Skip to main content

Dave the Diver: tips and tricks for conquering the undersea adventure

Steam has another indie hit on its hands with Dave the Diver, a unique scuba diving adventure that’s topping the store’s sales charts. While you have the option to play it at a casual pace, making progress at a decent rate will make your underwater adventures far more enjoyable. Blending together a restaurant sim and underwater exploration game, odds are a few of the mechanics or systems won’t be immediately recognizable or clear. The tutorial does enough to get you started, but it will take much more skill and knowledge to succeed as both a business manager and explorer of the deep.

That’s a lot of responsibility for any one person to take on, so hire us to give you all the pointers you need to survive below the surface while keeping your business afloat in Dave the Diver.

Recommended Videos

Don’t overextend

Dave diving deep in the ocean.
Mintrocket

Exploring the depths of the sea is one of the most thrilling aspects of Dave the Diver, but early on you need to know your limits. First, you only have so much oxygen, and running out and you will lose anything you’ve collected on that dive. Keep an eye on that air meter on your screen and leave more than enough left to make it back to your pod. You can replenish some air by finding the air cans around the map, but you shouldn’t rely on those in a pinch.

What’s worse is that the deeper you dive, the more dangerous the creatures become. Until you equip yourself with better weaponry, diving down even below the shallow regions too early will turn you from the hunter into the hunted.

Prioritize your air and weight

Speaking of your air, that should be the first thing on your upgrade list. It should go without saying, but the longer you can spend diving, the more opportunity you have to collect fish and resources.

That leads right into your next priority upgrade, which is your Cargo Box. Unlike a lot of other things you can upgrade, such as weapons, the Cargo Box will never be replaced and is the final limiting factor on how lucrative your dives can be. Dave can only carry a maximum of nine kilograms to start, and going above that limit will slow you down, possibly to the point where you need to discard something to make it back before you run out of air. Don’t put yourself in a position where you need to pick and choose which fish or item you have to ditch due to space. At the same time, don’t bother holding a heavy fish if you don’t need it.

Which fish you should focus on will be determined by your stats screen at the end of each day running the restaurant. Here you will see what item sold the best, and make sure to get more of that item instead of others that don’t sell well.

Catch a fresh fish

A sushi chef cutting fish on a board.
Mintrocket / Mintrocket

Not all fish you catch in Dave the Diver are created equal. When you make a catch and check your app, you will see that each fish gets a ranking of one to three stars, with three being the highest quality. The only way to get a three-star fish is to catch it without harming it at all. The only three ways to do this are to invest in the net gun, tranquilizer, or get the bug net for certain fish.

Don’t stress over side-quests

Between your dives, always speak to all the NPCs available to pick up any potential side-quests. Completing these tasks will earn everything from gold to rare ingredients for your restaurant, and there’s no time limit to completing any of them so it’s always worth it to accept them as soon as you can. The only real time constraint you need to worry about is when a VIP visits your restaurant and makes a special request.

Keep an eye out for blue diamonds

Speaking of quests, Dave the Diver is very accessible in how it handles your quests. All your quest objectives, main and side, will be marked by diamonds when you spot them. If you’ve got a handful of side-quests to collect a laundry list of fish and items, there’s no need to worry about memorizing them or constantly checking your menu. If you come across something you need, it will be marked.

Only hire help when you need it

A sushi resturaunt in Dave the Diver.
Mintrocket

Part of your job running a restaurant will include hiring staff to help as your business grows. The first one is story-related, but future hires should only come as the need arrives. For example, if your customers aren’t getting their food quickly enough, hire a waiter. If the food is coming out too slowly, add another cook. When hiring, also pay attention to what skills they have, looking for Diamond, Platinum, and Gold tier employees first. Some even have special skills that only appear once they reach level three, such as always getting tips or cleaning up messes faster.

Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over five years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies: tips and tricks for beginners
A bunch of characters standing around with guns getting attacked by flying giant bugs in Call of Duty's zombies mode

After the backlash surrounding the Zombies mode in Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has returned to the round-based roots we all know and love. Well, the structure might be familiar, but this mode has more than its fair share of new tricks that will see you getting swarmed in seconds if you can't learn to adapt. If you're familiar with how Call of Duty handles its Zombies mode, you will know that there's a lot more you need to know besides just shooting zombies if you want to make it to the later rounds. If you want to survive as long as possible, we have the key tips and tricks to withstand the zombie horde in Black Ops 6.
The basics still apply

There are a few tips from past Zombies games that will serve you well here in Black Ops 6 that are worth a quick reminder. Starting off with the need to conserve ammo in the early game. Zombies are weakest in the first handful of rounds, but ammo is incredibly scarce. You can't count on getting more when you need it, so save as much as possible and try to melee as many zombies as possible. Only shoot if you get swarmed, need to save a teammate, or when a boss or elite shows up.

Read more
Dragon Age: The Veilguard tips and tricks
A character draws a bow in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

The threat to Thedas in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is greater than anything we've seen before. Solas, The Dread Wolf, is attempting to tear down the Veil, but that's only the tip of the iceberg of problems your Rook will need to deal with. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against you and you will need to use every edge you can get to find a way to overcome the odds. While the game does offer plenty of difficulty options, learning the deeper systems and mechanics will let you compete and keep up with the difficulty as it ramps up without having to change any settings. There's a lot to absorb when diving into this world, so we'll help you prepare with these essential tips and tricks.
Pick your class carefully, but experiment with skills

While you're making your character, the most important choice you have is which class you will be. The three options are Warrior, Mage, and Rogue and the one you pick here is the one you will be stuck with for the rest of the game. There's no changing classes or controlling other party members directly like in past games, so don't take this decision lightly. If you are having trouble deciding, we can help you decide which one is right for you.

Read more
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6: tips and tricks to dominate the competition
Soldiers fight in a shopping plaza in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

In most Call of Duty games, you can rely on your aim and reflexes to get you pretty far in multiplayer, but Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will ask a lot more of you if you want to outplay the competition. Getting the feel for new weapons won't take you long, but there's a lot more you need to wrap your head around in this entry, from the completely revamped movement systems and perks to new game modes and scorestreaks.

Black Ops 6 proves that we're long past the days of this series being a simple shooter. While the campaign is great fun for a while, and Zombies has a lot to sink your teeth into as well, it is the competitive multiplayer mode that most of us spend the most time with. This is the biggest Call of Duty has been in years, so the competition has never been fiercer. If you want that edge on the battlefield, these tips and tricks will give it to you.
Master the movement

Read more