Dave the Diver

Dave the Diver, in which players control the eponymous Dave, is a game with a pixel art aesthetic that is divided into two main gameplay styles; diving into the sea during the day and running a sushi restaurant in the evening. Twice per in-game day, with the option to dive again during the evening unlocked later on in the game, players dive into the Blue Hole in search of fish, sealife and various other materials.

Dave is equipped with a harpoon gun for attacking and reeling in fish, and can use various guns, melee weapons, harpoon attachments and items that can be found during each diving session. Dave has a limited supply of oxygen which further decreases if he is attacked by aggressive sealife and other obstacles. If he runs out of oxygen before he can return to the surface, the diving session will end prematurely and only one resource that was found can be taken back. Players can use gold earned throughout the game to improve Dave's equipment in various ways, such as increasing his weight and oxygen capacity or allowing him to dive deeper. Players can also unlock additional means for catching sealife as the game progresses, such as fishing nets and drones.

Dave, a diver, is approached by his friend Cobra, who starts up a sushi restaurant venture with the skilled chef Bancho. Setting up location at the Blue Hole, a spot said to contain fish from all over the world, Dave is tasked with fishing for ingredients during the day, and helping Bancho with the restaurant at night. During his escapades, Dave comes across a race of sea people which leads him to the mystery behind the random earthquakes that have been occurring.

The development of Dave the Diver started in 2017 as a prototype named Dave, where a diver obtains various fish as rewards. This version was considered too simplistic and mundane, and the developer decided to restart the project with a version built around resource management.

Dave the Diver was initially announced as a mobile game in 2018 by Nexon Mobile subsidiaries NeoPle and Studio 42 in collaboration with National Geographic to "bring awareness to all the beauty the ocean has and how it's slowly fading away," before being reannounced in May 2022 as the first game by Nexon subsidiary Mintrocket. The game's director Jaeho Hwang based the initial concept on a real-life restaurant on Jeju Island, whose owner dives for ingredients during the day and serves them during the evening. The development team's own diving experiences served as inspiration, along with games such as Torneko's Great Adventure, Abzu and Metal Gear Solid.

Dave the Diver received "universal acclaim" based on 44 critic reviews according to review aggregator website Metacritic. In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 36 out of 40, with one critic awarding the game a perfect 10.

Praising the game's complexity, yet calling it "utterly relaxing", PC Gamer's reviewer said it already made his shortlist for game of the year as of June 2023. Destructoid called the gameplay "engaging", and said the story was "silly, yet endearing". IGN labeled it as an editors' choice and said it is "wholesome, wonderfully complex, and delightfully hard to put down". Eurogamer said it was "wholesome, harmonious, and completely unwilling to settle", calling it one of the most generous games in years.