Dave the Diver

Dave the Diver is an adventure video game developed and published by Mintrocket. Players control Dave, a hard-working diver, as he collects fish, solves quests, and manages a sushi restaurant. It has elements of management, action-adventure, and role-playing video games. It was released in June 2023 for macOS and Windows, and a Switch version that released October 26th, 2023. Gameplay Players control Dave, a deep sea diver who is talked into managing a sushi restaurant and supplying it with the fish they need. He fishes at a spot called the Blue Hole whose geography and fauna change daily. Players can collect resources to upgrade or craft new items for Dave to use, such as diving gear and weapons to use in boss fights against giant underwater creatures. Dave's air supply is decreased faster as he becomes overburdened, and he becomes more susceptible to predators, such as sharks. Being defeated in combat causes Dave to drop all his cargo except one item as he is rescued. Dave is also asked by others to perform various favors, quests, for them involving exploration, research, or finding rare items. As players retrieve items lost at sea, they can use Dave's contacts in his cell phone to find buyers. Dave can go diving twice a day, once each during the morning and afternoon; later in the game's progression the ability to dive at night is unlocked. In the evening, he manages the sushi restaurant. Players can unlock new recipes to cook, attract influential customers, renovate the restaurant by adding new decorations, hire new employees, and more. An in-game app called "Cooksta" keeps track of the restaurant's popularity and rating and can unlock further upgrades. The graphical style uses pixel art. Development Dave the Diver is the first game from Mintrocket, a subsidiary of Nexon. Despite the game's indie look, Mintrocket has stated that they are not an indie developer. The initial concept came from a real-life pub on Jeju Island. The owner is a diver who fishes during the day and runs the pub during the night. The more fantastical elements were inspired by the manga Blue Hole. Mintrocket found it challenging to balance the game's various mechanics so no particular gameplay element becomes repetitive. They said they resolved this through trial and error during early access. It entered early access in October 2022, and Mintrocket released it for macOS and Windows on June 28, 2023.