Keep your hands at 10 and 2, drivers, as Ironwood Studios has just offered up a first look at Pacific Drive’s first big expansion, Whispers in the Woods. Where the survival game has a sort of Stalker-but-you’re-in-a-car kind of feel, this DLC looks like it’s fully leaning into some horror vibes. The first half of the trailer has some real ’70s era, found footage horror vibes, which feels laser targeted at my artistic proclivities.
It’s sounding like a pretty meaty expansion too. According to the DLC’s Steam page, the full thing runs between 8-12 hours long, with the whole thing fully voiced, complete with new characters and “additional side narrative to discover.” I’m quite fond of this ominous line describing the expansion’s plot: “They have come to the Zone and left their mark. Travel into the whispering woods of the OEZ – a disturbing vision of the once familiar forests.”
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There’s new maps and junction types to be found, some fresh parts and cosmetics to kit your car out with designed by this mysterious group, and of course more anomalies and anomaly behaviours. The big addition that’s coming with Whispers in the Woods is a new gameplay system called Artifacts. These are mysterious objects that change and affect both you and the world itself, adding a bit of challenge while also being something you’ll need to use to not be sent to the scrap heap in the sky.
On top of all that, there’s more garage stations, route modifiers, garage cosmetics, and a new lot of music from composer Wilbert Roget II – great name by the way.
No release date on the expansion, but it is slated to arrive before the end of the year. And the base game is 50% off on Steam, so now seems like a great time to head out for a test drive.
