Five things Dave the Diver cooked up that we absolutely adore

Dave the Diver is the most extraordinary mix of gaming ideas, and somehow each and every one of them is delivered in the most unfathomably engaging way.

From diving deep into the sea to fish for dozens of creatures, to running and staffing a sushi restaurant, to organizing a fish breeding program, to selling special finds for profit to buy new equipment and skills, Dave the Diver introduces all of its elements in a calm and composed manner. It’s never overwhelming, and yet after a good few hours you’ll find yourself easily managing more elements than you ever expected. And even better, all of this is delivered alongside a completely barmy storyline.

Below, we've picked out five things we love most about Dave the Diver.

Warning: There are spoilers awaiting in the depths of this story.
 

The fishing is just so satisfying

Dave the Diver is to fishing as Moonlighter is to chopping monsters. Both games have a similar loop of hunting for wares in one half, then selling them to customers in the other. In Dave the Diver, the hunting phase is all about diving into the deep blue sea and seeing how many fish you can bring home.

Dave’s fishing combines sophistication with brute force. He can use a harpoon gun (with harpoon tips that add various elemental effects) to spear fish as they swim by, or he can simply beat them to death with a shovel. The results are clearly very different, especially when it comes to using these fish as an ingredient, but the latter often proves very useful when you’re dealing with a more predatory creature intent on flipping the script and putting Dave on its own menu.

The harpoon is a gaming weapon that just works. You aim it in the right direction, hit fire, and it flings out and stabs the fishy. If it’s a small fish, or your harpoon is suitably upgraded, then it’ll just reel it back in and it goes into your bag. If your target is bigger or your tool is weaker, then you may have to deploy some manner of QTE. At best, this requires hammering a button or waggling a stick. At worst, it involves pressing two specific buttons in a very short window. This done, the fish is overpowered and yours to take home.

The zippy nature of the harpoon is so satisfying, it ensures that this core element of the game never grows tiresome.
 

You’re always making progress

While Dave the Diver is built around the same loop—go fishing, sell the fish to customers in a restaurant—there’s always a sense that everything is evolving.

This begins with your equipment. At first, Dave can only dive so deep (and for so long) with tools that can only catch the teeniest fish. As you make money, you’re able to buy upgrades for your tools such that each element incessantly improves. You can soon dive deeper, and Dave the Diver really opens up at this point, letting you explore much more of the ocean. Your oxygen supply lasts longer, and the deeper you go, the more opportunities there are to refill your tanks. And as your harpoon becomes more powerful, you can catch more interesting fish. But the most important improvement is always the size of your cargo box. The more weight you can carry, the more fish and other items you can gather in a single dive, and each upgrade expands your capacity so much that it always feels momentous when it happens.

That's just one sliver of the progress on offer, though. You also have the ability to make and buy weapons, used to defend yourself from danger, whether that means sharks or pirates. These too can be improved by finding rare items under the water. Then there’s your fish farm, a breeding ground for an ever-growing array of animals, also used to supply the restaurant.

And then the restaurant itself! New staff can be hired, and those staff can be trained. New meals can be researched, old meals can be upgraded, and the decor can be endlessly tweaked and improved! There’s always something getting better or easier, and it’s utterly compelling.
 

The restaurant isn’t a chore

At first, you might feel concerned that the second half of Dave the Diver, where you work as a reluctant waiter in a sushi place with an angry chef, is less entertaining than the fishing. That is true for a short while, and it’s for a good reason.

Poor old Dave is the co-owner of this establishment, yet he's somehow bullied into being its busboy and lone waiter, meaning you’re rushed off your feet trying to deliver all the meals, perfectly pour all the requested green teas, clear up all the dirty plates, and ensure there’s enough wasabi available. It plays out like so many diner games, and might feel like a frustrating chore. But it’s only because it’s such hard work that it feels so great when it all eases off.

Very quickly, you’re able to start hiring staff, and then train them to specialize in specific areas. It’s not long before you’ve got extra chefs in the kitchen to match the ever-growing number of customers, plus waitstaff bussing tables, pouring drinks, and clearing up the mess. You’re still there, grabbing a plate when it needs delivering, picking up any slack you spot, and being generally useful, but it’s no longer one of those exhausting minigames about trying to keep on top of impossible demand. It quickly becomes a well-oiled machine.

Plus, these sections also introduce some of the game’s funniest moments, as the strangest special characters come in, arrogantly demanding a specific meal be fed to them within the next couple of days, setting up extra challenges for you that will help improve the restaurant’s reputation and thus allow you to upgrade things further. Speaking of which…
 

The game is quite mad

It would be very easy to offer everything described above and then simply call it a day. That would be an immensely brilliant game. But Dave the Diver instead opts to go further…into the depths of madness.

Reminiscent of the Phoenix Wright games, every character in Dave the Diver is an outlandish peculiarity. Chef Bancho is a furious genius, an artisan of sushi who can barely tolerate the notion that people eat his creations. Critics that visit are almost psychopathic in their skepticism of the possibility that anything could be delicious, and then react with explosive emotion when they eat. The many characters on your speed dial are all eccentrics, many deeply dubious, like weapon-building Duff and his extremely concerning obsession with anime-like figurines. Plus, it’s hard to believe that Cobra, the pilot of your boat and general supplier of useful items, is on the up-and-up.

But it gets far sillier than that. Almost straight away, Dave's fishing trips are embellished with a ludicrous story about a race of sea-people, Atlantian-likes who breathe underwater, undiscovered by humanity. Researcher Dr. Bacon is convinced they exist, and asks Dave to help him find evidence. It’s not long before you’re encountering their home, learning their language, and getting involved in their complex underwater storyline. Yup, this fishing/restaurant sim has a B-plot about mermaids.

And that’s to say nothing of the continuing tale of Dave’s beef with a group of malevolent modern pirates, hellbent on capturing a pink dolphin—nor indeed any of the many more bizarre twists and turns this daft game has to offer.
 

You battle enormous sea creatures

OK, fair enough, this is another example of how silly the game can be, but it remains a specific joy. From the beginning of the game, you’re made aware of the presence of a colossal squid, and he’s not a nice fellow. It’s not long before you’re facing him head…no, eye-on, and rather than being some tiresomely difficult boss fight, it’s just an opportunity for the game to be even more fun. And without spoilers, this is just the first enormo-beast you’re going to encounter on your journey.

It’s just another example of how playful and imaginative Dave the Diver constantly proves to be. It’s set up so you can spend a very satisfactory half hour playing, or let it absorb your entire day and continue on far too late into the night. It’s one of the most "pure fun" games there is, with idyllic loops and a degree of silliness that’s endlessly delightful.

Dave The Diver has surfaced on the Epic Games Store.