Pacific Drive: Whispers in the Woods Review

Pacific Drive: Whispers in the Woods

If you're reading this, you're probably aware. But just in case, Pacific Drive was one of the most unique survival adventure games of 2024. The action takes place in the already bleak Pacific Northwest. Pacific Drive It was about surviving a raid on the Olympic Exclusion Zone, a territory filled with supernatural energy and monstrous anomalies. The station wagon heading to the scrapyard has become your survival partner. The concept was simple: drive around, collect upgrades and parts, survive long enough to get back to the garage, and tinker with your car. Each time you can go a little further. Whispers of the Forest is an important addition to Pacific Drive. It adds several new systems and a completely new area to explore.

Alternative routes

Some DLC is only for endgame players. In the case of Whispers of the Woods, new content is available within just a few hours of play. However, the base game's systems are already quite opaque, so I'd recommend spending a lot of time getting to grips with the world of Pacific Drive first. The DLC adds several new systems that really only apply to the new zone and change the core loop a bit.

The new content takes place in the titular “Whispering Woods”, a significant new area that leans more towards horror visually. This certainly applies to the new enemies of the Forests, such as the iconic Reavers, the arachnid Hunter and many others. The Whispering Woods features a completely new and separate narrative about a cult that worships the zone's anomalies, which might make less sense without playing through the main Pacific Drive campaign.

The fundamental mechanics of Pacific Drive—the intense excursions into the woods, searching for parts, and upgrading the station wagon—remain intact. However, much is new. The Tide is a world-changing phenomenon that unleashes monsters. The counter constantly counts down the time until the next tide. To slow down the return of the Tide, you need synergy. Synergy is achieved by sourcing and using customized parts for the vehicle. There are altars with artifacts in the forest. Artifacts have both positive and negative consequences. Artifacts can also be sacrificed, which opens a portal home somewhere on the map, but also speeds up the timing of the Tide.

Clear as mud

Whispers of the Woods relies on the same tech tree and energy mechanics as Pacific Drive, meaning parallel stories can be equally viable when upgrading your vehicle. However, while being contained by Woods, repairs require harmonic energy that must be extracted from the tuned parts. There is a new tool, the Harmonizer, that slowly transfers energy.

While Pacific Drive has a tense and mechanically rich concept, there's no arguing that its execution is downright elegant. The game can be challenging and frustrating, with tedious garage work, clumsy driving, and general ambiguity. Forest whispers are not a panacea. But Pacific Drive has been receiving updates since launch, and the developers have used sandpaper for some of the rough edges. Performance-wise, Whispers of the Woods is in good shape, with few issues on PC. The game's already chilling sound design and subtle electronic music help add even more terror to the expansion.

Pacific Drive had a unique twist and rightfully earned praise for its fresh take on the survival genre. Whispers of the Woods offers an alternative starting adventure for new players and rich new content for veterans returning to the game. It doesn't radically reinvent the base game, but strikes the perfect balance of fresh and familiar that makes the DLC its most effective.

***PC code provided by publisher for review***