn't like the slower pacing - and doesn't like rogue elements full-stop.

I've downloaded the game already and, although it unlocks at midnight, I'm probs not gonna get to play it until maybe Friday evening.

jawa_ wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:I can see them patching in an easy mode. The game has had a spotlight on it for some time now due to the lack of original games making it out. Some of that is likely to result in a larger than anticipated, frustrated section of the userbase who will react badly and send death threats to the developers.

I can absolutely see it having a no fail type setting patched in like Dredge did. Or at least something to minimise the mechanics...

When I watched that ACG review, towards the end the guy details the options/settings menus and there are lots of things to adjust in terms of making the game easier or tougher. This hasn't been mentioned in other reviews that I've seen and I'll definitely be taking a look at what's on offer there.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:...Anyway, it looks good to me, and I might pick it up physical. Game Central only gave it a 5, but they seem to be all over the place nowadays.

Yeah, that is the lowest score for the game on Metacritic. I am okay with the review too; it just seems that the reviewer didn't like the slower pacing - and doesn't like rogue elements full-stop.

I've downloaded the game already and, although it unlocks at midnight, I'm probs not gonna get to play it until maybe Friday evening.

Share your thoughts if/when you get around to playing it

Are you waiting for physical or playing in Feb Jawa?

I like that this has the feel of an indie game (usually quite basically graphics) but has the budget and looks of a AAA ps5 game. One of the few PS5 games I'm interested in but a little put off by 'it being tricky' when this feels like an interactive story game. Honestly, I found fire watch (great game btw) a bit fiddly and struggled when I wasn't supposed to navigating via it's map, Fire watch wasn't reviewed as being fiddly (so basically a me problem) so a little concerning that reviewers are struggling with certain gameplay mechanics in Pacific Drive.

Looks like my sort of game though, interested in how you get on with it Jawa

Barnsy! wrote:I like that this has the feel of an indie game (usually quite basically graphics) but has the budget and looks of a AAA ps5 game.

It cost over 250m to make?

Barnsy! wrote:Are you waiting for physical or playing in Feb Jawa?

I like that this has the feel of an indie game (usually quite basically graphics) but has the budget and looks of a AAA ps5 game. One of the few PS5 games I'm interested in but a little put off by 'it being tricky' when this feels like an interactive story game. Honestly, I found fire watch (great game btw) a bit fiddly and struggled when I wasn't supposed to navigating via it's map, Fire watch wasn't reviewed as being fiddly (so basically a me problem) so a little concerning that reviewers are struggling with certain gameplay mechanics in Pacific Drive.

Looks like my sort of game though, interested in how you get on with it Jawa

He has bought it already. I'm guessing he won't open the actual software before the physical release is out though. On Switch 2.

The more I see of this game in the reviews, the more certain I am it is not for me. Survival/gathering/crafting games just bore the hell out of me at this point. It's a real shame, because I thought the aesthetic/vibe of this looked really cool, and was pretty intrigued by it, but it's pretty disappointing that's the kind of game they've decided to put in this world. Also, the demo ran pretty badly on the Deck, even with everything on low, at which point the anomalies in the environment looked like little more than angry soap bubbles.

Guess it's a good excuse to go and read Roadside Picnic like the Skill Up review suggested instead.

Barnsy! wrote:Are you waiting for physical or playing in Feb Jawa?

I like that this has the feel of an indie game (usually quite basically graphics) but has the budget and looks of a AAA ps5 game. One of the few PS5 games I'm interested in but a little put off by 'it being tricky' when this feels like an interactive story game. Honestly, I found fire watch (great game btw) a bit fiddly and struggled when I wasn't supposed to navigating via it's map, Fire watch wasn't reviewed as being fiddly (so basically a me problem) so a little concerning that reviewers are struggling with certain gameplay mechanics in Pacific Drive.

Looks like my sort of game though, interested in how you get on with it Jawa

I was gonna get physical but I'm excited abot the game and went digital; the 10% PS Plus pre-order discount plus my additional £5 PSN credit helped :-). I, too, was worried about the difficulty... but I'd recommend watching that ACG review as, in the last section, he goes into some detail about the various help settings.

Photek wrote:It cost over 250m to make?

Yeah, Ironwood Studios have been making this for a few years now; they started up in 2019. I can't trace a figure for the game's development cost, though; where did you see the £250m figure, Photek?

Knoyleo wrote:The more I see of this game in the reviews, the more certain I am it is not for me. Survival/gathering/crafting games just bore the hell out of me at this point...

...Guess it's a good excuse to go and read Roadside Picnic like the Skill Up review suggested instead.

Yes, survival/gathering/crafting is a key focus of the game. When I saw your Skill Up mention, I'd wondered if they weren't fans of the game - but I'm just watching and the vid is titled "I strongly recommend: Pacific Drive" and the first text line says "Pacific Drive is destined for cult classic status". Sounds positive, but I shall check out their full findings.

jawa_ wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:The more I see of this game in the reviews, the more certain I am it is not for me. Survival/gathering/crafting games just bore the hell out of me at this point...

...Guess it's a good excuse to go and read Roadside Picnic like the Skill Up review suggested instead.

Yes, survival/gathering/crafting is a key focus of the game. When I saw your Skill Up mention, I'd wondered if they weren't fans of the game - but I'm just watching and the vid is titled "I strongly recommend: Pacific Drive" and the first text line says "Pacific Drive is destined for cult classic status". Sounds positive, but I shall check out their full findings.

Oh yeah, it's a positive review, but he mentions at the start the novel that served as inspiration for this, as well as the Stalker games. It's one I've not read yet, and I've been meaning to read some Strugatsky brothers stuff for a while. Sounds like that will give me more of what I was hoping for from this than the game will.

jawa_ wrote:...I've downloaded the game already and, although it unlocks at midnight, I'm probs not gonna get to play it until maybe Friday evening.

Plans can change.

Gonna be trying it out now... and live-messaging my thoughts on it, right from the start.

Keen to hear your thoughts!

We regret to inform you that Jawa has been lost in the zone.

I keep hearing the performance is dreadful on PS5, which is a bit of a downer. Hopefully people are overreacting.

Maybe Jawa has gone back to Fallout 76.

JAWA DROV DA CAR IN 2 DA FORIST AND NOW HE DED WIV DA ANGLZ NOW XXX