Dave the Diver Review: Teach a Man to Fish, and He’ll Take Over Your Restaurant

I used to believe that it was my life’s purpose to become a scuba diver, and I completed my open-water scuba certification years ago. But my expectations were quickly obliterated when reality hit—I’m far too claustrophobic to scuba-dive, and I found most of my dives terrifying. Fortunately, I can now live vicariously through Dave the Diver, a peaceful yet captivating game for PC and the Nintendo Switch that fulfills a few of my aquatic dreams.

Who’s Dave?

In Dave the Diver, you play as the titular Dave, an ordinary guy whose relaxing vacation is cut short when he gets invited out to sushi with a friend—only to learn that he must go and catch the seafood himself from the local deep-sea dive spot, the Blue Hole. Dave is nervous about the Blue Hole’s enigmatic and ever-changing nature, but being a (sometimes begrudging) people-pleaser, he accepts the errand. His friends take this as a sign that our boy is down for anything, and naturally, they proceed to throw him into restaurant management.

Dave is now tasked with diving for fish during the day to fetch ingredients for the sushi restaurant that he must operate at night. These two activities vary greatly in gameplay, but they work beautifully together. Additionally, you have many other quests to take on, depths to explore, and enhancements to unlock for Dave’s diving equipment and sushi bar.

How to play Dave the Diver

The Blue Hole is teeming with gorgeous aquatic scenery, brought to life through colorful, pixelated artwork. Aiming and shooting at fish is immediately satisfying, and the controls are easy to learn—all actions require only simple button presses and precise aim, which you achieve by rotating your mouse or joystick in the correct direction. The control scheme is fixed to the bottom corner of the screen for quick reference, which I found handy when I put the game down for too long and then returned to it as a novice. Button prompts also pop up when you approach objects of interest, and you can pull up gameplay tips and controls on Dave’s in-game smartphone at any time.

You start the game with the basic knife and harpoon, but before long you meet a weaponsmith named Duff, who helps you craft new underwater tools and enhancements. You can also find fun melee weapons in underwater chests, such as rubber chickens and Japanese swords. While some fish are docile and easy to catch, others are aggressive and damage your health—represented by Dave’s oxygen tank—when you bump into or agitate them. If you run out of oxygen, whether via murderous fish or diving too deep or for too long, you lose all but one item from your inventory and are immediately dragged back to the surface.

When you’re not catching the daily specials for your sushi joint, you get roped into random activities such as racing seahorses, brawling with pirates, and fulfilling requests for friendly merfolk and other island locals. After you complete your tasks during the day, you prepare to open your restaurant. Each night, you set the menu based on the ingredients you’ve caught and the recipes you’ve unlocked, which you obtain by discovering new types of fish, defeating bosses, and completing successful dinner services. Planning a profitable sushi menu involves a surprising amount of strategy, but the selection is dependent on what you catch—which, in turn, is related to how well-equipped you are to catch different creatures.

None of your customers are especially patient, so you have to bolt between serving seafood, restocking ingredients, and pouring drinks, the last of which involves a quick mini-game where you must land the perfect amount of liquid in the customer’s glass. If you’ve ever played a Diner Dash game, you’ll feel at home—running the sushi bar in Dave the Diver is less stressful in pace but similar in concept.

Who should play Dave the Diver

Dave the Diver is a great game for people who like adventure games with a cozy feel. It has non-bloody combat, rewarding exploration, and an upgrade system that feels more akin to what you can find in a traditional action-adventure title, and running the restaurant feels like its own separate simulation. These two gameplay elements are completely different, but they create a cohesive experience that’s both engaging and soothing. And it’s an excellent option for those who don’t have access to a fancy gaming rig or console, thanks to its gentle system requirements.

We also recommend Dave the Diver for players who don’t have an abundance of free time. The controls are easy to get reacquainted with after some time away, and you can complete the game in roughly 20 hours if you don’t dawdle. But you may find yourself wanting to stray from the primary endeavors of diving into the depths and running the restaurant—which are addicting on their own—in favor of the many mini-games to enjoy, characters to meet, and clever stories to discover. Currently, Dave the Diver is available on the Nintendo Switch and on Steam for PC and macOS.

This article was edited by Arthur Gies and Signe Brewster.