** Posted on November 6, 2025 Posted by 1 Comment

If you’re anything like me, you probably have a huge stack of video games that you’ve bought and never played. In my case, I have 400+ games in my Steam library, and I’ve played maybe about twenty of them. My dad has also played about twenty of them, and I’m not sure how much our lists overlap.

Point is, we have a lot of games, and it’s high time I start getting back into a hobby I have long been neglecting: gaming. In fact, in my new house, I plan to have my own gaming room, so hopefully this post is the first of many. (Also, thanks to everyone who commented on the last post about my house, I appreciate all the congratulatory exclamations as well as the tips and advice!)

For this new segment, I wouldn’t exactly call them full game reviews, as I’m not necessarily planning to complete these games. The point of this is to make me try new games instead of just playing Fortnite all the time, and blow the dust off the games in my library. Really all I’m trying to do is try a new game, play for just a couple hours, see if it’s mostly fun, if I like the vibe, and if it’s worth continuing to play.

For today’s game, I’ll be talking about Dave the Diver. Though it was released in 2023, I had never heard of this game until about two months ago when I saw it in a Tik Tok over some cozy games to play during the fall/winter. As someone who loves cozy games, I went on Steam to check it out and saw that it had a huge amount of “overwhelmingly positive” reviews, and it was only twenty bucks.

The basic summary is that you play as a diver who explores the sea and fishes for fish during the day, then utilizes your fresh catches to run a sushi restaurant on the beach at night. Here’s a trailer!

Immediately, I loved the art style. I’m a sucker for pixel art, and this game has such charming environments with tons of color. It’s clear that a lot of heart was put into the art of this game, as pixel art is truly a labor of love. It’s not an art style I would’ve expected for a fishing game, but it just works so well.

I thought that my favorite part of this game would be the restaurant management aspect of it. From pouring drinks and serving sushi to putting new items on the menu and deciding on the interior design and decorating, there’s plenty to keep you busy on land. But honestly I really love the semi-open-world style exploration of the ocean and seeing all the super cool fish and plants and discovering lost treasures and resources.

I say “semi” open-world because *Dave the Diver *is one of those games that heavily relies on you upgrading things with the money and resources you get, such as upgrading your diving equipment so you can dive deeper and for longer durations. So at the beginning, you’re pretty limited to just the shallower water and you run out of oxygen pretty quick, but once you progress enough to stay under for longer and go deeper, there’s so much to see and do.

This game really throws a lot at you in the beginning, as it has a ton of mechanics it needs to explain to you in a very short amount of time. You have to learn how to dive and how your equipment works, plus how to upgrade stuff and make weapons. Then you have to learn how to run the restaurant, add things to the menu, draw people in with social media and advertisements, learn how to pour drinks and upgrade things, it’s honestly a lot right out the gate. It definitely felt a little overwhelming at first but honestly it’s easy to compartmentalize the mechanics into the “fishing” portion of the game and the “restaurant” half of the game. It’s sort of like two games in one in that regard.

While I’m only a couple hours in, I’ve really been enjoying it so far. I like the vibes, the art, the music, and the fishing and serving sushi is plenty fun. It’s an enjoyable time, and I have a feeling it will only get better and better as I continue to upgrade and discover way more. There’s even mini games within the game, which is something I absolutely love when games do. It’s so cute to put a game in your game!

I definitely think this game has a lot to offer for its relatively low price point, and I think if you try it you will definitely get plenty of hours of enjoyment out of it. Personally, I’m very excited to play more of it and am glad I gave it a shot.

Have you heard of *Dave the Diver *before? Do you like restaurant management games? Is pixel art totally your jam? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS