Cody Medellin: Survival in a quarantined zone is always an exciting premise to work with, but what makes Pacific Drive stand out is the fact that you're doing this completely in a car. It's not just any car but a station wagon that's been slightly tricked out to face whatever is in this abandoned place. There's not much else we know about it, but that's enough to gets us interested. Its February release date means that we don't have to wait long to see if the game is as exciting as the trailer suggests.

Tony "OUberLord" Mitera: Pacific Drive was practically made specifically for me, and there's no way Ironwood Studios knew it. You customize and build up a sweet station wagon to take trips into a mysterious exclusion zone filled with metal monsters? Sign me up. I just want to take care of my trusty car and repeatedly delve into the Olympic Exclusion Zone to explore it, and then come back and give that wagon some upgrades.

Rainier Van Autrijve: When Pacific Drive was announced in 2022 as a first-person driving survival game, I did a double take. The game grew on me, though. I'm a sucker for racing games, but I'm not very good at them, so since this is more of a "driving game," I might actually stay on the road for longer than five seconds. Racing titles usually have a wealth of modding and tuning options, and you almost need to be a licensed car mechanic to get handle on it. While Pacific Drive has a fully customizable car (and upgradable garage, which also serves as your base), it seems simplified to the point of being manageable for mere mortals. The other part that has my interest piqued was the survival aspect, which immediately had me thinking of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., with the similar Exclusion Zone and anomalies. There's only a month to go before I'll be revving my engines to scavenge the wasteland.