Dave the Diver is an adventure game from Mintrocket, a Nexon studio, that splits its day between two very different activities. You spearfish through a deep-sea sinkhole called the Blue Hole by day, then turn that catch into sushi and run a restaurant by night. It launched on macOS and Windows on June 28, 2023, after an early access run that started in October 2022, and has since spread to most major consoles.
Quick answer: Dave is the playable lead, a laid-back diver tricked by his friend Cobra into catching fish for a new sushi spot run by chef Bancho. “Dave the Diver” is also the name of the game built around that loop, where you dive for ingredients during the day and serve customers at night.
Who Dave is in the story
Dave is a friendly, easily fooled diver who gets pulled away from a vacation by his friend Cobra. The promise is the best sushi around, which happens to be Dave’s favorite food. Once he arrives, he learns Cobra has signed him up to work at a brand-new restaurant run by the eccentric chef Bancho, and that Dave is also expected to supply all the ingredients himself.
The Blue Hole is the heart of the setting, a spot said to hold fish from all over the world. What begins as a simple ingredient run grows into a larger mystery. Dave deals with dangerous sea creatures, rival divers, and an underwater civilization known as the sea people, eventually getting tangled up in the cause of the strange earthquakes happening around the area.
How the day-and-night loop works
The game runs on a clear cycle. During the day, you dive, and in the evening you cook and serve. Later on, you also unlock the ability to dive at night, adding a third window to the cycle.
Diving uses a harpoon gun to attack and reel in fish, supported by guns, melee weapons, harpoon attachments, and other items found mid-dive. Dave has a limited oxygen supply that drains faster when aggressive sealife or obstacles hit him. If he runs out before surfacing, the dive ends early, and he can only keep one of the resources he gathered. Gold earned across the game upgrades his weight limit, oxygen, and dive depth, and you can later unlock fishing nets and drones to catch more.
At night, Dave helps Bancho turn the day’s catch into sushi and other dishes. You serve plates, pour drinks, clean tables, and refill wasabi. Doing well earns gold and raises the restaurant’s reputation, which unlocks new recipes, upgrades, and cosmetics. Special customers and VIP guests show up with specific dish requests that send you back into the water for the right ingredients.
Over time, the scope widens well past fishing and cooking. You gain restaurant staff, a farm for rice and vegetables, side characters with quests and upgrades, in-game calendar events, and unlockable minigames. Boss creatures each have their own powers, weaknesses, and ingredient drops, and puzzles open new areas with more valuable fish. Late-game zones such as the Glacial Passage, Glacier Zone, and Hydrothermal Vents hold the most valuable catches and the most dangerous enemies.
The art style mixes 2D pixel art for Dave with smoother 3D models for the ocean and large fish. Director Jaeho Hwang based the concept on a real restaurant on Jeju Island whose owner dives for ingredients by day and serves them at night, with inspiration also drawn from games like Torneko’s Great Adventure, Abzu, and Metal Gear Solid.
Where to play Dave the Diver and release dates
The game runs on a wide list of platforms, each arriving at a different time. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition added upgraded visuals and faster loading, with a free upgrade for existing Switch owners.
| Platform | Release date |
|---|---|
| macOS, Windows | June 28, 2023 |
| Nintendo Switch | October 26, 2023 |
| PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 | April 16, 2024 |
| Nintendo Switch 2 Edition | November 6, 2025 |
| Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | November 20, 2025 |
DLC and crossover content
The game has steadily added extra content, much of it through collaborations with other titles. The DREDGE pack arrived free on December 15, 2023, adding a fog event where you dredge for valuable items and catch unusual fish. A Godzilla crossover followed on May 23, 2024, with missions that unlock recipes and decorations. It was delisted in November 2024 and later returned to stores on June 27, 2025.
An October 24, 2024, update brought free collaboration content tied to Balatro, Potion Craft, and singer-songwriter Mxmtoon. A paid, limited-time Like a Dragon crossover, featuring Ichiban Kasuga, launched on April 10, 2025. The larger expansion, Dave the Diver: In the Jungle, released on June 18, 2026, adding a new village storyline, fresh characters, an underwater lake with new fish, plus extra weapons, missions, and minigames, with more updates planned.
Physical editions exist too. An Anniversary Edition with Guilty Gear Strive crossover content was published by Arc System Works for Switch on June 28, 2024. A second physical release, including all earlier DLC, was announced for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.
Image credit: MINTROCKET
Reception, sales, and the indie debate
Dave the Diver was widely praised. On Metacritic, it holds a 90 on PC, 88 on Switch, and 91 on PS5, with “universal acclaim” based on its critic reviews. In Japan, four Famitsu critics gave it a combined 36 out of 40, including one perfect 10. Reviewers repeatedly called it relaxing yet deep, with IGN naming it an editor’s choice and Eurogamer describing it as one of the most generous games in years.
Commercially, it took off fast. It became one of the top sellers on Steam within days, passed one million copies within ten days, reached three million by January 2024, and crossed five million across all platforms by November 2024. That success led Nexon to make Mintrocket a wholly owned subsidiary in September 2024.
The game also sparked an argument over what counts as indie. Because Mintrocket sits under Nexon, its nominations for “Best Independent Game” at The Game Awards 2023 and the Golden Joystick Awards 2023 drew criticism that it edged out smaller studios. It won The Steam Awards “Sit Back and Relax” category. Hwang himself has said he does not consider the game indie, a stance that helped fuel the wider discussion about how the label should be defined.
