Text copied and pasted from the linked Steam update (there’s also a video showcasing things):
Brand New Gameplay Presets
You wanted a challenge, more variety, and more control over… everything! So we’ve given it to you. Starting today you can modify your trips in the Zone with 7 new presets:
Pacific Drive
The standard Pacific Drive experience - a Pacific Drive through the Olympic Peninsula.
Scenic Tour
Crafting requirements, resource consumption, driving difficulty, hazards, dangers, storms, and damage are all lowered or disabled. The player cannot die. A scenic route through the story of Pacific Drive.
Joyride
The same gameplay and tension as Pacific Drive, but gathering, crafting, and research requirements are all lowered. Damage and failure penalties are minimal.
A Sunday Drive
Focus on the Olympic Peninsula with minimal interruptions
Nuclear Journey
Every map will be filled with low dose radiation that is harmful to the player. Storms are faster and stronger, hazards and damage are more plentiful. An unpredictable, irradiated journey that only the car can protect you from.
Mechanic's Road Trip
Terrain and the status of the car impact driving more. Items to repair the car are more costly to craft, and can't be crafted on a run. A challenging drive and susceptible car will provide a test of your forethought, problem solving, and automobile experience.
Olympic Gauntlet
All aspects of the game are much harder - An extreme gauntlet to challenge the most dedicated Breachers.
Iron Wagon
All aspects of the game are much harder, and failing a run will delete your save file. An extreme gauntlet to challenge the most dedicated Breachers, with no room for failure.
It doesn’t end there though, you can create your own presets with over 50 new settings in addition to the base game’s existing options. Tune and tweak your trips to be as punishing or as pain-free as you’d like, all from the same menu.
New Paintable Parts and Collectible Cosmetics
Unleash your inner artist and further customize your heroic wagon! Bumpers and wheels are now fully paintable. It’s fully possible for you to create the best and brightest clown car station wagon imaginable, or black out your rig for a more Mad Max style adventure.
Along with the new paintable surfaces, we’ve add two new collectible cosmetics to find out on a trip - an antenna topper and mirror hanger that fit in pretty well with the surreal, fantastical elements of the Zone.
Play Custom Music from Local Storage (PC ONLY)
Now that you’ve got a custom car… how about some custom tunes? One of the most requested features from the community was the ability to use your own playlists and music in game - and we’re happy to say that this feature is also included in todays update. For PC players, you can now load your local music into a folder via local storage and Pacific Drive will pull it into the game. You’ll be able to kick back and listen to it in the garage via the Jukebox or out on the road through your old station wagon speakers.
Songs are loaded from `%localappdata%/PenDriverPro/Custom/Radio/` folder, and this feature supports .wav, .mp3, and .ogg files, as well as simple .m3u/.m3u8 files.
Playlist files may point to an external internet radio stream as well (if the stream type is supported).
Enabled in the Audio settings category, can choose to have no custom music (Default), a mixed playlist of default music and your custom set, or exclusively your own music.
Reminder:
If you are streaming the game or otherwise creating content, you could be at risk of DMCA strikes or content restrictions on platforms like Twitch and YouTube if you are playing copywritten music through Pacific Drive’s in game radio. Use this feature responsibly, and at your own risk.
The Anomalous Cosmetic Pack
Last but certainly not least… we have a new cosmetic DLC pack available! This Anomalous set features parts and decals that pay tribute to your favorite weirdness from out in the Zone.
Included in this cosmetic DLC:
Mailbox Bunny (Bobblehead)
Sawblade (Hood Ornament)
Tourist (Shifter)
Anchor (Steering Wheel)
Vacation (Sticker Pack)
Anomaly (Decal Kit)
Our paid cosmetic DLC packs allow Ironwood to continue to support the game with content updates just like this one! Stay tuned towards the end of the year for upcoming details about our Winter update and more - Pacific Drive just keeps getting bigger and better and we’re very thankful that you’re all along for the ride.
This all sounds great, but the one thing I truly wish they’d eventually add is official VR support. I played the game briefly with the VR mod, and it was already apparent how well the game is suited for it, but I wish it had fully integrated VR controls for full immersion.
This game good? I’m not a fan of survival or horror games but I am from the PNW, so does seem interesting to play a game version of home
My recommendation for that is to get American Truck Simulator and the Oregon and Washington packs. It does a great job of capturing most of the scenery of the area in a scale you can easily consume, without stressful or tedious gameplay (unless you find driving in games tedious). If you’d prefer to drive a regular car instead of a truck, there are plenty of cars available in the Steam workshop.
It’s pretty okay. If you like the gameplay loop of scavenging parts to maintain and upgrade your car, and don’t mind the roguelite elements, it’s pretty fun, and it does a good job of creating tension–there’s been multiple occasions where I wanted to loot more but I was out of time and likely to die if I stayed much longer.
The world building is immaculate, but IMO unfortunately the plot doesn’t really pay off, and the ending isn’t… super satisfying. It does enough to drive you along (no pun intended). The best part of the game is easily the soundtrack, and the best song in the soundtrack is easily The Freeze.
Looks like a fun game in general.
How big part in the game is crafting?
It is part of the main gameplay loop. In order to keep your car in a state where it protects you and is reasonably driveable, you must gather materials to craft repair items and replacement parts, in order to maintain the car’s panels, doors, and bumpers (which together function as armor), its wheels (which are necessary to get anywhere), and the various add-on systems you can craft for it. Tools gradually break with use, so you’ll also craft replacement tools, which are mostly for scavenging materials or interacting with stuff in the Zone.
By collecting a certain resource you gradually unlock upgraded parts and tools for crafting, which is the main way player power progresses during the game.
It’s a great game except for the motion sickness, even with the settings to combat that.
