Honestly, that makes My S.T.A.L.K.E.R Car all the more impressive. Games like this are perfect for those of us who long for a good old-fashioned roadside picnic.
I'd like to add that there are POSITIVE perks... such as one I got once I got the electric engine... Battery goes up when car goes fast. Literally was the best quirk ever.
@@Landrassa1 I learned the hard way that anything that makes the car jolt forward is intensely bad. Especially when you combine that with conditions were getting shocked causes your car to jolt forward...
kick car -> ability activates. great when it's the loot radar. don't have to get in and out to get another pulse. very very bad when it's the turbo. as you see the car hurl itself forward by 10 meters (if you're lucky and have it in park) -- considerably further if you've forgotten.
unfortunately, I keep getting the exact same one over and over where turning the wheel turns the headlights down, which has made my darkness zone runs absolutely terrifying lmfao
My funniest moment with a quirk was "use horn, car lurches forward". This may not sound bad, except I was testing it in the garage and the front door was closed.
@@heykak I had one where whenever i turned left it moved the wipers. Sounds innocuous but quickly became very annoying, especially since it also turned the wipers off the moment I *stopped* turning left, and sometimes you really do not want the wipers to turn off.
@@Landrassa1Like when the acid spewing metal teddy bear cacti decide you're their new best friend? I had one where the headlights would dim to nothing if i turned the wheel all the way left or right. The number of times I veered to the side trying to avoid something, only to run into something even worse was....a lot.
@@heykak Oh I had that first one exactly... IRL. Turned out there was a loose wire in there somewhere and whenever I turned left it would contact the steering column and short the engine. That was a frightening and confusing drive home and conversation with the mechanic.
I've very much loved playing this, and since Yahtzee didn't mention it in the video (or if he did I missed it) one of my favorite details is that since you're driving an old hatchback, if you're standing underneath the rear hatch when you close it, you'll just nail yourself on the head for a sliver of damage. Just like the good ol' volvo we used to have!
The saga of Yahtzee going from a "Im not having a family" in the old... Urm 100% legally distinct show. Now him having dad complaints is the kinda story telling im here for.
It's even funnier when you know what he said in the Show and Tell podcast. In 2012 he word for word said to the idea of having kids "I couldn't imagine a more hellish existence"
I imagine the reasons he doesn't do so many jokes on kids is because his wife probably smacks him in the back of the head every time he tries to sneak one in
100% confirm this was the case. My car had whole bunch of odd quirks. Like fuel gauge would mimic the motions of the wipers, and wipers wouldn't work properly if the radio was off. The game was reminding me to remove them, but it gave my car a lot of charm.
Very true. My ol' reliable has its share of seemingly random, hard to explain quirks too. Nothing that stops it from getting you where you need to go, just stuff you need to keep in mind to avoid inconvenience, confusion, and pain.
@@Paledoptera images if the car had a temperature gauge that shared a voltage regulator with the fuel gauge, so if that bad you never know if you have a half a tank of fuel or if you about to cook the engine. But it's not a volvo 240 so you don't have to worry about that.
I love that he specified the *original* DuckTales theme song. This confirms that Yahtzee has seen the DuckTales reboot, probably with his kids, which is just lovely to picture.
@@louisduarte8763 Honestly, the fact that they made the nephews their own individual characters and not just pallets swapped clones of the same person was a huge improvement over all earlier versions of them. That and Webby not being the scared little girl but instead being more daring and adventurous than the boys. Plus, the fact that she had a bigger role in the show and got her own story arcs instead of just being the token female character she was stuck being in the past.
@@DanielFerreira-ez8qdI wouldn’t say completely canned it, because it was allowed to have an actual finale, as opposed to ending on a cliffhanger… that said I’d watch another 3 seasons without a second thought.
That line about always *feeling* like you're on the verge of failure is a helluva recommendation unto itself, in my book. That's a helluva thing to design for and consistently pull off!
I can confirm the game does an amazing job with threats. Very dramatic in presentation, so their bark is worse than their bite, but _enough_ bite so they never become a fake threat that can be ignored It creates spectacularly dramatic escapes and near misses without causing a frustration loop of failing and reloading
It's kind of like the constant creeping dread that Subnautica pulls off so well. That sense that "I've GOT this..!!! Nope, no I don't, I'm going back to base to play with my cuddle fish until I stop having a heart attack."
Also the fact that you can have different ability (Defense/speed/agility) and engine builds (electric or petrol) just adds to the customisation and complexity to the game. I loved every minute of it.
I wholeheartedly agree with all the points in this video. Pacific Drive is currently sitting at an 83% rating on Steam, which I think is very fair and what it deserves, but I bought it on a whim and accidentally played 20 hours in one week. The game knows what it is and doesn't try to make you think it's anything else and I love it for that.
Fully agree with the summation. It's a game where I can definitely not claim it's the best I've ever played but it's solid in so many ways that I still enjoy playing it, even as I recognize the lack of depth or challenge in some areas.
This game is a Rogue Lite, but it's a highly unconventional take on the genre (similarly to Outer Wilds, in that regard). Also, as with Outer Wilds, it's for people who don't necessarily like roguelikes, or roguelites. Everything from the art style (again, similar to Outer Wilds, or Firewatch) to the gameplay loop, to the physics (strangely closer to a sim than an arcade driving model, although still more on the arcade side for ease of use), to the story (the voice acting is fantastic!) makes this game a real gem. You build a real bond with you car. I named mine "Maggie", and she and I have been on many adventures into "The Zone", only to narrowly escape back to the safety of our homey little garage with missing fenders, no headlights, flat tires, and a bruised ego. Fantastic game!
I don't know if I'd compare Outer Wilds to a rogue-like. Yes, you respawn after dying, but the game universe is consistent with each run, with the only thing changing being the direction you go in. Incidentally, I feel like Yahtzee could give the game another look a few years later. It got caught up in the "The Outer W(i/or)lds are the same game lol," hype at the time, but I noticed that he's made favorable references to it since then.
i noticed how not arcadey the driving felt very quickly, and i think its what makes the driving so fun in this game You actually have to get a feel for how your car responds to turns and other shit so you can not crash and die lmao When they add wheel support (iirc they said its on the list) i definitely want to find a used wheel to get to use with this game
I particularly love the narrative choice to say "this car is a cursed artifact that makes you obsessed with it" while supporting that through gameplay by having your car be your singular line of defense against getting lethally irradiated or electrocuted or punctured. You want to take care of the car because it's a driving game and you rely on the car so you develop an emotional attachment to the car (mine's named Ghost), and the narrative aligns with your emotional attachment. A spark of genius
I love the balance between arcade driving and sim, honestly. I really enjoy a bit of micromanagement in a game but too much gets really frustrating really fast and I think they balanced it perfectly. It was also a genius idea to have the sim elements relate to your car rather than you as a person - hunger and thirst metres are a pain in the ass and they only get more annoying the more you have to deal with them because you personally don't feel what they represent so all they are is a barrier to the gameplay which ideally is something you do enjoy. An issue the developers have neatly sidestepped by adding survival elements to your vehicle instead - I wouldn't expect to personally feel it when my car door or bumper takes damage. What I DO feel is the threat that comes from my only safe haven in the Zone starting to fall apart and also the deeply personal anger that comes from my car (I also named mine, he's Appa and I painted him beige) being hurt by electric hedgehogs
Oh man, I’m so glad Yahtzee is drawing attention to this game. I havent had the fortune to play it myself, ive been real busy with Starsector, but it looks absolutely amazing. A real breath of fresh air, this game.
I highly recommend it. The controls take some getting used to but once you start, next thing you know it'll be 3 AM and you'll be testing the limits of how long you can remain in an area before reality explodes. And prep time is everything because there will be moments where if you don't pack the right things for the run, you'll be screwed. Solid game that doesn't hold your hand and trusts you'll be responsible enough to figure it out as you play
I also recommend it, it is fun, exciting and keeps the thrill paced throughout as long as you aren't trying to 100% everything. The UI fits the theme perfectly, and while it has its issues, the issues do actually make sense. I have seen people complain that while driving they don't want to see the hood of the car, cause when they drive IRL they don't. Yet obviously these people have never driven an actual Station Wagon, cause yah, it takes up a huge portion of your vision (unless you are very short and can't see over the wheel anyway). I also like Starsector, though that is a completely different game.
Pacific Drive is great and anyone who enjoyed Subnautica, Outer Wilds, and Half Life vibes should give this a shot. Ignore user complaints about the save system, there are options in the menu to retain all your resources when you die, and your saves are at the beginning of each LEVEL (Junction), not just each RUN (multiple junctions before finding a portal exit).
@@jimmyjohnjoejrYeah I think the developer did a poor job of describing in-game how saving works. I believe they are also adding an option to quit in the middle of a map and retain your resources you might have found (although you will still be back at the beginning of that map upon loading). But basically Quit = restart at the beginning of the junction (no big deal, maybe 10 minutes wasted), while Abandon Run means going all the way back to the garage (what most people thought Quitting was going to do)
I discovered all that the hard way by the game bluescreening my machine every time there was a particle effect until I turned everything down to medium lol. It seems a little resource heavy. Good game tho
@@Kevin-cf9nl apparently it had a little icon in the bottom right of the screen. Also if you did go to quit, it would tell you how many minutes since the last save (which was at the beginning of the junction). An update to the game added a more obvious popup that let you know it was saving, which helps
It's like if S.T.A.L.K.E.R got together with Hot Wheels and somehow winged it, got a newborn car game and threw them into The Zone... *So like my life discounting the part where my dad gave me Hot Wheels...*
As someone who works at Costco I can confirm that escaping the parking lot at 2pm on a Saturday is like an escape sequence. I imagine the Costco in Yahtzee's area is much busier than the one I work at too.
I had a chance to play the demo of this at PAX, and it instantly hooked me. Glad to see it getting a lot of positive press, it's a really fun concept for a game.
Well, I wasn't expecting Yahtzee's throwaway reference map to be someone I actually been! Though driving through Shropshire can feel like a breakdown of reality 🤣
listening to the mountain goats while playing definitely elevates the experience. "I hope you die, I hope we both die" as the storm closes in? Very nice
this review was more zoological than I was expecting (although I did love the owl babies). I watched a stream of this and definitely you're on the money with the core attractions of the game, I think, so looking forward to being apocalyptically dadly at some point in the future
Don't forget to feed the baby owls in the carburetor, Yahtz. Nothing ruins a good day worse than cleaning starved baby owls from your eldritch, inter-dimensional car.
I nearly threw a tantrum when i heard the news (yeah yeah, months too late), but i can't tell you, how happy I am, being able to hear your reviews again!
Idk if Yahtzee will see this but I thought this might be the best place to get him to see this message. I just wanted to say thanks. I have seen a couple of my old favorite content creators slowly disappear over the past year or two and I am so happy you are doing ok, and the rest of team seems amazing as well, consistently and impressively talented. P.S my favorite thing you ever made were your playthroughs of your Ego Reviews and Let's Drown Out. Truly a modern-day Douglas Adams.
A driving/racing game with an actual story is to be celebrated. Racing game fans have for years yearned for anything that is not another driving simulator or online multiplayer focused arcade racer.
I feel like there's a Semiramblomatic incoming about the virtues of an extraction mechanic after this game, contrasting how this one handles it with the rings, to how Deep Rock Galactic uses it to make sure every single mission ends with a dramatic flourish and bopping tense music, and probably including Lethal Company and a few other games that use mission-based and procedural structures together. It feels like something multiple good games have independently realized is a strong format.
I enjoyed the game. Only thing I would have like done different is actual upgrades for the car being actual upgrades. Aside from the tier 2 armor (steel), the rest are side-grades which you could swap out depending if the conditions are needed. But honestly it's not really needed, I went through with just steel armor and the default engine and never had a hard time.
Can confirm: This game accurately depicts driving through east of I5 Washington while listening to a podcast, all while the shrooms haven't quite worn off.
The more I play it the more I like from a design perspective. The split between a zone normally vs when you're racing for the exit/its a stormy zone is just great, all these things that normally are easy suddenly become alot scarier when you're flying by at 60+ mph. You can really stop to look at or mess with anomalies during the calm but they still present a threat during the storm.
Been addicted to playing this game since it came out, especially fun for me as I live up in the region where the game takes place. It's really fun to see how well they did the terrain and weather, feels like actually driving around here in real life, you know, minus the robot hedgehogs. I did manage to fail a mission one time, as I thought I was heading towards the exit portal but I went through a tunnel that didn't exit where I thought it did, and the red ring managed to close in around me. Let me tell you, you don't want to do that. Car teleported back to the garage missing like 80% of the things I had bolted on to it and half the tires were just missing.
Just in case Yahtzee actually reads this comment, I finished "Will save the galaxy for food" yesterday after having left it at chapter 18 because I got so attached to the main character that what happened to him emotionally wrecked me and I had to put it down for a few months. Picked it up again because we have to read a book in english class that I can best describe as "painfully generic" and needed sth. to counterbalance.
It's an interesting game. Although trying to find and collect certain resources can be a real chore (looking at you, thermosap crystals). The logbook blurbs for various things scanned in the Zone can be quite amusing.
the midzone is the entire reason I started actually making and using the vacuum cleaner, just for convenience's sake lol. Imagine my surprise when I learned you can vacuum tree candy off the tree rather than snapping off each individual branch
It has a surprising (if more compressed and focused) similarity to No Mans Sky (before it wandered off course into being a base building MMO thing). Vague non-descript traveller person finds vehicle, travels from planet/region to planet/region collecting upgrades while trying not to die horribly to the hazards so they can move on to the bigger/scarier region. While 3 guide characters sort of haphazardly direct you in the direction of the story from time to time. Though yeah, it also did the same thing where you get to the end and its just kind of "Well, good job. You can uh, keep doing this now". Which was where NMS got into its whole "well you can be an intergalactic farming trade baron and possibly a rebel against the robot enforcers of the status quo" arc going. While having one foot in that survival/crafting stuff probably was a good indicator that PD might not end for real, it'd be a bit bolder if it had done so.
I'm so proud of Yahtzee. Reviewing games he wants to play, dadding, cutting down on vitriol, changing publishers and art style without breaking a sweat... he's all grown up
The sound design in this game is absolutely phenomenal, i think it does the heavy lifting in the sense of always hinting at something terrible is about to happen even though nothing really does.
I'd just like to mention how much more I enjoy the intro music to Ramblomatic, as opposed to ZP. I hated the latter so much that I'd fast-forward the video for five seconds or whatever, just to avoid hearing it. Not to mention the older version with the pseudo-Wilhelm-scream ("HA!!!") that would make my skin crawl. In my opinion, you guys seem to be just doing things all-around *better* working for yourselves than you did for corporate stooges. I hope the venture is going well for you behind the scenes too! :-)
Here is my usual updated guess pool for the End of Year Lists (so far, and not including retro reviews). BEST -------- 5. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth 4. ??? 3. Pacific Drive 2. ??? 1. ??? BLANDEST ------------------ 5. Skull & Bones 4. ??? 3. Persona 3 Reload 2. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown 1. ??? WORST ------------ 5. ??? 4. ??? 3. ??? 2. ??? 1. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Not on any YE List (either because it's retro or unremarkable): Beyond Good & Evil, Graven, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.
I thought there was gonna be a Pacific Rim joke. Maybe a final battle where you park your car on top of a giant robot and become its cockpit MEGAS XLR style.
Pacific drive somehow isn't hard, but you'll also be crawling back to the garage with no doors, windshield glass in your eyes and the engine about to fall out the bottom. The game does have a "friendly dumpster" that gives you absolutely necessary items you need, as a anti-softlock device, but that's it. The game makes you wonder if it's worth spending your precious resources on headlights or wheels, or if you want to hold out and hope you find more loot, and I love it
God what I would pay to hear Yatzee's opinion of Genshin Impact story mode or the more likely Honkai Impact's story mode... He would be so confused to whether praise it for competently written characters or bash it to oblivion for the cluster fuck of story (but a good story) as a whole it is....
This is the best review of this game I've found so far. I feel like it needs some challenge stages to make use of the later unlocks. Half of them are useless. Give me a water level so I can enjoy my paddle wheels
![ค้างคืนโรงเก็บกระสวยอวกาศร้างกลางทะเลทราย [Around The World Ep. 3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E5bWZQhABJE/mqdefault.jpg)
Support the Adventure is Nigh - The Card Game on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/slugfestgames/adventure-is-nigh-the-card-game/
Maybe if you dressed Moped up like a bespectacled demon lady that will get us to the goal faster.
No Yahtzee Tries this week?
Still out filming Adventure is Nigh. Won't be one next week either cause we'll be at GDC!@@E1craZ4life
There's an o in Jalopy, just figured i'd point that out
Red Dragon Inn is awesome, can't wait to get my hands on the Collector edition.
For a £25 game that's the studios first, I'll say that Pacific Drive hits harder than it needs to and I'm happy for it to get the success it deserves
Yeah great price point for a game
Honestly, that makes My S.T.A.L.K.E.R Car all the more impressive. Games like this are perfect for those of us who long for a good old-fashioned roadside picnic.
@@reckoner1913 You have to consider that maybe, just maybe, you might be getting old.
@@reckoner1913"These days"??? We've used the term "it's a hit" for, what, 8 decades?
It's good, but it's no Palword
I'd like to add that there are POSITIVE perks... such as one I got once I got the electric engine... Battery goes up when car goes fast. Literally was the best quirk ever.
There's one quirk where your car jolts forward when you turn the lights on, which means players get to morse code their way up mountains.
@@Landrassa1 I learned the hard way that anything that makes the car jolt forward is intensely bad. Especially when you combine that with conditions were getting shocked causes your car to jolt forward...
kick car -> ability activates.
great when it's the loot radar. don't have to get in and out to get another pulse.
very very bad when it's the turbo. as you see the car hurl itself forward by 10 meters (if you're lucky and have it in park) -- considerably further if you've forgotten.
@@xethierI never even knew you could get a quirk involving kicking the car!!!
unfortunately, I keep getting the exact same one over and over where turning the wheel turns the headlights down, which has made my darkness zone runs absolutely terrifying lmfao
My funniest moment with a quirk was "use horn, car lurches forward". This may not sound bad, except I was testing it in the garage and the front door was closed.
I had a quirk that was "turn left, car turns off" and "turn steering wheel sharply, all doors open".
@@heykak I had one where whenever i turned left it moved the wipers. Sounds innocuous but quickly became very annoying, especially since it also turned the wipers off the moment I *stopped* turning left, and sometimes you really do not want the wipers to turn off.
@@Landrassa1Like when the acid spewing metal teddy bear cacti decide you're their new best friend?
I had one where the headlights would dim to nothing if i turned the wheel all the way left or right. The number of times I veered to the side trying to avoid something, only to run into something even worse was....a lot.
@@heykak Oh I had that first one exactly... IRL. Turned out there was a loose wire in there somewhere and whenever I turned left it would contact the steering column and short the engine. That was a frightening and confusing drive home and conversation with the mechanic.
@@Taurusus Oh, so Pacific drive is realistic then...
I've very much loved playing this, and since Yahtzee didn't mention it in the video (or if he did I missed it) one of my favorite details is that since you're driving an old hatchback, if you're standing underneath the rear hatch when you close it, you'll just nail yourself on the head for a sliver of damage. Just like the good ol' volvo we used to have!
kinda annoying and forces moving away from them to keep that 1% health
The saga of Yahtzee going from a "Im not having a family" in the old... Urm 100% legally distinct show. Now him having dad complaints is the kinda story telling im here for.
I love the Dad Yahtzee arc.
It's even funnier when you know what he said in the Show and Tell podcast. In 2012 he word for word said to the idea of having kids "I couldn't imagine a more hellish existence"
Fear it. Run from it. Dadhood arrives all the same
And now he merely fantasizes about driving his minivan into the ocean, but manages not to
I imagine the reasons he doesn't do so many jokes on kids is because his wife probably smacks him in the back of the head every time he tries to sneak one in
As someone who’s driven to LA I can confirm reality is subjective and madness is closer to you than you’d think
The madness in the mirror may be closer than it appears
Gotta love the 405
I've also driven to LA but I feel like the real qualifier here is "from where?" because for me it took four hours and I drove back after a couple days
It's a highway system that only grows more congested as you widen the roadway. Truly a non-Euclidean nexus.
Same here, and you are absolutely correct.
4:24
Funny part is this is a very very accurate representation of owning a old car. They will get electrical gremlins like this, sometimes often
100% confirm this was the case. My car had whole bunch of odd quirks. Like fuel gauge would mimic the motions of the wipers, and wipers wouldn't work properly if the radio was off.
The game was reminding me to remove them, but it gave my car a lot of charm.
Dad had 2 AMC Gremlins.
@@hawkonroyale431 im sorry but the idea of your fuel gage going up and down with the wipers is fucking hillarious
Very true. My ol' reliable has its share of seemingly random, hard to explain quirks too. Nothing that stops it from getting you where you need to go, just stuff you need to keep in mind to avoid inconvenience, confusion, and pain.
@@Paledoptera images if the car had a temperature gauge that shared a voltage regulator with the fuel gauge, so if that bad you never know if you have a half a tank of fuel or if you about to cook the engine. But it's not a volvo 240 so you don't have to worry about that.
I love that he specified the *original* DuckTales theme song. This confirms that Yahtzee has seen the DuckTales reboot, probably with his kids, which is just lovely to picture.
@@louisduarte8763 Honestly, the fact that they made the nephews their own individual characters and not just pallets swapped clones of the same person was a huge improvement over all earlier versions of them. That and Webby not being the scared little girl but instead being more daring and adventurous than the boys. Plus, the fact that she had a bigger role in the show and got her own story arcs instead of just being the token female character she was stuck being in the past.
@@JMcMillenThe DuckTales reboot improves on the original in pretty much every way except for one - Disney cancelled it too soon.
@@louisduarte8763 he has alluded to not liking the new dr who, which at that time was the russell t davies dr who.
@@tjpeluso disney canned it? dang
@@DanielFerreira-ez8qdI wouldn’t say completely canned it, because it was allowed to have an actual finale, as opposed to ending on a cliffhanger… that said I’d watch another 3 seasons without a second thought.
That line about always *feeling* like you're on the verge of failure is a helluva recommendation unto itself, in my book. That's a helluva thing to design for and consistently pull off!
I can confirm the game does an amazing job with threats. Very dramatic in presentation, so their bark is worse than their bite, but _enough_ bite so they never become a fake threat that can be ignored
It creates spectacularly dramatic escapes and near misses without causing a frustration loop of failing and reloading
It's kind of like the constant creeping dread that Subnautica pulls off so well. That sense that "I've GOT this..!!! Nope, no I don't, I'm going back to base to play with my cuddle fish until I stop having a heart attack."
I turned the difficultly settings up so failure is brutal, makes the escaping so so much more intense then it already is
Also the fact that you can have different ability (Defense/speed/agility) and engine builds (electric or petrol) just adds to the customisation and complexity to the game. I loved every minute of it.
I wholeheartedly agree with all the points in this video. Pacific Drive is currently sitting at an 83% rating on Steam, which I think is very fair and what it deserves, but I bought it on a whim and accidentally played 20 hours in one week. The game knows what it is and doesn't try to make you think it's anything else and I love it for that.
The best part is that it's priced accordingly, like 25 euros for this is a great bargain, and that's without a sale
Quite literally a "Roadside Picnic" (the novel on which the Stalker movie and set of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are based).
Fully agree with the summation. It's a game where I can definitely not claim it's the best I've ever played but it's solid in so many ways that I still enjoy playing it, even as I recognize the lack of depth or challenge in some areas.
Great, now I've got the Duck Tales song stuck in my head
We all do Jeffrey we all do
Could do worse tbh
The bastard, i'm also aware of my tongue placement and breathing and i lost the game.
You can always listen to Hall and Oates "You Make My Dreams Come True", it's the exact same song structure.
I'm currently thinking about the overarching story of the SMT series
We went from a lovely metaphor about a caramel slice to smoking a cigarette after copulating with a complete menagerie. Well played.
This game is a Rogue Lite, but it's a highly unconventional take on the genre (similarly to Outer Wilds, in that regard). Also, as with Outer Wilds, it's for people who don't necessarily like roguelikes, or roguelites. Everything from the art style (again, similar to Outer Wilds, or Firewatch) to the gameplay loop, to the physics (strangely closer to a sim than an arcade driving model, although still more on the arcade side for ease of use), to the story (the voice acting is fantastic!) makes this game a real gem. You build a real bond with you car. I named mine "Maggie", and she and I have been on many adventures into "The Zone", only to narrowly escape back to the safety of our homey little garage with missing fenders, no headlights, flat tires, and a bruised ego. Fantastic game!
I don't know if I'd compare Outer Wilds to a rogue-like. Yes, you respawn after dying, but the game universe is consistent with each run, with the only thing changing being the direction you go in.
Incidentally, I feel like Yahtzee could give the game another look a few years later. It got caught up in the "The Outer W(i/or)lds are the same game lol," hype at the time, but I noticed that he's made favorable references to it since then.
i noticed how not arcadey the driving felt very quickly, and i think its what makes the driving so fun in this game
You actually have to get a feel for how your car responds to turns and other shit so you can not crash and die lmao
When they add wheel support (iirc they said its on the list) i definitely want to find a used wheel to get to use with this game
ive been calling it an extraction looter
I particularly love the narrative choice to say "this car is a cursed artifact that makes you obsessed with it" while supporting that through gameplay by having your car be your singular line of defense against getting lethally irradiated or electrocuted or punctured. You want to take care of the car because it's a driving game and you rely on the car so you develop an emotional attachment to the car (mine's named Ghost), and the narrative aligns with your emotional attachment. A spark of genius
I love the balance between arcade driving and sim, honestly. I really enjoy a bit of micromanagement in a game but too much gets really frustrating really fast and I think they balanced it perfectly. It was also a genius idea to have the sim elements relate to your car rather than you as a person - hunger and thirst metres are a pain in the ass and they only get more annoying the more you have to deal with them because you personally don't feel what they represent so all they are is a barrier to the gameplay which ideally is something you do enjoy. An issue the developers have neatly sidestepped by adding survival elements to your vehicle instead - I wouldn't expect to personally feel it when my car door or bumper takes damage. What I DO feel is the threat that comes from my only safe haven in the Zone starting to fall apart and also the deeply personal anger that comes from my car (I also named mine, he's Appa and I painted him beige) being hurt by electric hedgehogs
Oh man, I’m so glad Yahtzee is drawing attention to this game. I havent had the fortune to play it myself, ive been real busy with Starsector, but it looks absolutely amazing. A real breath of fresh air, this game.
I highly recommend it. The controls take some getting used to but once you start, next thing you know it'll be 3 AM and you'll be testing the limits of how long you can remain in an area before reality explodes. And prep time is everything because there will be moments where if you don't pack the right things for the run, you'll be screwed. Solid game that doesn't hold your hand and trusts you'll be responsible enough to figure it out as you play
The UI is absolutely atrocious though. I played it for 2 hrs last week and got a refund
I also recommend it, it is fun, exciting and keeps the thrill paced throughout as long as you aren't trying to 100% everything.
The UI fits the theme perfectly, and while it has its issues, the issues do actually make sense. I have seen people complain that while driving they don't want to see the hood of the car, cause when they drive IRL they don't. Yet obviously these people have never driven an actual Station Wagon, cause yah, it takes up a huge portion of your vision (unless you are very short and can't see over the wheel anyway). I also like Starsector, though that is a completely different game.
god i hate the Legio Infernalis. Loved the new update.
How's your Alpha AI core farming goes, Captain? Sell it for easy bucks or forced friendship with that annoying Hyperion faction?
Pacific Drive is great and anyone who enjoyed Subnautica, Outer Wilds, and Half Life vibes should give this a shot. Ignore user complaints about the save system, there are options in the menu to retain all your resources when you die, and your saves are at the beginning of each LEVEL (Junction), not just each RUN (multiple junctions before finding a portal exit).
Wow, this alleviates every issue I thought the game had based on the steam reviews - will absolutely check it out after reading this.
@@jimmyjohnjoejrYeah I think the developer did a poor job of describing in-game how saving works. I believe they are also adding an option to quit in the middle of a map and retain your resources you might have found (although you will still be back at the beginning of that map upon loading). But basically Quit = restart at the beginning of the junction (no big deal, maybe 10 minutes wasted), while Abandon Run means going all the way back to the garage (what most people thought Quitting was going to do)
... the game absolutely does NOT let you know it saves at the beginning of each junction. That is a massive game changer.
I discovered all that the hard way by the game bluescreening my machine every time there was a particle effect until I turned everything down to medium lol. It seems a little resource heavy. Good game tho
@@Kevin-cf9nl apparently it had a little icon in the bottom right of the screen. Also if you did go to quit, it would tell you how many minutes since the last save (which was at the beginning of the junction). An update to the game added a more obvious popup that let you know it was saving, which helps
More hedgehogs in the video than I expected.
"But what is videogaming if not one well-crafted delusion after another?"
Well goddamn...
It's like if S.T.A.L.K.E.R got together with Hot Wheels and somehow winged it, got a newborn car game and threw them into The Zone...
*So like my life discounting the part where my dad gave me Hot Wheels...*
It's the most S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game I've played since Call of Pripyat. I sincerely hope the team creating #2 paid attention to this one.
STAL-CAR
I'd say Crazy taxy + Pimp my ride + stranger things
Guess I'll know to uncheck "nuclear cars that can break the fabric of space and time" when I go to a Hertz or another rental shop.
As someone who works at Costco I can confirm that escaping the parking lot at 2pm on a Saturday is like an escape sequence. I imagine the Costco in Yahtzee's area is much busier than the one I work at too.
big fan of the yahtzee dad era
@3:47, that's the town I grew up in! It's a tiny place in the middle of nowhere so my jaw literally dropped when I saw it 😂
I was wondering if someone in the comments would say this. Tbh Ticklerton briefly made me wonder if it was fake or procedurally generated, lol.
I had a chance to play the demo of this at PAX, and it instantly hooked me. Glad to see it getting a lot of positive press, it's a really fun concept for a game.
Alright, might actually sound like something worthwhile, as someone who would like to feel like he's competent once in a while.
Well, I wasn't expecting Yahtzee's throwaway reference map to be someone I actually been! Though driving through Shropshire can feel like a breakdown of reality 🤣
1:17 - "Who Fuck The Knows"
An interesting mystery.
The rare and prestigious positive Yahtzee review.
To be fair, I think I'd love to listen to Egon explaining the lore of Shin Megami Tensei games for hours.
Same here.
Especially if he used analogies, like the Twinkie one.
I don't know if it's just the rot setting in but my brain immediately grokked "I'll take it. It'll do" as a Mountain Goats reference
listening to the mountain goats while playing definitely elevates the experience. "I hope you die, I hope we both die" as the storm closes in? Very nice
Me the second i saw the notification: PUT IT IN MY VEINS
this review was more zoological than I was expecting (although I did love the owl babies). I watched a stream of this and definitely you're on the money with the core attractions of the game, I think, so looking forward to being apocalyptically dadly at some point in the future
Don't forget to feed the baby owls in the carburetor, Yahtz. Nothing ruins a good day worse than cleaning starved baby owls from your eldritch, inter-dimensional car.
I nearly threw a tantrum when i heard the news (yeah yeah, months too late), but i can't tell you, how happy I am, being able to hear your reviews again!
"Who f&%k the knows"
Now you too can't unsee it. You're welcome.
Timestamp?
I think that's part of the joke, since he's discussing the map being ever-changing and nonsensical
@@Ramsey276one 1:18 Sign
@@Ramsey276one 1:18 the Sign on the left
@@MrocnyZbik Thanks!
Ive gotten a lot of traffic to my Roadside Picnic videos because of this game.
Im so happy this new channel is doing well, you all deserve it!! ❤
I'm surprised Yahtzee didn't compare this game to his own, The Consuming Shadow.
They're very similar.
The so glad you didn't bury my boy pacific drive 10 feet deep. Pacific drive is great absolutely recommend.
This sounds like the EXACT kind of game I have been looking for. Like a roadtrip game but with a purpose beyond "deliver crate A to place B".
The story is legitimately very well-crafted and surprisingly touching at multiple points.
“What is video gaming if not one well crafted delusion after another” love that line!
My ex used to love the Duck Tales theme song. "Woo OOO!" I miss ya Katie.
"What is video gaming if not one well crafted delusion after another." Beautiful.
Yes, this game deserves all the attention!
Pacific Drive is a great game! However, I would stress that it's much more like Stalker, the 1979 film, than S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the game series
This may honestly be the funniest review Yahtzee’s ever done of a game he actually liked.
Idk if Yahtzee will see this but I thought this might be the best place to get him to see this message. I just wanted to say thanks. I have seen a couple of my old favorite content creators slowly disappear over the past year or two and I am so happy you are doing ok, and the rest of team seems amazing as well, consistently and impressively talented.
P.S my favorite thing you ever made were your playthroughs of your Ego Reviews and Let's Drown Out. Truly a modern-day Douglas Adams.
Exploring with cars as a genre really isn't something we have enough of in gaming. All these open worlds and you still have to hoof it around.
A driving/racing game with an actual story is to be celebrated. Racing game fans have for years yearned for anything that is not another driving simulator or online multiplayer focused arcade racer.
I feel like there's a Semiramblomatic incoming about the virtues of an extraction mechanic after this game, contrasting how this one handles it with the rings, to how Deep Rock Galactic uses it to make sure every single mission ends with a dramatic flourish and bopping tense music, and probably including Lethal Company and a few other games that use mission-based and procedural structures together. It feels like something multiple good games have independently realized is a strong format.
I enjoyed the game. Only thing I would have like done different is actual upgrades for the car being actual upgrades. Aside from the tier 2 armor (steel), the rest are side-grades which you could swap out depending if the conditions are needed. But honestly it's not really needed, I went through with just steel armor and the default engine and never had a hard time.
Can confirm: This game accurately depicts driving through east of I5 Washington while listening to a podcast, all while the shrooms haven't quite worn off.
This game is some sort of minor masterpiece. A pretty unique mix of genres and just plain engaging to play.
The more I play it the more I like from a design perspective. The split between a zone normally vs when you're racing for the exit/its a stormy zone is just great, all these things that normally are easy suddenly become alot scarier when you're flying by at 60+ mph. You can really stop to look at or mess with anomalies during the calm but they still present a threat during the storm.
When Yahtz needs to feel alive, he just gets in his car and drives
You forgot the part of the brain reserved for thinking about Rome!
4:28 So THAT'S why my headlights never turn off
Very happy that Yahtzee reviewed this
Been addicted to playing this game since it came out, especially fun for me as I live up in the region where the game takes place. It's really fun to see how well they did the terrain and weather, feels like actually driving around here in real life, you know, minus the robot hedgehogs. I did manage to fail a mission one time, as I thought I was heading towards the exit portal but I went through a tunnel that didn't exit where I thought it did, and the red ring managed to close in around me. Let me tell you, you don't want to do that. Car teleported back to the garage missing like 80% of the things I had bolted on to it and half the tires were just missing.
Just in case Yahtzee actually reads this comment, I finished "Will save the galaxy for food" yesterday after having left it at chapter 18 because I got so attached to the main character that what happened to him emotionally wrecked me and I had to put it down for a few months. Picked it up again because we have to read a book in english class that I can best describe as "painfully generic" and needed sth. to counterbalance.
I'm surprised the Escapist hasn't dropped a cease and desist on this series yet, seems like the petty bs they might try.
It's legally distinct enough that they can't
I love how the video watchtime graph thing has a noticeable dip after he says he likes it
It's an interesting game. Although trying to find and collect certain resources can be a real chore (looking at you, thermosap crystals). The logbook blurbs for various things scanned in the Zone can be quite amusing.
the midzone is the entire reason I started actually making and using the vacuum cleaner, just for convenience's sake lol. Imagine my surprise when I learned you can vacuum tree candy off the tree rather than snapping off each individual branch
like the guy apologizing for being late, as he's currently Tree'd...
Keeping the baby owls warm is genuinely the most hooking of plot hooks I've heard in a long time.
"...'Cause I guess you didn't have enough problems in your life..." *Mood!* 😅🤣
Having yourself a little series of Roadside Picnics
This sounds like one for the year's end "Best" list, unless it ends up being a VERY good year.
It has a surprising (if more compressed and focused) similarity to No Mans Sky (before it wandered off course into being a base building MMO thing).
Vague non-descript traveller person finds vehicle, travels from planet/region to planet/region collecting upgrades while trying not to die horribly to the hazards so they can move on to the bigger/scarier region. While 3 guide characters sort of haphazardly direct you in the direction of the story from time to time.
Though yeah, it also did the same thing where you get to the end and its just kind of "Well, good job. You can uh, keep doing this now". Which was where NMS got into its whole "well you can be an intergalactic farming trade baron and possibly a rebel against the robot enforcers of the status quo" arc going. While having one foot in that survival/crafting stuff probably was a good indicator that PD might not end for real, it'd be a bit bolder if it had done so.
God damn it
Thanks for reminding me of the ducktales theme.
Now its going to play in my head all day
You shouldn't bugger a jellyfish, Yahtzee. They're poisonous and it hurts like hell.
I'm so proud of Yahtzee. Reviewing games he wants to play, dadding, cutting down on vitriol, changing publishers and art style without breaking a sweat... he's all grown up
The sound design in this game is absolutely phenomenal, i think it does the heavy lifting in the sense of always hinting at something terrible is about to happen even though nothing really does.
Duck Tales! Ah WoWoo. Thanks Yatz.
I'd just like to mention how much more I enjoy the intro music to Ramblomatic, as opposed to ZP. I hated the latter so much that I'd fast-forward the video for five seconds or whatever, just to avoid hearing it. Not to mention the older version with the pseudo-Wilhelm-scream ("HA!!!") that would make my skin crawl. In my opinion, you guys seem to be just doing things all-around *better* working for yourselves than you did for corporate stooges. I hope the venture is going well for you behind the scenes too! :-)
I suddenly remember the ZP Driver: Sanfran review......
He drives now!? Oh Yahtzee, what did she do to you?
4:42 You could even say the best video game of all time is the Ultimate Delusion. The Finite Illusion. The Last Dream. The Terminal Hallucination.
Here is my usual updated guess pool for the End of Year Lists (so far, and not including retro reviews).
BEST
--------
5. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
4. ???
3. Pacific Drive
2. ???
1. ???
BLANDEST
------------------
5. Skull & Bones
4. ???
3. Persona 3 Reload
2. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
1. ???
WORST
------------
5. ???
4. ???
3. ???
2. ???
1. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
Not on any YE List (either because it's retro or unremarkable): Beyond Good & Evil, Graven, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.
Eh P3R isn't that bland, it just didn't find its footing yet. It probably won't even be in the top 5/5/5
Duck Tales! Woo-ooh! 🎉🎉
Goddamit, now I have the Original Duck Tales theme song stuck in my head!
I've loved playing Pacific Drive. One of these days, I will play FFVII: Rebirth ... But only after I have finished Pac Drive first.
I thought there was gonna be a Pacific Rim joke. Maybe a final battle where you park your car on top of a giant robot and become its cockpit MEGAS XLR style.
Who Fuck
The Knows
Ahh, tradition.
I heard the theme song right when you mentioned it. Yeah. I can't get away from it.
I wonder if Yahtzee got rid of any beneficial quirks because he was just going through the motion. When I heard of is car is kicked increased battery.
I’ve literally never heard Jalopy pronounced that way and had to pause to wonder what the hell he was talking about
New fully ramble LET'S GOOOOO
I'm not sure if Yahtzee owns a Playdate, but I'd love to hear his thoughts on Mars After Midnight, the latest game from Lucas Pope
Ngl I just want a caramel square after this review, the analogy was too well described for me not to salivate at.
always looking forward to post dad game reviews; i bought hardspace shipbreaker based on a previous review so i expect to enjoy this one as well
Pacific drive somehow isn't hard, but you'll also be crawling back to the garage with no doors, windshield glass in your eyes and the engine about to fall out the bottom.
The game does have a "friendly dumpster" that gives you absolutely necessary items you need, as a anti-softlock device, but that's it. The game makes you wonder if it's worth spending your precious resources on headlights or wheels, or if you want to hold out and hope you find more loot, and I love it
God what I would pay to hear Yatzee's opinion of Genshin Impact story mode or the more likely Honkai Impact's story mode... He would be so confused to whether praise it for competently written characters or bash it to oblivion for the cluster fuck of story (but a good story) as a whole it is....
The secret to eating a caramel square is to hold it upside down, tastiest bits near your tongue, no chocolate flying up into the top of your mouth.
This is the SMT of car games
That cruise control line was so real
This is the best review of this game I've found so far.
I feel like it needs some challenge stages to make use of the later unlocks. Half of them are useless. Give me a water level so I can enjoy my paddle wheels
Thanks!
Yatzhee learned to drive?!