With just a few maps completed toward the end of the 1800s, the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest was among the last unexplored regions in the continental United States. Even today, just a small portion of the almost 4,000 square miles of pure wilderness are populated. It is home to a vast and stunning national park that attracts hipsters from Seattle and Tacoma who hike there from across the Puget Sound.

Its deep pine trees give off a distinct atmosphere for certain individuals. It was envisioned as an American equivalent of the Chernobyl exclusion zone by Seattle-based Ironwood Studios. In Pacific Drive, a covert government or corporate organization selects the Olympic Peninsula as a location for cutting-edge physics research and development at some time in the middle of the XX century. They experimented with cutting-edge science, tearing apart reality and transforming the peninsula into a trap of abnormalities. To keep disorder contained and the zone isolated, a massive wall was built. This effectively walled off the Olympic Peninsula from the outside world.

Song of interstate love

After many decades, the governmental "fix" began to fall apart. In a remarkable instance of being in the wrong location at the wrong time, anomalies leak through the wall and pull you and your automobile into one. Arrived on the opposite side, your car smashed, and you fled like crazy. You quickly discovered a new set of wheels with a radio and friendly voices directing you to safety in a typical deus-ex-machina way. Ahh, those fortuitously life-saving events.

Driver, will you please go to the garage? Your base of operations will be the garage, which is located in the zone's stable area. After every foray into the wild, you'll go back there to progressively peel back the layers of reality and scrounge for the materials required for both survival and advancement. Fundamentally, Pacific Drive is a survival game—albeit an odd one. You have other responsibilities in addition to yourself since your station wagon is not like other cars. It's known as a "remnant" in the language of the Zone, a unique sort of abnormality that manifests as inconsequential items. It's not alive in the traditional sense, nor is it sentient like the vehicle from Knight Rider. However, it has a presence of sorts that will progressively make you go crazy. Guys who spent decades trapped in the zone claim that there isn't much time left to locate a way out before your mind fails.

Country roads, take me home

You will be guided and bewildered in equal measure by two former scientists and one cantankerous old woman who was the prime architect of scientific activity in the Zone. First, they'll give you instructions on how to maintain your vehicle, remain alive, and navigate the Zone somewhat securely. You will periodically come across tidbits of information in the form of text/audio logs that will progressively increase your understanding of your dire situation. The Olympic Peninsula is a location that changes constantly. Every day, the circumstances and layout of each node on the map are randomly assigned, and the severe anomalous storms that cross the zone follow an unexpected path.

What a magnificent setting, huh? Unfortunately, its manifestation is quite dull. Unfortunately, Pacific Drive is a one-trick pony. You only get to engage in brief excursions with the world beyond your garage. You'll cruise the sub-zones ninety percent of the time, avoiding the anomalies and pulling over next to deserted gas stations, uninhabited cottages, and abandoned research institutions. You will dig through their junk there. You will use a variety of instruments to scrape metal, rubber, and plastic off damaged cars and pound glass reactor housings to extract plasma. You will demolish old TVs and radios for copper and electronics, steal fabric from crates and trashcans, and so on. After a few hours, it becomes really stale, and it will take more than twenty to finish.

Behind the wheel, Quasimodo

Practically the only fascinating thing to do on such journeys is to avoid abnormalities that may cause costly damage to the automobile. It's thrilling to drive about areas of corrosive miasma, localized electric fields, or a dozen other energy phenomena—until you realize that's all there is to it. The big hood and your low sitting position permanently impede the view from the automobile. Driving is kind of fun during the day, but when you go off the pavement, particularly at night, it may be a nightmare come true. Driving is never enjoyable; it's always strange and sometimes even painful, particularly if your automobile starts acting strangely. They show up in a variety of ways, such as automatic wipers that come on when you get out of the vehicle or lights that dim when you move the wheel. Thankfully, you can identify and eliminate them in the garage.

Gearhead gamers would find it intriguing to prepare their vehicle to survive different road conditions. Or not, given that there isn't any actual tweaking or mending involved in the process. You'll investigate and produce odd technological devices, such as lead-plated bumpers, insulated doors and panels, and other items. For the deeper areas of the zone, you'll require more sophisticated equipment. Longer trips may present challenges with gasoline and battery capacity. Before you can investigate and construct larger tanks, more powerful batteries, and superior engines, you will have to carry around jerrycans and jumper cables.

Empty running

The game Pacific Drive has a really chic graphic aesthetic. At times, the impact of anomalies and energy storms will leave you speechless, and the dance of colors and shadows in the twilight is amazing. I may be a little overexcited since I just upgraded to an OLED panel for my PC. Regrettably, at least on PC, the game does not support HDR. Taking everything into account, it would be a perfect fit for the display technology that is almost standard on contemporary consoles.

But my amazement stops with the pictures. I thought Pacific Drive would be like an interactive road movie after seeing the pre-release teases. It resembles a crazy journey through insurmountable obstacles, much like the book Heart of Darkness on wheels. Rather, what we got was a rogue-lite automobile action where the only things you could do to interact with the environment were to dodge colorful blobs and recycle rubbish to advance. The acting is also mediocre, but the story and the mythology are both good. Everything about it seems like a drawn-out X-Files episode mixed with American Pickers. Though it's not my style, be cautious when using this (poor pun intended).