"...perfect for anyone who loves exploring and enjoys a bit of pressure!"
PC | PS5 | SWITCH | XBOX SERIES
HOW I PLAYED: Playstation Portal (75%) and PS5 (25%).
STORY - 19/20
Cutscenes, being a smaller indie title are just text bubbles and not voice acted at all. They are generally shorter and didn't tend to drag. There is a comedic tone, which I feel they hit quite well.
Overall Story elements are done quite well! I was surprised at how much they got to tell in such a short amount of text. I enjoyed it for the most part and for me it was interesting to follow along. I found myself a little invested and interested in what would happen next.
GRAPHICS - 20/20
Character Models are well detailed enough to make fish and sea creatures clearly recognisable. It feels like a lot of love or passion was put into the models.
Environments are well detailed and it was more immersive than I expected for a pixel-art title. I was impressed. There are six main underwater zone types and they all had their own distinct look to them. From just below surface to a glacial area, there was a good amount of diversity for a small indie title.
Special FX fit well with the look of the game, not overdone or too flashy. They did a good job to show things like electrical shocks or poison status effects all the way to squid ink on the screen to limit your vision. The FX shines most in boss fights.
Animations in Dave the Diver are amazing. The artists knew how to make every pixel work in their favour and nailed the look they were going for. They managed to make a 50 pixel photo of a sushi dish look not just realistic but almost mouthwatering.
AUDIO - 18/20
Ambience in this game was nailed 100% for me. The music, from the farm to just cruising around in low sea-depth, was done perfectly.
Boss Music was fine and suited the fights.
Sound Design was fine, there is no voice acting and it was all text to be read. It is great when you get to the cooking section of the game each night. The chopping sound and sizzling of hot oil in a pan were done right.
Variety of the music and ambience was good, each area had its own music to add to the tone of the game. The scores repeat in each area but you change areas a lot so it doesn't really matter too much.
GAMEPLAY - 32/40
Controls felt a little input delayed and sometimes felt like buttons didn't register when I pressed them and I originally thought this was a PS Portal issue. But when I played natively on the PS5 it still occurred. I felt a little frustrated sometimes too with the aiming for similar reasons.
Mechanics in Dave the Diver are plentiful and new ones are introduced every ten minutes in this game! Many mini-games and tasks use a new, and sometimes unique, mechanic. So it makes you feel like it's almost pointless to get good at them when it could be the only time you encounter it. The 'coolest' thing the game got me to do was play as Dave and a Mermaid at the same time. It was a 5 minute section of doing some simple puzzles to get the two characters through some dangerous waters. Each stick controlled a different character. This was a great section that I really enjoyed.
Pacing was good and you're allowed to go at your own leisure and take days to complete most tasks or do multiple things in a day. Each day is split up into 2 dives (Morning and Afternoon), then dinner service. You can do a 3rd dive in a day but it uses up 1/3rd of your dinner service. Dinner service is where you pull the money in so you want to be doing it well so you can buy gear upgrades and other goodies. But night time has fish that are not out during the day. So a good balancing act to manage.
UI/UE I honestly found myself frustrated at the game sometimes in this regard. In the mermaids land I couldn't open my menu to check some things as everything like levelling up your gear to checking ongoing tasks is done on your in-game mobile and, of course, you can't use a mobile underwater....
Boss Quality is where my love of the game kinda fell apart a bit. I almost quit fighting a main story boss. The mechanic for the boss was to hit a bomb back at him. Something you hadn't needed to do, or been able to do, before this fight and I just felt frustrated with it the whole time. In the end, I beat every boss in the game and it was the same thing most fights: Figure out what the gimmick was and when you worked it out it was still just a "bad" fight. However, one positive is that almost every boss was different.
Enemy Variety was great. Each aggressive fish or sea creature had a slightly different feel, ability, or behaviour. Some were easy to take on and others you had to be prepared for.
Gameplay Variety was not a let down, as there is a bucket-load of mini-games and tasks to do. This includes things like seahorse racing all the way to managing your sushi bar staff. The game even features a Tamagotchi app on your phone. There is always something different to kill time.
Replayability is very high if you enjoyed the management and sushi bar side of things. The game is constantly giving you new events and tasks to do. It was designed to be played continuously after you roll credits.
BONUS - 1/3
Frequent Updates have been done to the game since its original Early Access release on PC and since a console launch it has also released a free dlc.
OVERALL - 90/100
GREAT
Dave the Diver is a fantastic journey into the ocean, perfect for anyone who loves exploring and enjoys a bit of pressure! I found myself loving the main story more than the side content in this game, which is the reverse of my usual feel on games. Some parts dragged, or were frustrating, but I found myself really getting into the Sushi Bar and Management part of the game and enjoyed balancing the risk-to-reward of going for longer dives to bring in more food to make for customers each day. But now my tanks are empty, so I'm returning to the surface, I'll catch you on the next one...
A great game, worthy of your time.
Pick up Dave The Diver HERE:
Nintendo Switch - https://amzn.to/3WEOnCC
PC - https://www.cdkeys.com/dave-the-diver-pc-steam
Check out more BASED REVIEWS!
0 Comments