Dave the Diver

Dave The Diver is an aquatic adventure RPG that’s wholesome, wonderfully complex, and delightfully hard to put down.

Wholesome, harmonious and completely unwilling to settle, this is one of the most generous games in years.

Charming, deep, and constantly surprising, Dave the Diver is packed with activities and full of heart.

What makes Dave the Diver work so well is wanting to see what comes next. In another game that just tacked on mechanics and plot devices with no plan, it could feel like the padding around a threadbare premise. But Dave’s kitchen sink approach somehow feels like a perfectly logical, if absurd, escalation — like a Tim Robinson sketch in game form. It’s a teetering pile of mechanics and minigames that never gets around to collapsing because the balancing act is just too much fun.

You might question whether a sushi restaurant management sim crossed with underwater diving is your cup of tea, but that would be missing the point. Dave the Diver is a unique and memorable vacation away from expectations, and it’s the very fact that you don’t usually play games like this that makes it so satisfying.

]A sushi waiter is on a mission to bring exotic fish to the table in this stylish, satisfying game that delivers a vital message on sustainability

In a world full of fear and uncertainty, Dave the Diver is here to offer a lighthearted story and engaging gameplay. It doesn’t try to follow trends or emulate big AAA titles. It doesn’t have an in-game shop to try to get you to spend more money. It’s simply a silly, fun game about a diver named Dave, and I can’t put it down.

Dave The Diver very much deserves the enormous success it’s received in its first month, selling over a million copies, and hopefully making developers Mintrocket enormously rich. They’ve created something really special, an RPG-meets-Diner Dash-meets gentle SCUBA sim, that manages to feel utterly crammed to the gills with things to do, yet joyfully relaxing to play.

Dave the Diver, like the sea, is far deeper than you think it is. It charms with its attractive visuals and addictive loop of diving for fish and running a restaurant, but it never rests on its laurels, always finding new ways to enhance the fun. There's never a dull moment, whether it's a whole new feature expanding the gameplay, an unexpected new story beat, or another hilarious cutscene to enjoy. It's this constant reinvention and surprise that makes the game so compelling, even through the occasional rougher moments. If you've yet to experience it for yourself, we'd highly encourage that you take the plunge.

In a year dominated by titanic, big-budget releases like Tears of the Kingdom and Mario Wonder, Dave the Diver steps up to the plate and knocks the ball clear of the park with a heaving swing. Its charming animations and writing supplement a mechanically dense experience that never stops dangling a new carrot to chase. It's one of the few games to come out this year that rivals Mario Wonder's all-out density and charm while doing something almost completely new. You owe it to yourself to pick up this outstandingly funny, enthralling, and weird gem.