DAVE THE DIVER

My first playthrough of Dave the Diver was spread out over a long time—almost a full year between the first and second halves. This is a game within a game within a game kind of experience. While it blends multiple genres like hunting, creature collecting, puzzles, action, platforming, farming sim and more, at its core, it’s essentially a management game —brought to life with a beautiful art style and anime-inspired cutscenes. Despite the variety and the constant stream of things to do, it just wasn’t enough to keep me going after around 20 hours. I eventually came back to it a year later and finally finished it on my second attempt. It’s definitely a title I’d recommend to everyone—at least once. Even if it’s not in your usual genre wheelhouse, the effort and charm packed into this gem are worth experiencing.

It's hard to vote this a "Yes" or a "No". However my short summary of this game was that it really hooked me in the first few hours of the game and then very quickly took a nosedive in quality, bloated mechanics, gameplay, and story. There are 7 chapters total, and I had to put down the game at the beginning of the sixth chapter as I don't think I can play anymore. It's lost all momentum that the game had to offer in the beginning. The game starts simply fun, and the feature creep or bloated mechanics start to overwhelm you with the sheer number of things you need to do that aren't even related to the core gameplay loop. I expand my thoughts below: Pros: - First few hours of this game were so charming, cozy and fun. I loved managing the restaurant along with diving during the day, such a fun concept along with the upgrading your character to dive deeper, hit harder, etc. - BEAUTIFUL art, the cutscenes, the ocean, the restaurant, SO MAJESTIC! - The artist who crafted this music really put their whole soul into it. I love the music in this game. - The exploration of the maps is really fun. These maps are not procedurally generated, but they are handcrafted maps. The maps do change out of a set of like 5-6 maps I believe, but none are "random". I think that makes the game better, as you can hunt for certain fish or areas by specifically learning the maps. Cons: - By far the hardest problem is that this game has a huge feature creep problem, meaning that after every dive there is an unskippable cutscene telling you of a new mechanic that you've unlocked. These mechanics range from semi-fun/semi-useful to downright useless and/or not fun. Mechanics such as farming (yes like stardew valley farming), seaweed farming, fish farming, introducing a whole new city/currency system, chicken egg collecting and more. These sound fun at first but they become very problematic to the core gameplay loop of "Dive, Collect (Fish), Serve and Collect ($$$)". It really hits the fan around Chapter 3/4 from what I remember, which is when I started to lose interest VERY quick. - Button mashing.. so much button mashing. Even the "automate button mashing" setting straight up fails most button mashing prompts even if you hold the button down from the start. Its actually insane how this passed QA/PT. -I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this in Cons or somewhere in the middle, but this game genuinely has a lot of boss fights. For a game that markets itself as a bit of a cozy/casual game, I was very surprised by just how many Boss Fights existed in this game. Some were fun, and many were just so out of place it was crazy. If you're not a fan of 2D boss fights then this game unfortunately won't be for you, theres quite a few fights baked into most chapters. - Unskippable interruptions almost every day. Whenever someone from the story, or a NPC wants to introduce a mechanic or talk, you will get interrupted. This always happens in between dives, or at the restaurant, or at one the previously mentioned farms. The issue is that this breaks up the players freedom constantly, and it gets very aggrevating when its for a mechanic that you'd prefer to not use, etc. -This may play a part into the previously mentioned but this game has a TON of one-off mini games such as a cooking mama mini game, a rhythm mini game, a stealth section mini game, etc. It gets to a point where it just feels like a hodge-podge of mechanics that one person wanted to inject if only for one section of the game, its a huge turn off. Overall, the games charm, gameplay loop, and graphics make this game definitely one to try. However, I do not recommend this game for most players, as the game fails to have an identifiable player that would enjoy a game like this. Is this for boss battle/souls like players? No. Is this for cozy gamers who don't like to be rushed or get in fights? No. Is this for players who would like to manage a restaurant without an overarching story ripping them from that? Again, no. Buy on sale, its a shame because it starts off SO STRONG! Let me know what you think.

[b] "Truly a chilled and relaxing experience." [/b] There’s a unique charm to Dave the Diver — from exploring the depths and gathering ingredients, to fishing, helping Bancho create fine culinary dishes, and working with Cobra to boost the Bancho Sushi business. While the diving segments can feel a bit repetitive, the game mixes things up just enough with rotating content and engaging events that keep you busy chasing big sales. Managing the sushi restaurant adds a fun layer of strategy and requires thoughtful planning and quick reflexes. The RNG can be unpredictable at times, but it’s part of the fun — especially when exploring the ever-changing Blue Hole. There is a story to follow, but I recommend experiencing it for yourself to be immersed in it. Overall, this game deserves all the love it gets. My only real critique would be the FOMO-laced limited-time DLCs — they feel a bit unnecessary, especially for those who just want a chill, complete experience.

This is a really great game , but the dev not adding brightness setting to it make me feel helpless so I decided to deleted and refund it . You will aware how bright and blueish and the bloom is , it make some of us that are sensitive to light cannot bear it so Im very sorry I gonna delete it .

Hands down one of the best game I ever played, the story, the music, the comedy, the combat, the tycoon and cutscenes are absolute masterpiece ! I love pixel game a lot and this is easily one of the best game out there along with Stardew Valley... chill, relaxing, and satisfying. I bought this game during summer discount, but even if you bought it with normal price this game is totally worth every penny.

Bait and switch. The core game (diving, catching fish, cooking in the restaurant) is super fun and charming. I love the characters. In the first few hours, I was ready to give DtD an enthusiastic thumbs up. Then, things got awful. 1. The game WON'T. STOP. INTERRUPTING you with unskippable story quests, or a tutorial on yet another new game system. I felt like I was constantly trying to get through some annoying segment so I could get to the fun parts. 2. The mini-games (and there are a LOT of minigames) fall into two categories: frustrating button mashing, or tedious and boring. Most of them are unskippable - if you want to progress. 3. The grind. This game was made by a Korean company and it shows - after the initial honeymoon period, DTD seriously ramps up the money grind. Is there a reason I need to spend several hours to earn money for an upgrade... in a single player game? Asian audiences love grindy gameplay, but as a westerner, that seems like a job to me. Or maybe I'd enjoy the grinding more if I weren't constantly interrupted? Overall, the tedium kills the charm.

The game offers a lot of side features which is nice but on some days it is just too much so you have to prioritise. It also slows the game down if you want to do everything and you only have little progress those days. Diving can get boring after a while if you dont progress deeper and just fish in the same area again and again. Some achievements are a grind and not worth to hunt them especially if they are related to unimportant and boring game mechanics like breeding multiple tamagotchi fish on your mobile phone. But overall it's a good game that you can play as you like.

I really, really, really want to like this game. It has some great gathering, exploration, and management elements which I really like. However, the forced progression together with unskippable tutorials and cutscenes just ruin the enjoyment. Even if I enter a place to do something, the game won't let me do it before it has introduced it by a tutorial with a horrendous beeping sound. I will continue to play for a while to see if it gets any closer to "in my own pace and place" playstyle. Unfortunately, from what I've experienced so far, I can't imagine any less forcing coming.

If you love fish and just the ocean in general get the game!!!!! It has so much story and so many things to do you wont get bored of it easily.

steam deck 1280x800 resolution in game has black bars like 1280x720. good game to waste time, its basically a walking sim underwater with a little resturante manegmento

The main gameplay loop is addictive at first: fishing during daytime to supply for the sushi shop business during nighttime, which provides money to buy better equipment to support more efficient fishing, which reminds me of SteamWorld Dig 2 (with mining instead of fishing in a Metroidvania). However, after 10 hours it begins to feel monotone despite its huge amount of content, and tiring due to its endless QTEs and repetitive busywork. I would say this game is definitely not for me to finish, but I can see how other players may make 30–50 hours of enjoyment out of it. So my suggestion is to give it a try!

Super "petit" jeu très relax, où on incarne Dave (the Diver), qui est engagé par un ami pour aller pêcher des poissons pendant la journée dans le "Blue hole", où les espèces du monde entier peuvent être retrouvées, et pour pendant le soir être le gestionnaire d'un restaurant qui vend lesdits poissons sous forme de sushis, cuisinés par un chef obsédé par la recherche de nouveaux goûts. Je vous laisse découvrir le reste de l'histoire, qui est drôle et réconfortante à la fois. Le cycle pêche/resto avec l'introduction ponctuelle d'éléments du récit est [i]juste[/i] parfait pour garder l'attention tout du long, et m'a fait régulièrement entrer dans un état proche de la méditation/hypnotisme pendant que je me promenais dans l'océan en cogitant sur quels poissons attraper pour maximiser mes revenus et l'amélioration de mes recettes. Faire tous les achievements demande un investissement de temps non négligeable, mais tout de même plaisant, rien de laborieux ici, mais quelqu'un qui voudrait faire une partie "parfaite" en collectionnant tous les Gyao (cela fait du sens dans le jeu) et surtout en upgradant toutes les recettes devrait s'attendre à s'installer au minimum 400h, probablement plus. Recommandé, surtout s'il tombe en spécial, ce qui est fréquent.

I can't emphasis enough how much a gem Dave the Diver is as a game. With an incredibly fun and addicting game play loop while continuously adding new mechanics as you go, you will see yourself playing for hours and not getting bored even an ounce. Having a lot of mini game segments that give a homage to many other games and having such a lovely charm to it, you will fall in love with the characters and cute story. An amazing example of not needing the most high fidelity graphics and mind blowing engine to make such a phenomenal game. Can't wait for the DLC to come out later this year!

One of the greatest master pieces I've ever played! Definitely worth every single penny!

This game slowly helping me be a brave girl and conquer my Thalassophobia, still terrifying in it's own way, but makes up for the scary parts with it's comedy and humor. The cutscenes always make my day, I love the characters and the gameplay is very enjoyable

just a solid game without being overly complex. the graphics are great and simple. just a good game if you like a sim type game. you dive into the ocean, catch and fight the wildlife, and help run a sushi restaurant.

5/5. Seriously. This is the type of game you play for 5 hours straight after saying goodnight to everyone you know. and then you wake up tired but don't regret a thing.

The reviews almost stopped me from buying this game, which is insane because it's exactly what I was looking for. DTD is the perfect casual grind with just a little excitement. The mix of ecological cataloguing and restaurant sim-play gives it a nice change of pace to keep you locked into the game. I do not agree with the reviewers who say there's too many tutorials, these are paced nicely to involve you in missions and new content... which again keeps the gameplay interesting and different. Plus... why Dave kinda...

This is such a great and fun game. I'm playing it with my 7 y/o and we both just love it. So much to explore and play! I'm honestly suprised at how much layers this game have. 10\10 !!!

Aquatic War Hero by Day, Michelin-Star Sushi Chef by Night This game taught me so much about fish than I ever knew my whole life. Loved every moment of this game! Looking forward to the In the Jungle DLC

I love this game. It is so relaxing and made me chill whenever felt stressed.

A game of mini-games, but each mini-game is just OK. Each mini-game/system is well-made, but the systems of the game just don't come together well. Still solid, I think there just needed to be a bit more depth to each system. Boring completion. Just a bit grindy. 7.5/10

I loved feeding the cat. Oh and the other parts of the game are good too… I guess…

This is the kind of game I imagine was made by a team of creative, happy, healthy people with access to decent capital but without "market trends" pressure. Pure, unadulterated, whimsical fun.

A truly spectacular game that fills my spare time at the office—even with just the office PC specs. The story is complex and engaging in every chapter. Definitely worth the price. Huge appreciation to the developer and the team. Thank you! (Please consider adding Indonesian subtitles in the future.)

Such a fun game that blends so many genres! the diving is fun, easy to understand and never feels like they're throwing too much at you, the environments are beautiful and interactive, the restaurant management is fun and feels rewarding when you have a good shift. A bunch of minigames and such a lovable cast that ill be thinking of for a while! And more DLC coming in the future including freshwater environments! Would definitely recommend!

I wanted to like this game, and I think in reflection I found that to be interesting in and of itself. Why did I want to like this game? I like a lot of games that focus on these game play mechanics. When I thought about that and went back to play those games, I realized what it is about this game that made it not work for me. There is no depth in the mechanics here. You can't be fully immersed in any one mechanic, and the game is very shallow. It tries to pull you along in a loop of all sorts of different mechanics, but many of them are monotonous or under baked. If I wanted to spend more time with any given mechanic, I was unable to do so, and even when I did, there wasn't enough meat to any one game play element, that I was especially interested when I did. I wasn't really endeared to any of the characters, and the humor was incredibly one note, and repeated relentlessly. I realize as well that there is a tad bit of irony in that I could probably say a lot of the same things I'm saying here about a game that I love, which is Fantasy Life on the 3DS. I think that the primary difference between these games for me, is that there is a better sense of pacing. You can switch around and progress lives and then switch around whenever you want to work on another life, and each one feeds into one another. This game has a terrible sense of game play pace revolving around the connection between the day and night cycle and the different game play sections. I also appreciate the humor and juxtaposition of snarky tongue in cheek nature of the game and sincere nature of the characters and narrative. While, Dave the Diver does hold a certain sense of child like whimsy, I think it is hampered by the time you spend with the few recurring characters without meaningful progression and the time and place you interact with people being driven by a day night cycle and calendar system that just didn't work well in my opinion.

Dave the Diver is an absolute gem! A perfect blend of deep-sea adventure and quirky restaurant management, it’s fun, charming, and full of surprises. The gameplay loop is super satisfying—diving for fish by day, running a sushi bar by night—and the pixel art visuals and soundtrack are top-notch. The characters are hilarious, and the story takes some wild, unexpected turns. If you're looking for something fresh, fun, and addictive, Dave the Diver is a must-play! 9.5/10

If you love SUSHI, you'll love this game! Very casual but gets progressive more stuff and complex... I was sleeping on this one for too much time...

LOVE this game. Cute art works, story, game structure... everything's on point. Worth the price, and highly recommend everyone to play this game :)

I've never completed all the achievements in a video game before. Dave The Diver is so good it made me want to 100% it. 10/10

I knew that reviews for Dave the Diver were goods, but after playing I'm incredibly surprised. The game is FULL of content, the quality is incredible for an indie game. I loved all the characters, the art direction, and the gameplay. What an incredible game, everyone should play it!

A genuinely happy, fun, enjoyable story. Variety in gameplay loop that I still haven't gotten the full gamut of. An absolute gem of a game.

If stardew and subnautica had a baby, that would definitely be Dave The Diver. Don't watch any youtube videos, don't get into any spoilers, just head and experience it all for yourself. PEAK INDIE GAME EXPERIENCE!!

Caring the sea by destroying the sea environment and then blaming it on other. - Sea Blue volunteer

Best scuba diving, sushi restaurant, and fish farming game all in one. I have never played such addicting, rewarding, and satisfying game in my life. The full price is beyond worth it, and you would miss so much to pass it during sale.

Dave the Diver is an enjoyable fishing and business management type game. I liked the unique pixel art style and its use of 3D elements. Playing through the story was a blast. Dave the Diver always surprises with its distinct type of mini games found within its story. The underwater 'Fishing' portion of the game is fun; discovering new sharks is always exciting (More Money!). The business management portion of the game is enjoyable, even post-story. However, it does feel repetitive sometimes. The only thing I dislike about this game is the quick button-mashing gameplay. (Even with a setting assist)

A felt good well-made game with lots of cute little interactions. Technically, Dave the Diver is not a mere fishing game, but a busy handyman game. The UI really stands out with its creativity. Music is so cool they even have real artist cameo. Oh, and yes, you can feed your cat.

Are you an average Joe? Wanting something fun to play that doesnt require any sort of advance skill learning?! WELL THIS GAME IS JUST FOR YOU! Take the role of the Massive Chad Diver DAVE! In search for Sushi Material and his partner Cobra who's definitely not scamming him! And the rest? well its history.. Game is full of wonderful adventure with cutscene that would knock your sock of!! You dont have to heavily invest your time into this game, just relax and take a swim. This game isnt a grinding mayham but a nostalgic experience that make you want to enjoy the moment.. Take my word on it, this is an experience most Triple A game can never give you at this insane price market! and remember.. Klaus.. is always watching.. GOODLUCK :D

got addicted to the hustle free balatro in the game bring back the godzilla dlc

Hope the story continues and have more DLC. Looking forward Dev's announce for new updates or game.

Simple, extremely fun game that blends a whole slew of gaming mechanics during different portions of the game. The crossovers are well implemented and the humour is good. You'll always be itching to go for 1 more dive.

This game finally gave me the same feeling I got from Stardew Valley, a feeling I hadn't been able to find in any other game since.

This game looks deceptively simple, but don't be fooled. What starts out as a chill little fishing game rapidly builds into something much bigger and more varied. The variety of the mini-games puts me in mind of the Yakuza games; there's just so much to do. It's a very easy game to play for a casual hour or in longer sessions and it oozes charm. There is a lot to like here.

When Nikke goddess of Victory X Dave the diver had play minigame the game then as soon try it then look so fun after bought the actually game even more fun content but ( so sad Main protagonist not female ) so my conclusion game is good fun 9/10

You can't see the time pass when you play this game. One more dive, one more night at the restaurant. Great game!

This game genuinely has everything you could ever want from a game. There are so many wonderful game mechanics and fantastic exploration incentives that make this game go from a chill sushi simulator to a thrilling boss fight. The lore is interesting and hooked me from the start - managing to convey a story without being too linear and hand-holdy. The game allows you to play at your own pace, which is great for people who are stressed by deadlines (irl and in games LOL). Certainly 100% worth your time, you will find yourself hooked on Dave the Diver before you know it!

I can see why a lot of people enjoy this game. It captures the addictive nature of mobile game mechanics with upgrades and relatively simple gameplay, while avoiding the aspects that typically make mobile games frustrating. For me, though, the game felt like a repetitive grind. While there are mini-games and secrets to uncover that break up the monotony, I didn’t find them engaging enough to balance out all the repetitive tasks. If you're a fan of grinding, upgrading, and straightforward gameplay, you’ll probably enjoy it. I think the game just isn't the experience I was looking for

It's comfy, it's got a lot to do, it's full of busy work, it wastes your time. Two sides of the same same coin, so it depends on what you're in the mood for, and I can't really give a 'meh' rating so I'll have to give a rating based on what people like me would want, which is not to play a giant pile of fetch quests and hours and hours of tutorials This game has a very heavy tutorial tax in the beginning and will not release you to go experiment and play for several hours, which was a big negative for me. I hate having to sit through tutorials, especially if it's all rather easy to understand and intuit to begin with. But there's plenty to do in this game, it's just quite a lot of menus and incremental upgrades, which for me is boring, but if you like dopamine treadmills then you'll like this. You dive, you get some fish and other stuff, you bring the fish back, you do a restaurant sim, you dive again. That's the whole game.

I genuinely did enjoy the diving part of the game and searching for loot and fish. The sushi restaurant wasn't so bad either. If only the game stuck to those core aspects more and didn't decide to be a jack of all trades - master of none. It just became too much random crap in my opinion. I knew about this but didn't think there would be so much deviation from the core game play. It just throws way too much random things and long unskippable cut-scenes that get old quick. It had potential otherwise. I still think it can be fun for the right person. Not a bad game but not for me at the moment. If it were cheaper Id probably keep it but I decided to refund it instead.