Was Dave the Diver Worth It?

Catch fish and serve em up in this pixelated adventure title. Was Dave the Diver worth it?

Full disclosure: We received a review code for the Nintendo Switch version of this game. Rest assured that this will not affect the quality or candor of our review.

Background

Let’s get this out of the way: Nexon has a market cap of 2.59 trillion yen. Dave the Diver is not an indie game. If you remember the hack-and-slash rpg + item shop management game Recettear, then this premise will be familiar, because it’s the same thing but with a sushi joint. You start off with two dives a day, and then you run the restaurant at night with the fish you’ve collected. Rinse and repeat, but with an ever-expanding roster of characters and their side quests.

What does Dave the Diver do well?

The diving systems are fun, and once you master the harpoon you’ll be bringing in huge hauls of fish. Seeing the numbers get bigger at the end of a dive or sushi shift is satisfying. There are a lot of small metrics that keep you striving for higher numbers, whether it’s social media followers, employee levels, fish caught, etc.

The best thing about this game is definitely the characters, especially the core cast. The repartee between Dave, Bancho, and Cobra is entertaining, even if Dave is a bit of a putz.

What could Dave the Diver do better?

The pacing felt off to me. The game is at its best when there are minimal systems and dives are short affairs. Eventually you get into systems that feel superfluous and take away from the main loop. The game starts strong, but after a while it feels like work.

I also would have liked a deeper system for weapon upgrades rather than random loot drops, since some of these fish are way too robust. I also would have liked it if elements like restaurant decoration were more impactful. Later systems felt tacked on and superfluous; I just want to dive, not start a hen house.

Was Dave the Diver fun?

The characters are quirky and their interactions are fun, but I’ll admit that I got bored of the gameplay loop.

Is Dave the Diver good value?

For $20, there’s a lot to do – this sushi is worth the menu price.

Who is this game for?

Are there any Recettear fans out there? Otherwise, fans of adventure games might like this.

Was Dave the Diver worth it?

Dave the Diver is best in the early game before it gets bloated. I may sound cynical, but this isn’t someone’s passion project: this is an AAA game that wears the indie pixel game aesthetic as a mask. It’s a decent game, but there were definitely several points where the developers just needed to focus on the core gameplay loop. What weighs this game down are the points where it changes format and trips over its own feet in a hurry to show you what it can do.

Dave the Diver is worth it, and you’ll probably enjoy it, but it’s just a little bit out of its depth when it comes to greatness.

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