Dave the Diver is a great guy. Just one look at him and you’re drowning in good vibes. When he dons his diving suit and takes a plunge into the ever-shifting waters of Blue Hole, you will him to succeed. I don't know if it's his earnest dialogue or little pixel art beard that does it for me, but I found myself rooting for Dave to succeed within minutes of loading up the game.
Dave the Diver is only half a diving game, maybe less. The time spent deep in the blue lagoon is great, though. Your job is to dive as deep as you dare in order to hunt enough fish to make plenty of sushi for the night's service, managing your oxygen and backpack the whole time.
You'll find all kinds of creatures down there, from standard, delicious mackerel (a personal favourite when it comes to sushi, so it’s one of my Dave's specialities), to angry, poisonous Lionfish that will attack you on sight but whose flesh will fetch a high price, to sharks and creatures even bigger and more mysterious.
Dredge comes to mind, and not just because of the fishing. There's an underlying tension to proceedings, as you discover more about an ancient underwater civilisation, are forced to undergo missions for a variety of unscrupulous characters, and see glimpses of a giant eye that seemingly acts as the centre of Blue Hole's mysterious regenerative properties.
That tension reaches fever pitch when it comes to the evening dinner service at Bancho's sushi restaurant. Moving from Dredge-like to Overcooked-like, the frantic gameplay involves writing the menu, changing it when fish go out of stock, serving diners the right meals, pouring green tea, and grinding wasabi.
There's more levels to it as time progresses, including researching new dishes, upgrading dishes (which comes with a great cutscene of Bancho's cheffy preparations), and managing the restaurant's social media presence. It sounds like a lot, but it's just the right amount of frantic action to mirror that front of house vibe and offer a foil to the more chilled underwater exploration.
Dave the Diver sells itself on the integration of these two gameplay components, but there's a lot more once you get going. Rescuing dolphins stuck in nets is all well and good, but how about a crafting system or a Metal Gear inspired stealth section? (Side note: if you fell off at this point because it was too frustrating, it's been patched now so I recommend jumping back in).
Dave the Diver is a great game, made all the better for knowing itself well. It nails its main two gameplay elements and does enough differently in each that neither feel like stale, shameless copycats. The two halves work well together, with every new fish you catch giving you a new sushi recipe to try out in the evening, which you can sell to upgrade your gear, which you can use to dive deeper and for longer, which means you can catch more fish, which means- you get the picture. It's got that 'one more round' serotonin boost to keep you playing, and the alternating gameplay styles keep things interesting.
It looks beautiful while you’re playing, too. From the humorous cutscenes to the depths of the Hole, every part of this pixel art adventure oozes style and fun in equal measure. The characters are over the top, the sea life is colourful and distinctive, and the references and fourth wall breaks are well written and don’t try too hard to be clever, coming across as actually funny rather than groan-inducing or self-referential.
This would be a perfect Steam Deck game if my console didn't run out of battery after a couple of hours, because it runs great on the handheld. It might be worth waiting for the Switch release for that portable goodness, but either way, make sure to make some time for this game. We're getting into triple-A season now, but Dave the Diver is worth a look. If nothing else, you get to behead a shark and serve it to a critic - all completely sustainably, of course.