DAVE THE DIVER

Review

Dave the Diver is a surprisingly fun game; one that probably no one wasn’t expecting. Developed by the Korean studio Mintrocket, the game appears to be a story-driven diving simulator as the simple title already suggests. Yet Dave the Diver features more than just diving sessions, blending together gameplay aspects from different varieties of genres, such as fighting, farming, role playing and even managing your own restaurant.

The story isn’t really groundbreaking, but has many funny moments. You play as Dave, a guy with a kind heart who simply can’t say no to his friends. After a phone call from your old buddy Cobra, you travel to the Blue Hole to help him manage a sushi restaurant along with chief cook Bancho. You dive twice a day (during the morning and afternoon) so you can bring fish to the sushi restaurant and serve them to the clients during the evening. As you continue capturing sea creatures and creating new dishes, you will meet new characters that gradually expand the gameplay loop by unlocking new apps on your smartphone. Through these apps, you will be able to upgrade your diving gear (such as the quantity of oxygen and the space in your inventory), craft and improve your weapons and take pictures underwater. Other apps include a collection of digital cards for the fish you have captured and a social media platform very similar to Instagram, where people only make posts about food and follow your sushi restaurant account, increasing your fame and unlocking new tiers for the menu.

The game constantly introduces missions at regular times, so there is always a good progression between chapters and you never feel like wasting time underwater. These missions vary from saving some dolphins, to discovering an ancient civilization, to retrieving a specific item or fighting one of the unexpected bosses. There is always plenty to do and I think this is the game’s major strength. Between the recurring story content and the gameplay mechanics gradually being added, the game never gets boring. On the contrary, it feels incredibly addictive when new characters add more tasks and you never know what’s coming next.

Exploration underwater is very relaxing, also due to the fact that the game is incredibly easy and lacks difficulty modes. The only thing you must watch carefully is the level of your oxygen, which basically represents your health, so when you are bitten by sharks or other predators it will decrease quickly. If there is no oxygen left, you will be rescued by your friend Cobra, but you will be allowed to take only one item with you. It’s a soft “game over” that nullifies your diving progression but doesn’t give any other penalty (for example, you don’t lose money for being rescued). I managed to “die” once and only because I was testing the game’s limit and wanted to know if dying would have forced me to dive again and retrieve my stuff like in a soulslike game (that wasn’t the case, of course). Combat itself isn’t complicated, perhaps a bit janky due to the limited aim mode (you can’t aim directly above your head or under your legs). While there are multiple weapon blueprints and upgrades, the game never gets challenging, not even during boss fights, probably because you can upgrade your diving gear very quickly with the money made from the restaurant and the sea surprisingly has a generous abundance of resources (oxygen tanks, weapons, ammo etc.). Most of the people will enjoy their relaxing time underwater, but I think the game could really use some challenge. Not expecting it to become a game like Ori, but an option to increase the difficulty would be really appreciated by some. Another thing to mention is that despite mixing a lot of different mechanics and mini-games together, they are all pretty simple; wonderfully mixed (also thanks to the comic art style), but not deep enough as seen in other games that only focus on one or two genres.

The pixel art graphics look great, very colorful but also clear so you can distinguish every fish easily. While there aren’t many cinematic cutscenes, the ones I saw are wonderful, especially those during Bancho’s dish upgrades and Duff’s weapon upgrades. Soundtracks fit every situation and I particularly appreciated the main title soundtrack – it’s really calm and relaxing - but also the ones playing during the restaurant work.

Dave the Diver is a surprisingly fun game, with a sublime sense of progression that keeps you entertained every time a new mission appears. The mix of mechanics from different genres works really well and is rather addictive, though some of them are pretty basic and make Dave look like neither fish nor fowl. Still, this is one of the funniest aquatic adventures I’ve ever played, beautifully detailed and full of lovable characters.

Review written by Sonic Punk for Zeepond.com

 DAVE THE DIVER Steam Store Page