Pacific Drive DLC Whispers in the Woods Announced, Launching in 2025

Ironwood Studios has announced the first major DLC expansion for its survival-driving game Pacific Drive, titled Whispers in the Woods, scheduled to launch later in 2025. The reveal capped off a multi-day countdown livestream, concluding today at 12 PM ET with the premiere of the official trailer.

A detailed PlayStation Blog post accompanied the announcement, providing a closer look at what players can expect. The expansion will take drivers deeper into the Olympic Exclusion Zone (OEZ), introducing a new storyline, voiced characters, fresh anomalies, and a system centered around powerful, unpredictable artifacts. Importantly, this content will be available alongside the game’s main campaign, meaning both veterans and newcomers can access it.

According to Blake Dove, communications and marketing specialist at Ironwood, the DLC “explores the rise of a terrifying group of anomaly-obsessed fanatics hidden deep within the depths of the forests.” Creative director Cassandra Dracott added that the team wanted to push the game’s horror elements further:

“From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to take the mysteries of the Olympic Exclusion Zone in a new direction for this Expansion. We had heard so much feedback and so many stories about the fear people had experienced in Pacific Drive and with Whispers in the Woods, we knew we wanted to lean hard in that direction.”

The central new mechanic revolves around artifacts, which act as gameplay modifiers. Inspired by the game’s quirk system, each artifact comes with a condition and an effect, for example, jumping might cause your car horn to honk, or honking might damage the car. Some artifacts provide strange advantages, while others introduce disruptive twists, and they can interact to create chain reactions.

This design promises to make each drive through the OEZ more unpredictable and tense, amplifying the eerie, survival-horror atmosphere the game is known for.

Dracott described the expansion as both an evolution and an entry point:

“If you’ve been driving through the Zone since day one, Whispers in the Woods is going to add a brand new, more terrifying take on the Olympic Exclusion Zone. And if you’re just starting out, this expansion marks the best version of the game to date with new systems and content to find and explore.”

With new mysteries to uncover, enemies to face, and mechanics to experiment with, Whispers in the Woods aims to push Pacific Drive deeper into psychological horror territory while keeping its inventive driving-survival loop intact.

Are you ready to take another drive into the OEZ, or will this new layer of horror make you keep your headlights off?