Dave the Diver

1. Summary

Dave the Diver's reviewers keep coming back to its daily cycle: dive in the Blue Hole by day, serve the catch at Bancho's sushi bar by night, spend the money on better gear, and dive deeper. Many call it addictive in the "one more dive" sense, and a lot of the praise is about how the game keeps surprising them with new systems, minigames, boss fights and crossovers dozens of hours in. The pixel art over 3D backgrounds, the over-the-top cooking and weapon cutscenes, the goofy cast and the soundtrack all get regular praise, and players often say it is worth the price.

The criticism grows out of the same feature. A smaller group, in positive and negative reviews alike, says the game keeps adding shallow minigames and side systems until the fishing-and-sushi loop they bought it for gets buried. Reviewers also complain that dialogue, unskippable cutscenes and tutorials keep taking control away, that the sea people chapters slow the middle of the game to a run of fetch quests, and that the late game turns into grind. Boss fights, stiff controls, harsh losses on a failed dive and old time-limited DLC come up less often. Where reviewers disagree, it is mostly over whether the growing pile of extras keeps the game fresh or wears it down.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

The dive-by-day, sushi-by-night loopHigh

Players describe a tight cycle where every dive stocks the restaurant and every shift pays for a harpoon, suit or tank upgrade that opens deeper water, and they keep returning to the same phrase: one more dive, one more day, then it is 2 a.m. Stardew Valley is a frequent comparison, and a couple of players say it pulled them out of a gaming slump. The loop has its critics (see the split and frustration panels), though a number of negative reviews still call the diving and sushi core solid.

Constant new mechanics and surprisesHigh

Reviewers are struck that the game is still introducing things deep into a playthrough: fish farms, a vegetable farm, a second restaurant branch, photography, seahorse racing, a tamagotchi, card games, stealth missions, a rhythm concert and more. "I'm almost 50 hours in and it's still bombarding me with new game mechanics." One player sums it up as "15 games stacked on top of each other in a trench coat". For the reviewers who praise it, this steady supply of novelty is what keeps the loop from going stale. Others see it differently (see the split panel).

Pixel art, animation and over-the-top cutscenesHigh

Pixel sprites set against 3D backgrounds draw heavy praise, and the cutscenes are a favourite in their own right: Bancho's dramatic cooking, Duff's weapon tests, customers ascending to heaven over a perfect dish. "The cutscenes are so over the top. I love it." A few players who usually avoid pixel art say this game changed their mind, and one self-described marine biologist is among those won over by the fish designs and the fish catalogue.

Humor and a lovable castHigh

Bancho, Duff, Cobra and Momo the cat get steady praise, along with the jokes. Players enjoy the parade of pop-culture and game references and the way the story keeps going off the rails, with mafia plots, ancient ruins and kaiju. Some find the jokes grating or the story thin (see the split panel).

A cozy, low-pressure game to unwind withHigh

16% of all reviews use words like chill, relaxing, cozy or wholesome, more than for any other theme. Players say they play it after work, on flights, in bed or alongside a podcast, and they like that time stops between dives and that most tasks have no deadline. A few parents mention playing it with a child or once the kids are in bed. Whether the game is actually cozy is also disputed (see the split panel).

Lots of game for the priceMedium

Reviewers often call it worth the price, and some call it a bargain on sale: "a $20 game with this much content just feels like a steal." Players log dozens of hours in the story and side content, and completionists go well past that.

Crossovers and free content packsMedium

The Balatro minigame, the free Dredge and Godzilla content packs, the mxmtoon concert and the Ichiban's Holiday pack come up often, mostly as delights. Two players say the Balatro section got them to buy Balatro, and one says the game introduced them to mxmtoon's music. Reviewers point to the free updates as a sign the developers care. Ichiban's Holiday, the paid pack, gets a cooler reception: a few who mention it call it short, overpriced or not worth the money.

Music and soundtrackMedium

The soundtrack gets steady praise for fitting each zone, from calm shallows to boss fights, and for the sushi bar tracks. A few find the music repetitive over long sessions.

Great on Steam DeckMedium

Steam Deck owners praise how smoothly it runs, its low hardware demands and short sessions that suit a handheld. "Perhaps the very best game out there for the Steam Deck." One player notes black bars on the Deck's screen.

Where players are split

Endless variety or "a mile wide and an inch deep"High

The flood of minigames and systems that delights many players frustrates a smaller group, and positive reviews raise it about as often as negative ones. Their wording is blunt: "It is a mile wide and an inch deep." "Wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle." They say each side system (farms, fish farm, branch restaurant, tamagotchi, card games) is shallow, that one-off minigames are introduced and then dropped, and that the pile keeps growing until the fishing and sushi they enjoyed become the smallest part of the game. "This game has a mini game for almost ANYTHING, which is both a good and bad thing." Some supporters reply that most extras are optional and over in minutes, and that the novelty is the point.

Cozy game or stress testMedium

Some players come in expecting a cozy game and find sharks that chase them, ambush boss fights and a death penalty that takes nearly everything they carry. "Dying in this game is more devastating than dying in a souls game". Some like that tension and call it the right mix of calm and danger. Others feel misled by the cozy label: "For a game classified as cozy, there are some extremely uncozy sections". A small group objects to the game's treatment of marine life, with environmentalists as villains in a game about harpooning fish.

The sushi restaurantMedium

Many players enjoy the night shift, and some say it is their favourite half of the game. Others find it too thin or too automated once staff are hired: "The restaurant is basically just automated, all you do is choose the menu". A few find the running and serving stressful or tedious. Several wish for deeper management options, such as restaurant stats, decor that matters and more staff.

Story, writing and the way people treat DaveMedium

Many praise the story's twists and the writing's charm, while others call the plot bland, predictable or a drag that gets in the way of play. A few dislike how often other characters mock or exploit Dave: "everyone is so unnecessarily mean to him." Two specifically mention the fat jokes.

The In the Jungle DLCLow

Many reviews that mention the In the Jungle DLC come from players still looking forward to it. Those who have played it more often praise it than not: "It was basically a whole other game." One describes Stardew-style friendship mechanics alongside a restaurant that plays differently. A smaller group says it repeats the base game's habit of stacking minigames on top of the diving, and one player who liked the base game's short minigames wrote their review "because the Jungle DLC is exactly NOT that."

What frustrates players

Repetition and grind in the late gameHigh

Repetition is the complaint negative reviews raise most: 111 of the 605 call the game repetitive, grindy or tedious, or say it gets old, and positive reviews often add it as a caveat. Players say the second half drags, dives get longer without getting more interesting, and once the story ends there is little to do except upgrade recipes and grind; as one player put it, "there's really nothing to do afterwards." Completionists add specific pain points: the tamagotchi achievement, leveling staff to 20, and rare fish that refuse to spawn when a recipe or achievement needs them, with bluefin tuna and the ruby seadragon named more than once. Long sessions also expose Dave's fixed swim speed, and one player asks "how is there NO upgrade to your basic movement speed at any point?"

Constant interruptions, dialogue and hand-holdingMedium

A new character, tutorial or story event fires after almost every dive, cutscenes for repeated actions cannot be skipped, and one reviewer says puzzle rooms give away the solution. "It has been 30 hours of non-stop tutorials." A few describe being stuck in a forced event just as they tried to stop playing. "I would pay extra for a no-story mode." It is a frequent reason given in negative reviews, including from players who like the core loop. "I just wanna dive dammit."

The sea people chapters and fetch questsMedium

For a recurring group of negative reviewers, the sea people village in the middle chapters is where the game lost them. They describe a village that is "a slog to move around in", a chain of fetch quests for ungrateful villagers, a new currency, and stealth and puzzle sections in the glacial area. Players who quit midway often name this stretch as the point where they stopped.

Boss fightsMedium

Some players enjoy the boss fights, and their critics are vocal. Complaints focus on unfair hitboxes, sharks that "turn on a dime", attack patterns that are hard to dodge with Dave's slow movement, and ambush fights that start while Dave is weighed down with fish or carrying the wrong weapon. The Clione Queen, Klaus, John Watson and a great white encounter are the fights players name. "Then the boss fights, just terrible. Bad hit boxes. Weird rules. Weird timing." Others note that losing a boss fight lets you retry rather than costing the dive.

Stiff controls and button-mashing QTEsMedium

A recurring group finds Dave slow and the controls clunky: a short delay before aiming, inputs that need the previous action to finish, an aim cone that cannot point straight up or down, and harpoons that pass through targets. "The literal only flaw for me is that the hitboxes aren't great." The quick-time events for reeling in fish and escaping grabs draw their own complaints, especially stick rotation and mashing, and players say the hold-instead-of-mash setting does not cover every prompt.

No saving mid-dive and a harsh death penaltyLow

Dives cannot be saved and passing out keeps only one item, so players lose long dives to a single mistake or a forced quit. "A game that allows dives this long badly needs some kind of temporary save or crash recovery system." One player warns that choosing the wrong save slot can overwrite a newer run with an older one.

Time-limited DLCLow

The Godzilla and Ichiban's Holiday packs being sold or offered only for a limited time drew a steady trickle of complaints about FOMO. "Preying on FOMO isn't cool, guys." A few reviews note that the paid pack's window was extended and a free pack brought back, and one player changed their review to positive after the change. Others still object to the practice itself.

PC options and technical issuesLow

Smaller but specific complaints: no v-sync toggle and visible screen tearing ("Why does this game have no Vsync toggle?"), a frame-rate cap, no ultrawide support, no brightness setting for light-sensitive players, Mac controller and launch problems, and occasional bugs such as quests that do not register delivered items. Other reviewers describe it as polished and smooth running.

3. The player conversation

The tone is warm. Many reviews are one-line endorsements ("peak", "fish", "Dave is goated"), and the long reviews read as affectionate even when critical. Some negative reviewers open by praising the art and charm, and a few close with "just not for me". Many positive reviewers list the same flaws as the critics (too many minigames, interruptions, a dragging second half) and recommend the game anyway. The disagreement is mostly about how much patience a player has for its sprawl.

Who raises what follows how far players got. People who quit in the first hour or two, when they give a reason, often point to the reading and dialogue in the opening and to the restaurant shifts. Players who stopped somewhere between 10 and 30 hours describe the same arc: a delightful start, then the sea people chapters, fetch quests and a growing pile of side systems. One player grades the first half A+ and the second half C+. Players with 60 hours or more are the ones most likely to bring up the grind for the last achievements and an empty post-game.

Reception stays steady over time: weekly positive shares mostly ran between 89% and 98%. The biggest wave came in the week of November 24, 2025 (531 reviews, 97.6% positive), many of them one-line endorsements; only a handful mention the Steam Awards or its Labor of Love category. A second wave ran for the three weeks from June 15, 2026, with 1,305 reviews at 93% to 95% positive, though only 41 of them mention the Jungle by name.

4. What the developers could do

1. Let players skip repeated cutscenes, dialogue and tutorials. Interruptions are a frequent reason given in negative reviews, and players ask for an option to skip anything already seen and to tone down hints that state the puzzle solution.
2. Make one-off minigames and side systems optional or skippable. Some players who recommend the game still say the stacked minigames bury the dive-and-sushi loop, and critics ask to fail forward or skip events that do not interest them.
3. Stop forcing story events at the end of a day. A few players describe being locked into a new quest or event as they tried to quit, so letting players defer non-urgent events would answer that frustration.
4. Add a suspend save during dives and soften the death penalty. Players describe losing long stretches of a dive to one shark hit or a forced quit and ask for a mid-dive save, crash recovery, or keeping more than one item.
5. Tighten combat controls and fix QTE settings. Reviewers cite aim delay, slow movement with no speed upgrade, harpoons passing through bosses and a hold-instead-of-mash option that misses some prompts.
6. Rebalance boss fights and add an assist option. Critics name unfair hitboxes and ambush fights that start while Dave is overloaded, and several ask for difficulty or accessibility settings.
7. Give the late game goals and cut RNG walls. Completionists ask for guaranteed rare fish spawns, a visible tracking list and a post-story reason to dive, and some say they stopped once the story ended.
8. Add basic PC display options. Players ask for v-sync, an uncapped frame rate, ultrawide support, a brightness slider and a screen-shake toggle.