Pacific Drive’s Whispers in the Woods Turns Up the Horror — Collecting Artifacts Could Get You Hunted

Ironwood Studios is releasing a story expansion for Pacific Drive called Whispers in the Woods, and the team says it’s intentionally “tilted the needle towards horror.” The DLC adds new maps, items, anomalies, car parts, and a major new gameplay element called Artifacts, and it arrives on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC later in 2025.

What Whispers in the Woods adds
Gameplay changes and Artifacts
Size, playtime, and when you can play
Developer quotes and inspirations

What Whispers in the Woods adds

The expansion is a story DLC for Pacific Drive that introduces new areas in the Zone, a fresh voice cast, and a group of “anomaly-obsessed fanatics” as part of its plot. In addition, the DLC brings new items, anomalies, and car parts that fit into the game’s existing survival and crafting loop.

Gameplay changes and Artifacts

Most notably, Whispers in the Woods adds Artifacts, which replace the base game’s Anchors as the key items you need to exit a run and keep your loot. Artifacts tie into the resource and crafting economy, so collecting them is important for progression.

However, there’s a twist: Artifacts can modify rules in the game world in ways that stack. For example, carrying several Artifacts might create dangerous combinations that change how your car behaves or that attract new threats.

“It could be [that] when you jump, your car horn honks, and it takes place anytime they’re in your inventory or in the car’s inventory,” Dracott explained. “So you may find another one that’s when your car horn honks, your car takes damage, and together those create a problem for anyone that habitually bunny-hops in games like myself. But some of them get quite a bit more dangerous, and the way it works is they’re required for progression and for navigating these new maps, but if you hold too many of them, there are some negative consequences. You start to draw the attention of some rather spooky things. We’re really excited for the new kinds of stories and emergent elements that can come from this.”

Size, playtime, and when you can play

Ironwood says the DLC is substantial: “I think we’re around a third the size of the base game in terms of how much we’re adding”, and it should take roughly eight to 12 hours to complete. Furthermore, the expansion is playable from early in the main game through to the post-game, so players can access it at multiple stages of their runs.

Developer quotes and inspirations

Cassandra Dracott, Ironwood’s CEO and creative director, said the team wanted to make the expansion intentionally scarier and to use horror to subvert player expectations. She linked the tone to a shift in normality that some horror works use to unsettle players.

“Absolutely, I think we’ve tilted the needle towards horror intentionally,”

Dracott also described the original game’s core feeling as being about isolation and time on the road, and she noted the car’s role as both refuge and avatar.

“But at its core it was, ‘What does it feel like to be on the road? What kind of comfort can you find? What kind of different experiences can you have?’ I think we’ve captured a lot of that.”