Dave the Diver shouldn’t work. It’s an ever-expanding Jenga tower of mechanics and job administration that, by some means, by no means falls over. Every new character, over-the-top cutscene, and minigame feels prefer it ought to topple the entire premise, nevertheless it simply by no means occurs.
As an alternative, what developer Mintrocket has created is a sport the place unabashedly having enjoyable is the entire level, regardless of how absurd the method. At its core, Dave the Diver is a mix of fishing and restaurant administration sims. Because the titular Dave, you go spearfishing through the day to catch components to serve at a sushi restaurant at evening. For many administration sims, that loop might be sufficient of a hook by itself.
However in Dave the Diver, that’s simply the muse. Inside an in-game day or two, a graduate pupil exhibits up and units you on missions to gather native wildlife. After which an underwater archaeologist arrives with a venture. After which the otaku arms seller exhibits up, adopted by a boatful of militant Greenpeace activists, the Pokémon-like collectible card connoisseur, a farmer, and a few pirates. It’s exhausting to explain what occurs with out sounding like a toddler “after which!”-ing their method via a bedtime story.
I’m getting forward of myself — it’s exhausting to not when speaking about this sport. Dave goes diving a pair occasions a day, as soon as within the morning and as soon as within the afternoon, after which spends the night operating a restaurant the place he turns his bounty into sushi.
Picture: Mintrocket by way of Polygon
By day, I swim via an ever-changing underwater atmosphere with dozens of species of fish. The fish get hardier and extra more likely to assault me (which doesn’t essentially damage me, nevertheless it does drain my oxygen extra rapidly, so the tip end result remains to be a failed dive) as I swim down and to the precise. The sushi I could make from the easiest-to-catch fish doesn’t earn me a lot, so I’ve to dive deeper to make actual cash. I can use that cash to improve my gear — a much bigger oxygen tank, a greater harpoon gun, extra storage for the fish I catch. Not each fish might be bagged with one shot from my speargun, although, so typically I’ve to put on them down till a button-mashing quick-time occasion pops up.
In the meantime, I’ve acquired to recollect to gather a misplaced package deal for my enterprise companion with a shady previous, discover particular components for the upcoming Jellyfish Pageant, accumulate components to craft a internet gun, assist the grad pupil with a analysis venture, and save a dolphin from pirates.
Picture: Mintrocket by way of Polygon
As soon as my duties are performed and I’ve acquired a full haul of fish, I head again to the sushi restaurant, the place I’m in control of the whole lot from the decor to grinding wasabi to setting the menu. Managing the menu means discovering the tastiest recipes we will make primarily based on what I’ve just lately caught. And I’ve to do it with out making ready an excessive amount of — which is able to see it go to waste — or operating out. In different phrases, I’m discovering the Goldilocks resolution.
Throughout service, I’m operating backwards and forwards pouring tea, delivering orders from one finish of the bar to the opposite, and bussing plates. I’ve to do it rapidly, or the purchasers get offended and go away dangerous evaluations on the restaurant’s in-game not-Instagram account. Sufficient good evaluations unlock the flexibility to rent workers to attend tables and prepare dinner.
After which, on the subsequent dive, Dave discovers a civilization of merpeople.
Writing it down, it sounds chaotic and directionless. However it’s not. As an alternative, it’s a carefully balanced tower of interconnected silliness. It’s 20 minutes right into a sport of Jenga the place there’s just one block on the underside and holes all through, however the tower simply refuses to fall.
The glue that steadfastly holds Dave the Diver collectively? Its vibrant cutscenes. The taciturn chef comes up with a brand new recipe in an anime-inspired 30-second vignette of flashing blades and cherry blossoms. A meals critic tries a specialty dish, mimicking the identical scene from Ratatouille via a pixelated lens. Even once they repeat, it’s exhausting to skip these energetic vignettes. They’re lovingly crafted once they might be throwaway snippets. They increase the stakes for a foolish improve to a boss battle-worthy crescendo.
It’s that fixed, self-aware, tongue-in-cheek, escalating absurdity that retains me engaged. Over the course of some in-game days, I’m going from fishing to adorning to crafting a sniper rifle to kill the enormous squid that stole the arms seller’s new anime figurine.
Dave the Diver will not be notably difficult, and I can improve my well past any challenges with out an excessive amount of grinding. Operating orders within the sushi restaurant is simply intense till I rent a server who’s twice as quick as Dave. Getting attacked by sharks is simply a sticking level till I improve my gun. However I’m probably not a greater spearfisher than I used to be at first of the sport — bettering my mechanical abilities isn’t the purpose.
Picture: Mintrocket by way of Polygon
What makes Dave the Diver work so nicely is desirous to see what comes subsequent. In one other sport that simply tacked on mechanics and plot units with no plan, it might really feel just like the padding round a threadbare premise. However Dave’s kitchen sink strategy by some means appears like a wonderfully logical, if absurd, escalation — like a Tim Robinson sketch in sport kind. It’s a teetering pile of mechanics and minigames that by no means will get round to collapsing as a result of the balancing act is simply an excessive amount of enjoyable.
Dave the Diver was launched on June 28 on Steam. The sport was reviewed utilizing a pre-release obtain code supplied by Mintrocket. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. You could find extra details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.
