One of the coolest games from the past two years, Dave The Diver, is finally out on the Switch 2 via Nintendo’s eShop. But here’s the kicker: it can cost you $11.99 (promotional price, it jacks up to $19.99 after November 13), or it can cost you nothing.
We do like our freebies so, to ensure your Dave The Diver Switch 2 edition comes to you at no cost, all you have to do is…own the original Switch’s version the devs at Mintrocket released in 2023.
Yeah, if you purchased the game on the original Nintendo’s hybrid console, the Switch 2 version comes to you as a free upgrade. As of now, it is unclear if you manage to get the free upgrade if you buy the original now — no reason not to try, though.
The game follows the titular Dave, an oafish, out-of-retirement diver who is goaded into starting a sushi restaurant by his friend Cobra. The restaurant’s location is on the beautiful shores of Blue Hole, a spot that allegedly contains fish species from all over the world.
The game’s day-night mechanics add some spice to its gameplay, with Dave diving to fish for ingredients in the mornings and afternoons and managing the restaurant alongside chef Bancho at night. Eventually, a long forgotten sea humanoid species comes into play, some natural catastrophe-level events are supposed to be stopped and the usual shenanigans ensue.
While the new version offers nothing “new” per se — just some upgrades and tweaks on the visual resolution and some framerate corrections — Dave The Diver is one nifty looking little game: its retro looks and creative gameplay certainly made the headlines, even assuring the game was nominated for “Indie game of the year” in several award events. Which reminds us…
Is Dave The Diver an indie game?
Weirdly enough, there is a major discussion as to whether Dave The Diver can be considered an indie game: on one hand, it certainly “looks” small enough to be considered as such. On the other hand, Mintrocket is wholly owned by Nexon, which is as much an indie publisher as I am a master fisherman — which I very much am not.
The studio itself has addressed this in the past, dismissing any notion of them being independent — they went as far as stating that any indie award they were nominated to came at random, at other people’s behest, because they themselves never applied for it.
However, for some reason, a lot of media outlets treated this as an indie title simply because…well, again, it looks the part. Our take? It’s not. Because the studio says it so — and let’s be honest, if there is anyone who knows more than everyone about Dave The Diver’s nature, are the people who made the damn game in the first place.
But don’t take our world for it: tell us what you think in the comments!
