I love Dave the Diver, but I haven't been back to it since 2023, despite several content packs and updates it's received over the past few years. But the upcoming DLC is going to have me racing back to play it again. It's called In the Jungle, and it's not just adding more Dave the Diver to the Dave the Diver—it's doing something completely new.
The DLC is set in a new location, a village in a jungle beside a freshwater lake. The fact that it's freshwater is interesting: you don't make sushi from that kind of fish, so you've got a new type of restaurant to run. Welcome to Bancho Grill!
What's even more interesting is the break from the standard Dave the Diver formula. Yes, you still dive, catch fish, and battle bosses, but the village is a place you can freely walk around, as if Dave is visiting Stardew Valley. Instead of the days being broken up into morning, afternoon, and night segments, as in the base game, the island takes place in real-time, giving you the freedom to manage your schedule as you fish, socialize, and work at the grill. You can even explore with Dave's friends, like Cobra, following you around.
Plus, it's presented in a new isometric view as you explore, gather resources like local fruit or minerals, get to know the locals, and complete quests for them to gain their favor. As they warm up to you, they'll start visiting your restaurant, so you're not just making friends, you're gaining patrons for the grill.
Take a look at In The Jungle in action, starting at about 2:45 in the Dev Dive video below:
New recipes and fearsome new fishy foes like piranha, electric eels, and crocodiles, means Dave's also got a new tool, the Jungle Gun, which can fire nets or act as a shotgun or sniper rifle as needed while you're harvesting the lake for new ingredients. And of course you can expect some new minigames: the trailer shows one where you knock coconuts out of a tree with a stick, and another Rock Band-ish one where you play a guitar.
The restaurant, too, is a change of pace from the base game, because instead of just moving horizontally back and forth across the bar to serve dishes, you can walk in all directions to deliver meals and drinks to tables.
This all looks pretty great, and with this new system where you can freely explore, manage your activities in real time, and get to know the villagers, it almost makes me wish the base game had been built like this all along! While it's reminiscent of Stardew Valley in some ways, don't expect to sink in quite as deeply: Mintrocket says the DLC will take about 10 hours to complete.
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