Preview: Dave the Diver
If you're not familiar with Dave the Diver, it's a 2D pixel deep sea RPG adventure, but also a sushi restaurant tycoon game. Dave the Diver features an extremely addictive gameplay loop that hooked me immediately. As the name suggests, you play as Dave, a diver who is tasked with exploring a recently discovered "Blue Hole" to hunt fish and forage for materials. The deeper you explore, the more dangerous the exploration becomes. The "Blue Hole" mysteriously resets to a different layout every day, so it definitely has a rogue-like feel to it. This side of the game feels very similar to games like SteamWorld Dig and Spelunky. You can upgrade a range of gear and weapons for deeper exploration by using resources found in the ocean or by spending money.
Where the game significantly deviates from others in its genre is that the money necessary for upgrades is earned by running the operations of a sushi restaurant. In the sushi restaurant gameplay, you primarily run back and forth filling up drinks and matching sushi dishes with the correct customer. It reminded me of a "Cooking Dash" on iOS circa 2009. What I liked about this gameplay loop is that the sushi tycoon portions added an element where, in most games like this, you would just sell the fish you caught to a storefront and go back down for another run. In Dave the Diver, this seemingly straightforward transaction is expanded upon in an enjoyable way.
The sushi segments only make up about 10-20% of the gameplay, but it is a welcome event when it happens. You manage employees, decorate your restaurant, plan your menu, and service customers. The game is broken up by days where you explore the "Blue Hole" 2-3 times a day and operate the sushi restaurant once per day. I feel that the frequency of these genres are perfectly weighted where I am ready to get back into the water after my Sushi shift, but also equally ready to sling Sashimi following a few deep sea runs.
While the deep-sea diving and sushi restaurant tycoon game loop was the main draw of Dave the Diver for me, the game also offers another layer with its story. Players must complete various tasks to help a range of NPCs, such as finding sunken packages for your buddy, Cobra or searching for your arms dealer’s Waifu figurine. And I must say, this arms dealer, Duff, is hilarious. It feels like he was pulled straight out of a South Park episode. Interacting with these NPCs is a highlight, as they are full of character and written hilariously. Dave the Diver is not lacking in personality, with plenty of pop culture references and nods to the player that made me grin. Another character oddly resembles an overweight Ash Ketchum, and he happens to play a collectible card game called Marinca, where the sub-theme is "Gotta Fish 'em All".
The breadth of story missions was surprising. However, in chapter 3, the story began to overshadow the excellent gameplay loop. Fetch quests that didn't bother me in the first two chapters started to significantly slow down the pace of the game. At times, I eagerly waited for a cutscene or conversation to end so I could get back in the water and explore. This is a minor gripe, but my yearning for the sea is a testament to the extraordinary gameplay loop found in Dave the Diver. To be fair, the story is very much "take it or leave it", so I could, in theory, continue to dive and serve sushi indefinitely and completely ignore the story to my heart's content.
In terms of technical performance, this game ran smoothly on both my Steam Deck and MacBook Pro. I averaged around 45 frames per second on my Steam Deck and never saw it drop below 30. However, I did encounter a frustrating bug where my character became immobilized, resulting in me getting mauled to death by a shark. This occurred twice during my 15 hours of gameplay. Fortunately, the developer, MINTROCKET, has an extremely active Discord server where issues like this are being addressed in advance of the full 1.0 launch in June.
Overall, I was absolutely shocked by the quality of Dave the Diver. If the early access build is any indication of the full game, then it's a must-play. I even recommend purchasing the current build at the full price of $19.99, as I was very satisfied with what was offered, but knowing that more content will be served in June, signals that this is a must-buy for fans of these genres. It’s worth noting that I was provided a review code for this, but I loved it so much that I want to giveaway a code to a subscriber of our YouTube channel. If you don’t have the coin to buy the game but you’re still interested in the playing Dave the Diver, watch our YouTube preview to find out how you can win a code.
