Video Game Review: DAVE THE DIVER

Firstly, I admit I am not a great fan of the rise of the multiple "pixel graphics" games that we've had over the last 10 years or so. I understand the reason for them and they do occasionally look wonderful but most of the time, I feel like the game chooses it as the art style and I personally think it's the wrong choice. Naturally, for this reason I was quite apprehensive about playing Dave The Diver for a while but eventually gave in due to it's "overwhelmingly positive" reviews on Steam. Now, I really wish I had bought it sooner as this game is SO much fun.

To explain the idea, you play Dave (obviously) who is a Diver (obviously). By day, Dave does his diving, catching fish and generally trawling "the blue hole" for different things. Come to the evening, you are working in Bancho Sushi bar, pouring drinks and getting the dishes out in time, dishes containing the fish you caught earlier. The simplicity of this would probably be good enough to fill a few hours but the accompanying wacky storyline that goes with it, is what really makes Dave The Diver stand out.

There are a fantastic array of characters all with their own interests in the area you are carrying out your diving missions, from eco-activists to myth hunters to nerdy computer types. They all turn up at various points requesting help with various tasks, often making the protagonist feeling quite expendable and completely disregarding the levels of peril involved in such a task. This only makes you love the character, Dave more and makes you want to succeed at mission just to prove everyone that you do have what it takes.

The balance of Diving and waiting in the Sushi bar is so spot on, the hours just sail by when playing this game. I am always equally as excited to play the diving element as I am to play the sushi bar part. Imagine if you will, playing Ecco the Dolphin one minute only to jump into a game of Overcooked in between levels. All of this obviously earns you money, in which you can go on to purchase new diving gear that allows you to explore deeper waters and catch bigger fish. Catching those bigger fish and finding new ingredients only improves the quality of the sushi served therefore making the restaurant more popular, allowing you to hire more staff and so on and so forth.

I do feel sometimes games struggle to get the humour spot on, yes games can be funny but not very often have I proper belly laughed at games and this had me in stitches a fair few times. I would be very much interested to see future games released from MintRocket / Nexon.

I have seen this game on sale a few times since it's release and quite frankly it's a steal at full price considering what you get in the game, so if you do see it on sale, I whole heartedly recommend grabbing this. Dave The Diver is also available on Switch, Xbox and Playstation as well as PC (Steam).