Dave the Diver review: An often-outlandish management sim that never topples over

Dave the Diver is a curveball. When I picked it up, I did not expect it to be this layered, complicated, or fun. The pixellated 2D indie title is the brainchild of the developers at MINTROCKET. It promises "a casual, single-player adventure RPG" filled with scuba diving, deep-sea exploration, fishing, and managing a sushi restaurant. And boy, does it deliver on each and every one of them!

While you may think that you may exhaust Dave the Diver's mechanics and features within the first few hours or so, the title keeps surprising you even after you have poured dozens of hours into it. The gameplay is insanely addictive, beautifully peppered with mini-cinematics of exaggerated esthetics.

Dave the Diver has quickly become one of the best titles released in 2023 for me, and I suspect there's more depth for me to scour.

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Dave the Diver is a perfect blend of everything it wants to be

Dave the Diver absolutely excels at what it advertises itself to be. In essence, it is about diving into the depths of the sea, exploring what lies there, and catching fish. Your haul is then used to serve sushis at the restaurant where you work, along with the great 'Matrix's Morpheus-esque' chef, Bancho.

The Anime-inspired Bancho (Image via MINTROCKET)

It gets exceedingly complex from here on. Your catch determines the kind of menu you can set at the restaurant, with various dishes having different costs. The rarer fish you catch, the higher you can earn. With that accumulated money, you can spend on ads to hire new staff, upgrade your swimming equipment to dive deeper, catch bigger creatures, carry more weight, and finally redecorate the restaurant.

The basic premise is the closed loop of catching fish and running the restaurant. While Dave the Diver absolutely nails that gameplay experience, it shines through the variety of quests, side quests, and new mechanics that almost never seem to cease.

For example, early on during my dives, I came across a pair of dolphins a couple of times. One of them led me to the other, who was either trapped under a net or being captured by miscreants. After saving them a few times, they presented me with a charm that I could use for a boost.

Heart-shaped bubbles (Image via Dave the Diver)

I also took a picture of the pink dolphin blowing heart-shaped air bubbles for a journal to raise awareness and prevent poaching. The appearance of a famed cook with a TV show triggered Bancho to want to prepare a dish with Jellyfish and Sea Grass.

I had to gather these ingredients within three days. They are found at different depths in the giant Blue Hole, and my swimsuit needed to have the appropriate capacity to make such dives. Successfully doing side quests related to the restaurant allows it to get more fame, attracting more customers and higher rewards.

I slowly began to realize that while the basic gameplay premise and loop of Dave the Diver consistently remains the same (dive in the morning and the afternoon and tend the restaurant at night), the developers have filled the title to the brim with a plethora of other gameplay mechanics and fun-little moments.

Be it the sudden appearances of VIPs, the Jellyfish Festival, or the double-faced environment activists, the developers have managed to populate the world in such a way that everyday life feels exactly like our daily lives.

You have some general daily goals that you have to meet. All the other nitty-gritty nuances inform, affect, and sometimes even delightfully derail your plans. On top of that, the main narrative revolves around the Sea People, an ancient race that the world is seemingly unaware of.

The 2D pixelated art style and the vibrant music pieces perfectly suit the tone and tenor of Dave the Diver. It is hard to imagine the title in a different garb, given it fits this one so well. To top it off, the game runs without a hiccup, providing an optimal experience to all.

Dive, dive, dive into the depths

Every day you can dive into the Blue Hole, which changes ever so slightly each time, in the morning and the afternoon (and later at night too). Generally, there's no set time by which you have to come out, as that is determined by as long as your oxygen last.

Running out of oxygen (Image via Dave the Diver)

It can be topped off by finding O2 cans and reservoirs during the swim to increase your dive time. You can also move faster or use an underwater scooter (provided you find one), but doing so will end up depleting the oxygen count faster.

Your two other limitations are how far your swimsuit will allow you to go and how much you can carry. Going overboard with either will eat into your oxygen. Escape pods are scattered below that will quickly allow you to go up to the surface with the help of a submersible cage.

Carefully scanning your surrounding during a dive will allow you to stay for long durations. I have often carried more than my capacity, with a keen eye on where the oxygen cans or the escape pods are.

You have a harpoon that you use to catch fish. You will need to upgrade it to catch bigger wildlife (and Dave the Diver has quite a few of them). Little upgrades to them are provided in underwater crates, like poison tips, reinforced harpoons, or tranquilizer tips.

Humpback whale (Image via Dave the Diver)

Cleverly, anything like these found inside the Blue Hole doesn't survive when brought out. So whatever upgrades or weapons (ranging from a rubber chicken to a samurai sword) you find there, you only get to equip and use during that particular dive.

This presents an RNG factor to the game, where you are unsure what you might find in the depths and how it will affect your dive that time in Dave the Diver. For me, this captures the very real-life essence of what you might find when you dive into the sea.

Helter skelter in a sushi restaurant

In the evening, you will hear a gong as soon as you come out from your dive. Bancho will let you know it's time to open the restaurant. Hurry over. There are a few things that you will have to do before opening the establishment for service.

You need to select the menu that you will be serving that evening. This is based on whatever you have caught during the day and the ingredients that are available from there. You can upgrade dishes using resources too. Thankfully, you can swap a dish on the menu for another while service is on if you run out of ingredients.

Tending the restaurant (Image via Dave the Diver)

Once guests start arriving, some will ask for tea. A mini-game begins upon interaction where you have to pour the tea perfectly to the brim to get a bonus that affects the customer's mood and tips. An upset guest might leave a poor review about the restaurant on the Instagram-esque app.

Customers will get angry if their orders are not served promptly, and you will have to keep in mind who came before whom to not have irate hungry guests on hand. As each day passes, the footfall will (hopefully) increase, and you will get the option of and have to invest in hiring staff (either to help in serving or cooking).

While you may think this limits everything you can do in the restaurant, Dave the Diver keeps surprising you. With an increased number of customers and dishes ordered, your staff will be busy at work.

That doesn't mean you will simply get to stand by, though. You will have to make sure that there is enough wasabi to go around with the increase in orders. Soon, beer is added to the serving menu, demanding a different mini-game than the earlier one.

In Conclusion

Bringing it to a neat circle, Dave the Diver quickly became one of the most unique titles I have had the good fortune to play this year. It is no debate that it will find a place in my year's top 10 later in December and assuredly on the top end of that list.

The game is refreshingly addictive and constantly surprising. The moment you think you have learned every mechanic the title possesses and all you have to do is meet the goals and play the loop, it throws something new and absolutely delightful at you.

If you ever tire of diving only during the day (which never was the case for me), the game soon allows you to dive at night. More vicious creatures prowl about, but it is that much more beautiful.

Anime cut-scenes (Image via Dave the Diver)

Dave the Diver even routinely goes overboard with the anime-inspired mini-cutscenes when you research new dishes, upgrade old ones, or craft new weapons. It is intended, and it perfectly fits the bill. The developers are self-aware and often tongue-in-cheek, but always delicately so.

For me, the magic of Dave the Diver lies in how everything it has gels so well together. It is overwhelming, but in a way where you get to enjoy it. My only qualm would be that the combat could have been a tad harder, but to be fair, I am merely scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Be it collecting unique Pokemon TCG-like fish species cards, farming for resources, or taking pictures underwater, there's always something more that Dave the Diver springs upon you when you least expect it. All these elements build upon each other without ever toppling or falling apart.

Dave the Diver nails its basic premise and the often-outlandish add-ons. It reminded me of my recent scuba dive and the beautiful world that lies beneath the waves. The title further fascinated the gastronomist in me with the variety of food, mechanics of running a restaurant and catering to the guest.

It feels like I can go on and on talking about the game and heaping praises, but I already hear Bancho's gong. I have dove far enough for this review, and I have a restaurant full of guests yearning for sushi to serve.