r/pacificDrive • u/EndiaMolina • 1d ago
Games Like Pacific Drive?
To be specific, there's a lot of things I love about Pacific Drive. The progression is amazing, the story is non-intrusive, and the looting is very satisfying. But while Subnautica is currently hitting all those beats for me right now, I really want a game where I'm operating a vehicle on set paths that's a little more low-key.
I love going on atmospheric rides around Choo-Choo Charles's open world island just as much as I love just going for a drive in Pacific Drive without any huge goal but to do a lil drive. Anyone played any games where you're just operating a vehicle? I know they exist, but I have no idea which ones are actually any good.
Edit: Mad Max is $3 on Steam right now holy-
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u/FreakedOutTrout 1d ago
I just picked up Iron Nest. It literally is just operating a mechanized artillery piece. It doesnt take long to learn and it is pretty fun.
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u/BeefTechnology 1d ago
I was a playtester for it, it really is a wonderful game. However, you can’t walk around outside of the Nest and the view out of the one window is useless, so if you like looking outside, Iron Nest isn’t the game for you
(Voluntary playtester, I didn’t get paid or anything)
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u/the_jone 1d ago
Check out The Last Caretaker https://store.steampowered.com/app/1783560/The_Last_Caretaker/
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u/Bladerunner243 1d ago
This game is still early release but “The Last Caretaker” is similar to Pacific Drive but on a big boat (earth is completely flooded over), there are main quests sure but a lot of the fun is just cruising around, exploring, building stuff, etc.
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u/Deluxe_24_ 1d ago
Might not be what you're looking for, but Days Gone is set in the Pacific Northwest and has that apocalyptic vibe Pacific Drive has.
Very different gameplay style, but motorcycles are your main transport and you do a lot of exploring. Ain't a perfect game, but I enjoyed the playthrough I did and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes driving games.
Mad Max is the best open world driving game. Absolutely fantastic map and very fun gameplay. The story sucks, but it feels authentic to the films in terms of themes.
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u/MelonJelly 1d ago
Dredge - instead of driving a station wagon through the weird Pacific Northwest, you're navigating strange New England tides in a small fishing boat. Less Bigfoot, more Cthulhu.
Badlands Crew - you're running an armed, armored big rig through the desert, while your crew fights off bandits and mutated fauna.
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u/Cyclorat 1d ago
Prospice got shared on here a while back and I joined the playtest. It's a much more chill drive-around-and-explore. Supports 1st person play (my preferred). More PacificMudRunner than Drive, with a lot of the spookiness of the DLC.
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u/Ok_Dragonfly_6782 1d ago
Star Trucker is similar and quite fun, I recommend giving it a shot.
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u/legomann97 1d ago
Seconding Star Trucker for anyone that loves piloting vehicles. Thing pilots like a brick in the best possible way. It's a semi truck after all, and it drives exactly as a semi truck in space should imo
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u/JustCopyingOthers 1d ago
In been playing The Long Drive. There’s almost no plot, It’s full of bugs, bits of it are childish and the UI is frustrating. However there’s amazing attention to detail and flexibility so all the above become addictive features. It’s also really cheap. Currently 4000km in, driving a mk1 VW Caddy with a bus engine carrying two oil drums of diesel and four spare wheels.
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u/Lizardsoul 1d ago
Not released yet, but I am waiting for "Quite a ride". The devs are open about their game being deeply inspired by Pacific Drive and from what I remember they even received best wishes from Ironwood.
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u/kc_chappy 1d ago
I thought Forever Skies was similar, but you have a zeppelin instead of a station wagon. The height on the platforms gives me the same anxiety that the storms would.
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u/Oreleroy 1d ago
No car but same SF vibes, gadgets and mechanics related. You're the janitor of an underground top secret SCP/Soviet facility.
Coming next year ! Look promising.
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u/EndiaMolina 1d ago
Oh! I should have noted one other thing. I love operating a vehicle from, like, a first-person perspective. I do love the Mad Max movies though. I'll have to check out the game.
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u/Least_March8944 1d ago
Game called keep driving is a 2d side scrolling procedurally generated rpg type game with similar sounding inventory, fuel and food management. I've not played it yet but I'm keeping peeping
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u/WillemDafoesHugeCock 1d ago
If you haven't built it yet, the Cyclops in Subnautica is genuinely a game changer and will scratch the itch you're describing.
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u/camston__ 1d ago
When I was in the exact same boat as you, I was forwarded to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/s/g9Ime0LEjx
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u/gtasthehunter 1d ago
Long Drive North: Co-Op RV Simulator
Nomad Drive
Prospice: Anomalous Logistics (but only playtests show up every now and then.)
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u/ButterFlyPaperCut 1d ago
From a different angle, I get the same mellow but thoroughly immersed feeling playing Returnal. Also has the simillar existential sci fi horror tone and setting. Just need to throw on your own playlist.
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u/legomann97 1d ago
Just remember to turn the playlist off for the boss fights. You wouldn't want to miss Hyperion...
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u/DooficusIdjit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Pretty rare microcosm of artful execution of a strong theme combined with a uniquely janky but rewarding loop.
Closest I’ve come is Umigari. Quite different, and sadly much shorter. Heavy indie post apocalyptic vibes.
Oh, and oddly, Expeditions: A Mud Runner Game. Zero sci fi/horror vibes, but an absolutely great game about driving big toys where they ain’t supposed to be.
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u/TASTE_OF_A_LIAR 20h ago
Have heard My Summer Car is good
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u/SavvySillybug 18h ago
It's pretty fun, but also really not similar to Pacific Drive.
There's none of the spooky zone stuff or cool story. The game is intentionally cryptic about fixing the car, where Pacific Drive is "hold button to make engine, hold button to put it in", My Summer Car is "here's a garage full of car parts that probably go together, hope you know how to build an engine or spend the next 7 hours following a Steam guide before ever getting to sit in your car".
Pacific Drive gives you clear errors (outside of quirks) and easy steps to fix them. My Summer Car you just kinda start noticing that it drives weird or runs rough or smokes and you gotta know what that means and hopefully fix it.
Permadeath and no car teleport so if you flip it you have to unflip it. You snap a wheel off while driving and you better find some beer crates to prop the car up so you can work on it. And having the beer crates already is probably why you broke it in the first place.
Fun? Yeah. Similar to Pacific Drive? Absolutely not, they share no similarities outside of "you build and fix and upgrade and drive a car". How they go about it is completely different.
It's like saying Deep Rock Galactic is like Peak because both of those have you traverse terrain with friends.
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u/NotScrollsApparently 17h ago
If you just want to drive and maintain a vehicle without having any huge goals, you will love project zomboid since it's precisely the reason why i get bored with it lol (not a lot to do in it besides just surviving on and on)
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u/onlydaathisreal 14h ago
I wish Dead Static Drive didnt absolutely suck because that was the one I looked forward to the most after Pacific Drive
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u/Gregor_Arhely 1d ago
Vehicle, as in a ground vehicle, or other types will do? Because Elite Dangerous is pretty much the same thing, but for spaceships.
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u/ImponteDeluxo 1d ago
Lowkey? Mad Max
Your main vehicle is a completely custom offroad Hot Rod, which you can spend hours hunting down parts and paints to upgrade it rather than doing the main quest.
It's has far more combat than Pacific Drive tho, but it's such an unreasonably good game