Take in the smell of that salty air and slap on your skin-tight diving suit, because we’re going in head first to the wacky and whimsical world of Dave the Diver! It’s been a long time since I played a game that had me eagerly awaiting my next allotment of free time to play it again. Every moment of this game was like a juicy bite of succulent sushi – a casually epic tale of a heroic fat man who seems to be the only normal one in this menagerie of memorable characters.
Our story starts with an entrepreneur trying to open a seafood restaurant next to a mysterious deep-sea body of water with rogue-lite properties called The Blue Hole. Dave, the player character, is tasked to retrieve a hefty amount of fish to be used in the dishes served in said restaurant. While doing so, there will be plenty of characters flocking to you – Including a marine biologist, a weeb, and a special monstercard collecting fanatic whom we’ll all recognize when we see him – to get some help in whatever mission they’re on.
One by one, these characters ask our reluctant hero to help with a variety of side quests like fetching special fish, collecting artifacts from the depths, and cooking special meals to appease picky customers. One might think all these tasks are a bit too overwhelming for the casual player such as myself, but one huge note of praise I must give this game is its pacing and quick rewards for accomplishing tasks. Dave the Diver never dumps everything on you at once, nor does it give you a lengthy guidebook to sort through and learn about all the mechanics of the game on your own time. With masterful tact, you are given one task at a time to accomplish which introduces a new mechanic of the game, then you are free to explore the depths as you please. During which time, the player may discover something new, and on the following day that new thing is explained in more detail. In essence, you discover a need for something, then receive that something as a new item or core part of the game, and a nicely concise tutorial with a pleasant seasoning of humor comes along with it.
As these mechanics and tasks pile up, Dave the Diver’s gameplay began to feel like an amalgamation of slaving away for a highly demanding job and visiting an amusement park. The sheer amount of tasks to do may seem daunting on paper, but each one plays a key role in creating a beautifully addictive medley of adventure that is pleasing to both casual and hardcore gamers alike.
Even once the player masters the jubilant juggling gameplay, no one part of the game ever overstays it’s welcome. The main, ongoing mission is to help run the restaurant, which you will return to every night to set up the menu, organize the employees, and serve customers. This is introduced right at the beginning, and once you master this, the game adds more quests for the player to complete. During my play through, I have never once begrudged going back to the restaurant to pour drinks and serve customers. At the end of a long session of exploring the wondrous and often dangerous depths of the Blue Hole, I find myself always looking forward to that aspect of the game, despite its basics not deviating much from the start.
Every once in a while, you’ll be graced with a unique mini-game that will further add to the veritable variety. You’ll be cutting metal doors on sunken ships, searching for small octopus pets, or waving your glow sticks at a Hatsune Miku concert. The additional bite-sized mini-quests are just enough to add to the whole experience, but never enough to over saturate it with busy work.
On my way to locate a relic that an archaeologist requested, I found a sweet, little pink dolphin who was trapped in a poacher’s net. After releasing it, I was rewarded with a little charm that gave Dave some added boosts in his diving abilities. It wasn’t the last time I’d see the dolphin, and nor would the poachers remain faceless. Later when the pink dolphin showed up again, she was accompanied by the divers who were trying to capture her for financial gain. Dave had no choice but to partake in an epic underwater battle of harpoons and hunting knives to keep the poachers at bay. When the dust settled, the dolphin again rewarded me for my bravery.
Adventuring in the deep blue is as rewarding as ever with quick and easy accomplishments mixed with high risk, high reward options. As you venture deeper into the depths, you’ll find more powerful and tasty creatures to kill. Some of which are especially difficult to take down even with the proper upgrades. If you do manage to kill them, you’ll be able to harvest that succulent catch and use it to make a lucrative meal at your sushi restaurant.
If you don’t have the oxygen or the constitution to take on these monsters, no worries, you’ll be able to make a good profit by collecting an abundance of smaller fish. By utilizing the surplus of ingredients, you can “upgrade” the meals to make them more tempting to the customers as well as charge a prettier penny for them. It was nice to see that I was given the freedom to accomplish them in any priority I choose.
Whether the missions are quick and small or tough and lucrative, my brain was consistently getting doses of the good chemicals as a response, which kept me glued to the game.
At a later point where I had many things going on at the same time, Dave the Diver became a game of time management – a skill which I have had a very casual relationship with in my life. Honestly, if you’re like me and struggle with making effective use of your time and resources and want to improve, give this game a try! It’ll be a fun way to practice those soft skills. With a limited amount of air for diving, you’ll need to be efficient with accomplishing tasks and fetching food for the restaurant. Indulging too much on exploration may cause your profits to decline because you didn’t catch enough food for the night or get the right ingredients on time for one of the picky VIP guests.
The silly characters found in this game created many of my favorite memories of this game. The dynamic between Dave, a simple man who doesn’t like taking crap from people but who does anyway because he’s trying to be a good guy, and the rest of the wacky characters introduced in the game will always make me chuckle. The entrepreneur who orchestrates everything is so cocky and sure of himself always manages to get things done, yet my curiosity is piqued when he mentions a sketchy past in which he refuses to go into further detail. The reclusive cook is about as flexible as a tree trunk, but his food is no joke, and much of his lore is reserved for when you have earned his trust and respect. Every other character is so quirky and unique it’s worth it to speak to every NPC to soak in the delightful dialogue.
Dave the Diver is easily one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played in a long while. The graphics certainly complimented the wacky characters and engaging adventure, and the character dialogues were hilarious and never felt like it was trying too hard in a cringe way. The game offers a buffet of small gameplay meals which all tie together to forge a beautiful gaming experience. In nowise does anything get repetitive or stale thanks to the variety of gameplay and the fast-then-slow style of pacing. You can take your time during the diving segments, then speed up with sudden spikes of activity through combat or in serving customers efficiently.
With how relatively inexpensive this game is (at the time of writing this review), I would highly recommend trying this game out. It was an undeniable pleasure for me, and I was left hungry for more after each gaming session.