Dave the Diver - Absurd Management Sim You Should be Playing Right now
Credit: MINTROCKET Games
Sometimes you happen across something great purely by chance. After finishing Final Fantasy XVI, I was browsing Steam looking for something to tide me over until the release of Pikmin 4, and happened across the first release from Korean Indie developer MINTROCKET - Dave the Diver.
Dave the Diver is as endearing as it is absurd. 10 hours in, I’m yet to lose any sense of engagement with its core loop. You play as Dave, a long time diver (I know, right.) Summoned by his long time friend, Dave is set the task of restoring Restaurant Bancho Sushi following an earthquake, spending his days diving for ingredients, and his nights running front of house for Bancho, the restaurant’s hardy but passionate chef. A loop like this would typically be enough to give any Indie game its legs, but this is barely scratching the surface.
There is a deep sense of progression in all aspects of Dave the Diver. The money you make in the restaurant can be used to upgrade your kit, like your harpoon or oxygen tank, allowing you to explore the deep for longer and catch bigger, tastier fish. Many characters will make themselves known to you on your escapades: a grad student, an otaku arms dealer, a farmer, a mysterious race of ancient sea-people. It’s challenging to talk about this without it sounding overwhelming, and in any other game, it would be. But Dave the Diver’s meticulous pacing is what sets it apart. There is so much content here, yet it never feels like you have been shown too much or too little at any point. It is perfectly spoon-fed to you in a way that constantly feels fresh without ever becoming overbearing.
Once you’ve caught your share of fish in the ocean, Dave’s role switches from diver to charismatic front of house champion of the restaurant. You are responsible for most aspects of the restaurant’s operation, from the menu, to the decor, to running food, etc. After deciding on what to serve for the night, you open the establishment and the game becomes a mad dash to serve all the customers before they eventually get mad and leave, running their food to them and pouring drinks like green tea and beer. If you succeed, customers will leave good reviews on the game’s Instagram-esque site, Cooksta, with some truly gorgeous pixel art “photos” of the food you decided to serve.
This can seem quite directionless on paper, but the game ties all of these elements together with an intriguing story regarding a lost civilisation, and a great sense of discovery as you venture further into the depths. You soon unlock a farm, the ability to craft weapons to take down aggressive fish, a Pokemon-style trading card system tracking the different fish you’ve caught, and daily tasks to complete from a few notable NPCs.
It’s this ever-increasing level of self-aware absurdity and smart additions to management systems that is the true allure of Dave the Diver for me. It’s not particularly hard, but there is enough content and mystery in the story to keep it feeling consistently fresh. You are left consistently wondering just what is waiting for you when you venture a little deeper, and that sense makes this weird amalgamation of ideas worth experiencing.
Dave the Diver is available on Steam for both Windows and Mac.
