Charming indie Dave the Diver receives huge quality of life update
One of the year’s most enjoyable, well-made indies is getting a major upgrade that brings new accessibility options to players. Dave the Diver, developed by Mintrocket, is a unique take on the restaurant sim genre that blends adventure with tycoon gameplay in a colorful underwater 2.5D aesthetic. Players play as Bancho sushi chef Dave, who traverses a bottomless ocean teeming with exotic sea creatures during the day while managing his thriving seafood restaurant at night. This game could easily fall into the trap of being a kitchen sink pile of mechanics and plot devices that never quite add up to anything meaningful, but it manages to be a delight on almost every level thanks to a tight balancing act and a cast of characters with a lot of heart.
While the game still has a long way to go before it is fully complete, this latest update gives players more tools to enjoy the experience. One of the most significant additions is the ability to toggle the QTE system so that you can hold down the button rather than mashing it in order to reel in fish or complete other events. This is a welcome change for people who may struggle with fatigue or accessibility issues, and it should make the game easier to play for everyone.
In addition to this, the update makes a variety of smaller improvements. The UI has been resized to be more useful on the Steam Deck, and an inventory sorting function has been added. There have also been some balance adjustments, including a reduction of the Sushi Restaurant operation costs and employee wages, and the Diamond & Platinum rank operation costs are now lower as well. Finally, the update includes some optimizations that reduce stuttering, decrease the overall build size and patch size, improve the text quality for French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese, and improve scrolling through vertical menus.
All of these changes, along with a number of bug fixes and additional tweaks, are available now for those who already own the game in Early Access. You can find a full list of the changes on the Dave the Diver Steam blog.
This is a major update that should greatly enhance the playability of the game, and it shows how much care has gone into this title even before it is ready for release. We can’t wait to see how it evolves over time, and hope that it will end up being one of the great foundational titles that everyone mentions alongside the likes of Stardew Valley when they discuss their favorite indie games.
