Dave the Diver isn't holding my attention.
Dave the Diver isn't holding my attention.
So over the winter holiday or so Dave the Diver exploded onto the scene. I finally got to play it and I totally see the appeal! Super charming/chill atmosphere, great art and visual style that's super dynamic and playful, and a lot of fun mini-games comprising the core loop such as the Diner Dash experience of running the sushi bar and the constantly changing blue hole fishing.
The cast of characters is also incredibly enjoyable. The chef and his cut scenes when he "enhances" a dish or otherwise takes a special action add so much to the game. The surfer beach bum friend who is giving you directions throughout has this vaguely "used car salesman but he's still your friend and wouldn't screw you over" vibe. The weapons geek is a little iffy with the way they handle weight and the "basement dweller" trope though, which I was a little surprised to see unfortunately. Still, a fun wacky cast and a great energy define this game that makes it very easy to see why people flocked to it.
But I. Am. BORED. I do not enjoy the fishing at all, it just isn't fun for me. The O2/weight restrictions kill my chill zen state really quickly (though I totally get why they are there) and if I get curious at all I have to react kind of quickly to the inevitable hostile predators. The diner dash mini game has a "timer" going for each customer but it's so stripped down and forgiving that I just get into a light flow state and enjoy it more readily. Under the sea though just isn't for me.
Anyone else play(ing) it?
Played it when it got released last year and I had a really fun 4-5 hours with it....and then very quickly fell off of it. It seems like a great little game with so much going on, but the core loop wasn't working for me and yeah, I jumped off.
Yeah I can't quite put my finger on it. It's like when I tried to play Hollow Knight. I just wasn't having fun navigating around and eventually just accepted I'm in a less vocal or smaller group of players lol. DtD is feeling the same way here.
I'm in the same boat, though based on screenshots I've seen (while trying to avoid spoilers), I'm not sure that the "go underwater, kill fish, serve fish with mini game" loop is not the entire game.
I don't think I got far enough to see it progress past that, but watch a trailer or review and look at some screenshots because it looks like the gameplay changes wildly multiple times throughout the game. Like into several different genres.
Maybe someone who's played it can confirm. I might go back and give it another shot so I'm avoiding those kinds of spoilers as I'd rather it be surprising.
Is there any story to it that you progress through, or is it more sandbox?
Yeah it seems like a story is unfolding as I go (or went) and the characters interact a lot/have a lot of dialogue with you from what I can tell. But it definitely doesn't seem narrative-centric.