I recently spent a week playing the very popular Dave the Diver game on steam. Dave the Diver released June of 2023. Developed and published by Mintrocket, it is a single player RPG that features a variety of mini-games with economy management themes.
Who is Dave and Why Does he Dive
Dave is a cheerful, if not somewhat easily manipulated, professional Diver that tends to make friends with very interesting people. As our story starts, Dave is called from his vacation to help his ex-pat friend, Cobra, with a new business venture. A mysterious blue hole (a real phenomenon that is more or less an underwater sinkhole) that exhibits the properties of a rogue-like dungeon (not a real quality of blue holes) has appeared in an undisclosed area of the pacific ocean. Soon Dave and his friends begin to develop a thriving business using the resources provided by the blue hole.
Gameplay – Dave is a Busy Man
When I started, Dave was a Diver. He dove into the deep ocean and caught fish and picked up debris from the ocean floor. I managed my oxygen levels, inventory, and equipment to optimize my dives. Loved it, good stuff. Later, Dave was persuaded to become the manager of a sushi restaurant that served the fish that he had caught. I think Dave should stand up for himself a bit more, but I also enjoyed the sushi bar minigame. It has several nice business management sim features that pair nicely with diving theme.
Later, we started doing the dirty work for marine biologists, archaeologists, card collecting enthusiasts, and weirdo otaku neckbeard gun-nuts. Honestly, I was feeling bad for Dave. He had a lot of responsibilities. The different games were still fun, so I didn’t mind, even if Dave did.
Gameplay Part 2 – The Sea People Cometh
This section contains spoilers.
After spending 6 or 7 hours with Dave, I was really digging the game. It was a laid back adventure and economy management game. Then I met the sea people. This is supposed to be where the game picks up. Dave discovers a lost civilization of merfolk that have hidden themselves from prying eyes. Dave spends a lot of time and effort helping the sea people.
I don’t like the sea people quests. They are drawn out, boring, and honestly, I think Dave needs to focus on his thriving restaurant and diving business. Every time I had to divert myself from what I was doing to help the merfolk, I was an unhappy gamer.
I’m sure the merfolk are someone’s cup of tea, and many people speak very highly of this game with no sign of besmirching the sea people. I however, do not recommend doing any more sea people quests than is absolutely necessary.
Art Direction and Music
Dave has a mix of low textured 3D backgrounds and foreground 2D sprites. It works well. Shaders are used liberally to enhance the ocean atmosphere. The game also includes some really excellent cut scenes that utilizes a variety of art styles.
Musically, I think that soundtrack is somewhat forgettable in its overworld motifs. The best music occurs when we experience cutscenes. The NPC’s have some great accompanying soundtracks for their segments. It really went a long way towards building a picture of what these characters were like.
I Did Not Finish This Game.
And honestly that is pretty rare. I usually finish the games that I start, but Dave the Diver became very repetitive and stopped supplying dopamine. Also, as a small business owner myself, I found many of Dave’s struggles to touch too closely to home. That’s definitely a personal take, and I think most people will enjoy this game thoroughly.
Overall, I recommend picking up Dave the Diver. Its priced at $19,99 on steam, which is more than fair for the variety of content that it contains.