I had been waiting for this for ages: my first night dive. Listen: doesn’t the night transform things? A quick wander outside, a spot of sky-staring, even a casual glance out the window at the dark horizon becomes a thing of intrigue. Tall buildings picked out with those gorgeous red lights on the corners, trees rendered as cavernous congregations of clasping branches. And underwater? Underwater at night? What would that be like?
Dave the Diver reviewPublisher: MintrocketDeveloper: MintrocketPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on Steam.
So, while I had legitimate in-game reasons to want to go diving at night – a customer back at the restaurant wanted moray eel for a dish that would deliver a spicy blast of nostalgia, and morays only appear once the sun has gone away – really, I just wanted to get into the sea to understand what it was like at night down here. How would the landscape, already ever-changing, already filled with bright mysteries, be transformed yet again?
In the end, my first night dive took place during a storm. I had been told I might get more than the moray eel during a storm – there might be an underwater vortex with a dangerous secret inside. Down, under the surface I went. The reefs I thought I would recognise were suddenly new again, their edges picked out in cyberpunk neon. Bioluminescence! Meanwhile, rain hitting the surface of the water above me formed a shifting repetitive ripple of disturbed water, corrugating, corduroying the surface: sea, but with a likeness of undulatus cloud. There was a feeling, suddenly very strong, that I was at the centre of everything.
I found the vortex after a few minutes of exploration, but that’s not what I remember most about this first night dive. What I remember most is the glimpse of my first box jellyfish, like the eel it’s another night visitor to the depths. It shambled towards me so unexpectedly I let out a yelp: a skeletal form, complete with jiggling skeleton arms and legs, all encased in a rounded layer of flesh so thin and translucent it could have been bubble gum. Catch it? Run away? Blast it from a distance? No: watch it. Just watch it. For ten minutes or so I kept pace and watched this strange alien beast knocking about on the sea floor.
Dave the Diver isn’t a complicated game, but it can be a very busy one. I mean this as a compliment. From a simple core, it builds outwards in unlikely and enchanting ways. But that core keeps everything from becoming bewildering. During the day you dive and fish in an ever-changing reef and look for treasures. During the night, you serve the fish you caught during the day and try to maximise your profit and your customers’ happiness. From there we get an adventure plot about an underwater society dealing with a mysterious menace, as well as run-ins with eco-warriors who continually do more harm than good. But also: rhythm-action, stealth, sections that play like visual novels. Racing. Farming. Chases. Business management.