Bancho ahead!
Developed by Mintroket, a new studio owned by South Korean group Nexon, Dave the Diver is an unlikely mix of several genres. You play as Dave – no, not the singer – a pot-bellied diver who will team up with his old friend Cobra to catch lots of fish so that chef Bancho can transform them into delicious sushi. Until then, you tell yourself that you are only going to dive – as the title of the game suggests – but think again because it is you who will also manage the restoration part. In fact, the program is divided into two stages: you scour the seabed up to twice a day to stock up on fish then, at nightfall, you put on your apron to serve your catch to local customers. . Time management happens naturally and, like Ryo Hazuki in Shenmue, we are never caught by the time. Note that you can even dive an extra time at night to find nocturnal species (moray eels, white shrimp, etc.), which in turn reduces service time at the restaurant and therefore represents a certain loss of income.
Oddly, this mixture of genres is both the great strength and one of the weaknesses of the title. Indeed, independently, each of the gameplay phases is not incredible in itself, but the sequence of the different sections means that the rhythm is always impeccable. We start by simply going fishing and serving at the restaurant, then new interactions flesh out the game design as your business becomes more and more profitable. Many NPCs offer you side quests (photograph specific species of fish, collect others harmful to the ecosystem, fish for shark to serve it on a specific day to satisfy the culinary desires of a particular customer, etc. .) and strong fights against bosses – giant octopus, angry environmental activist, underwater poacher… – are there to vary the pleasures. Add to that a plot that can be followed without displeasure, with a welcome touch of humor and entertainment worthy of the best moments from Ace Attorney and you get a melting pot that holds up pretty well.
The Bay Harbor Butcher
“All these gameplay phases are all well and good, but in practice, how do they play?” Well for the fishing part, it’s very simple, you make a splash and the hundreds of fish living in the Blue Hole, a purely fictitious corner, are available to you. This is where the underwater butchery begins because there is no other word, even if the arcade approach and the artistic direction in pixel art somewhat soften the harsh reality of the matter. Armed with his harpoon and various rifles, melee weapons (bat, knife, golf club, etc.), mines to trigger to damage the most imposing beasts, Dave kills at all costs. Small animal sensitivity aside: it’s just a game and we understand that the non-realistic approach implies fast and naughty gameplay (no need for bait), but we can’t help but feel a mixture of disgust and weariness at fishing around with dozens of fish. Note that you can throw nets or use tranquilizer darts to capture them alive. And it must be recognized that the developers are imaginative because the small QTY to catch prey are varied enough not to tire players too much who have a lot of fishing sessions.
In addition, all this is nuanced by a storyline that makes you see something else, from the ancestral seafaring people who love seahorse races to ponds that allow you to raise your own fish, while passing through sequences of gardening and others of pursuit by boat scrolling horizontal. In addition, the inventory in the form of a mobile phone is well designed and we have access to all the information quickly. For example, we can consult our Cooksta account – the culinary Insta where customers post their best sushi photos -, consult current objectives or even improve our equipment. So, if we don’t go deeper than fifty meters at the start of the game, we go deeper and deeper as our oxygen tank is upgraded. Likewise, the storage capacity of objects increases along the way, while weapons are manufactured and perfected in abundance by amassing the necessary loot from the seabed.
With A Little “Kelp” From My Friends
As for the strictly Diner Dash part, here too, the goal is to simplify the gameplay as much as possible. We will therefore have to move as quickly as possible since a dissatisfied customer will not hesitate to leave a bad comment on Cooksta. Capitalism for Dummies, but always with derision. If Dave can pick up his pace, you have to keep a constant eye on the stamina gauge while you bring the dishes from Chef Bancho on the right of the screen to the customers on the opposite side. The goal is to bring the right dish to the right customer before he waits too long and leaves, all while doing other tasks in parallel: pouring tea or beer, collecting tips, grating cheese. wasabi essential for seasoning dishes, etc. As a restaurant simulation, Dave the Diver goes further since it is also necessary to manage the staff, provide them with training to make them more efficient and recruit new, more or less strong people in the kitchen or in service. Of course, the more you talk about the recruitment campaign, the more attractive the profiles that appear.
- Also read | Dave the Diver dives into the depths of Dredge with a free expansion.
Never very hard, the game of Mintrocket is hardly punitive and if you die in the open sea, you can only keep one element of your fishing. Besides, the bosses are not very complicated and it takes between twenty and thirty hours to complete the main story depending on your involvement in the numerous side quests. After this milestone, there is always something to do and the recent DLC in crossover with Dredge even adds some new features: a new character from the game, the possibility of driving the boat around the Blue Hole at times, the arrival of hooded creatures in the restaurant, which must be served with dedicated fish, without forgetting a new weapon , THE Drain Gun. Please note that if, like us, you don’t see anything when you restart the game, this is completely normal. You must first replay a few virtual days so that a thick fog appears over the bay…