If you happen to’ve been residing beneath a rock (or maybe under the ocean), you could have missed Dave the Diver when it was launched in 2023. If that’s the case, you’ll be able to at all times try my Dave the Diver assessment. I extremely suggest this attention-grabbing indie outing, which blends administration and action-adventure parts with a unusual story to supply one thing distinctive and memorable. And, whether or not you missed it or not, now’s the right time to dive again in with the discharge of the sport’s first paid DLC.
Dave the Diver – Within the Jungle is a considerable addition to the bottom recreation. A lot in order that it may nearly have been a sequel. It’s not so long as the principle quest, however this DLC offers hours of content material within the type of a brand new story, new location, and new actions.
The content material pack takes place – because the title suggests – within the jungle. The very first thing to notice is that you simply don’t have to have accomplished the unique journey to embark on this DLC. I like this feature, as the unique recreation is kind of lengthy and there’s no want to carry gamers again from new content material. Whereas it makes barely extra sense from a narrative perspective to play the jungle part second (there are a number of references to the earlier narrative thrown in), you gained’t be too misplaced. I nonetheless suggest beginning the principle quest simply to get a really feel for the principle characters and gameplay loop earlier than you head off into the dense jungle.
You management the titular Dave, who finds himself – alongside along with his mates Cobra and Bancho – venturing into the jungle to analyze a mysterious lake. The fundamental method stays intact; your journey is split into calendar days, permitting you to swim by day and cook dinner by night time.
On this DLC pack, although, issues open up even additional. Between dives and cooking periods, you end up with sufficient time to discover the village. There are numerous characters to work together with right here, every with their very own story to inform. This presents you with a number of aspect quests, including to the longevity of this journey. As Dave learns extra about every particular person, his relationship with them improves. He can provide items to spice up relationships, all whereas having fun with quirky subplots. Examples embody unknown creatures stealing fruit at night time, a person with a slight playing dependancy, a stranded CEO, a misplaced musician, and a lady who loves lizards.
Issues prolong much more when the explorable space finally expands past the village. This provides an RPG component as Dave encounters every kind of jungle beasts, taking them on in turn-based battles. That is the kind of neat version that helps the DLC really feel greater than only a easy add on. It’s effectively designed and provides to the enjoyable with out distracting an excessive amount of from Dave’s core parts of diving and cooking. For instance, Dave can use animal meat taken from battles so as to add to the nightly menu. How handy!
The day/night time gameplay loop creates bite-sized actions to undertake, permitting you to dip out and in as you please. Alternatively, there’s a powerful “only one extra” feeling as you play. I discovered myself saying out loud, “I’ll simply play till Dave goes to mattress”, just for one thing thrilling to occur proper earlier than bedtime that I needed to see play out the subsequent morning. In brief, there’s some intelligent writing that retains issues shifting briskly sufficient to be attention-grabbing whereas permitting you the liberty to discover between story beats.
Graphically, issues look beautiful. Dave is a retro-inspired outing, utilizing pixelated characters amongst colourful backdrops to create a neat mixture of outdated and new. The cutscenes take this idea even additional, offering well-animated sequences that look terrific. They’re additionally fairly amusing. Actually, there’s loads of humor sprinkled all through Dave’s world. There’s additionally coronary heart. It’s heartwarming watching everybody come collectively to develop into mates because the story proceeds. I grew to like this forged of characters, some for the second time, throughout my journey with them within the jungle.
General, Dave the Diver – Within the Jungle is a terrific addition to the bottom recreation. It’s sufficiently small to be thought-about an add-on somewhat than a sequel, however substantial sufficient to justify the price. Now that we’ve added RPG parts to the combo, I ponder if the staff is testing the waters for Dave’s subsequent full journey?
