Dave the Diver

 

Release: 2023

Developer: MINTROCKET

Publisher: NEXON

Gameplay Stats: 60 hours, 43/43 achievements

Dave the Diver! I'm not super interested about the "indie" game controversy here, just want to talk about a game.

Aesthetics: The visual style mixes some basic sprite work with some simple 3d graphics in a way that is weirdly nostalgic? I don't think there have been other games that look like this though, so it must just be that the two art styles here are reminiscent of previous ones. There is a lot of beautiful parallax though so I'd be surprised if this was faithful to a particular hardware generation. The music is pretty chill, low key, minimalist music for the most part. Some more pumped up tracks for the boss fights and some tense dialog exchanges, but mostly chill. The fish that I am familiar with look like they should which is kinda neat.

Plot: You are a diver that opens up a sushi restaurant with a couple friends. For reasons not explained you get to do all the management as well as dive for the ingredients that are served. The game takes place in a mysterious "Blue Hole" that features fish from all over the world which is a nice way to incorporate a variety of dishes and flashier fishes into the game. There are also some other explorers in the area, some who help you expand your business and others are short time rivals. Not a whole ton here to write home about. There isn't really any character development or anything, but it's not really what the game is about. There are some typos and bad grammar which I found a little jarring, but the game was made in Korea so it's understandable to make some mistakes with a second language.

Gameplay: This is really the meat of the game and why this game feels so good. This is a game full of minigames that are included in a more cohesive way than like Mario Party or Warioware. It borrows small mechanics/games from a huge variety of games to make something somehow more than the sum of its parts. None of the games overstay their welcome and most are only played a few times. Mixed in between all of this is a chill diving/crafting game that just feels nice and relaxing to play. The stakes are pretty low with generous checkpoints if you do fail something so there is minimal frustration if you don't grasp a minigame immediately. There is minimal tutorializing which feels good even if it can lead to a little confusion at times. I do think the controls were pretty unintuitive but that might be the only negative thing I have to say about the game.

Overall I think this game is a love letter to video games in general. Plenty of borrowed little bits and references that I enjoyed. More than that it was a smooth experience that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone. I don't think this game really did much that was new or original, but it was a very nice, relaxing time.