If you’ve ever thought about becoming a professional diver by day and a sushi restaurant manager by night, look no further than Mintrocket’s new pixel-art game, Dave the Diver. (Thalassaphobes, beware: You probably want to skip this one!) Since Dave and his friends debuted on Steam on June 28, the game has already sold more than 1 million copies and has maintained a steady “Overwhelmingly Positive” review streak, which is very rare—especially for an indie game.
So, what’s the deal? How has Dave the Diver garnered nearly 40 thousand incredible reviews in just a couple of weeks? The short answer is that the game is a combination roguelike and business management simulator that relies heavily on completing side quests and harvesting fish to prepare and sell in the sushi restaurant. It’s one part Raft, one part Stardew Valley, one part Hades, with an ancient underwater society for spice. Beyond the actual gameplay, Dave is also appealing because it stars a plus-size character and features at least one side character who’s also plus-size; the cinematic introduction and cut scenes are gorgeous; and the in-world social component actually makes social media seem like fun rather than a drain on your mental health.
There are three main characters in Dave the Diver: the man himself, a business associate named Cobra, and a wunderkind chef named Bancho. Bancho wants to renovate and restore his sushi restaurant to the booming business it once was, and Cobra reaches out to professional diver Dave to ask him to chip in. At first, Cobra keeps things from Dave, which is why he initially agrees to the trip. When he discovers that he’ll not only be diving for fresh fish to be served at Bancho’s restaurant but is also expected to actually work there, he goes through a bit of upset.
Once Dave gets the swing of things as a server, however, he’s much more invested in the overall arrangement. The Blue Hole is a large swath of ocean near Bancho’s sushi restaurant, where the terrain changes on a daily basis. Every time you dive (as Dave) in this game, you’ll find something new or unexpected, not just because the oceanside topography changes, but because you’ll get better at catching fish, fighting sharks, riding currents, and finding and using oxygen stations so you can stay down for as long as you want.
The more you dive, the more characters you meet, and the more missions you’re asked to complete. Some—like collecting reef pieces and starfish for a grad student—are much less daunting than, say, hunting down a shark or blowing up a secret door to meet the citizens of a lost undersea civilization. Although such a thing shouldn’t “fit” in a management sim like this, the underwater world adds a lot of depth to the structure of the game (both figuratively and literally).
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Basically: Dave the Diver is blowing up because it’s a soothing style of gameplay in the midst of incredible chaos, and it’s really, really fun. It’s layered, complex, and has tons of tricks up its sleeve to make the gameplay more interesting all the time. Playing through Steam on my PC was a lovely experience punctuated by a handful of jump-scares, and there’s a Nintendo Switch port rumored for later this year. If you want to get in on the hype, the deluxe edition is 10 percent off in the Steam store at time of writing.
Dave the Diver is available through Steam for $19.99, with Dave the Diver: Deluxe Edition at $28.98. You can also purchase DLC content from the deluxe edition individually, if you want to start with just the base game. Look out for the Nintendo Switch port later this year, as well as additional DLC from Mintrocket.
(featured image: Mintrocket)
