Dave the Diver joins the PS Plus catalog on April 16
Sony fans can finally play one of our favorite games of 2023.
Dave the Diver is joining the PlayStation Plus catalog on April 16. If you’ve been on the fence about the ocean-faring adventure/restaurant sim, this is a good chance to check it out without spending any extra money, assuming your PS Plus membership hasn’t lapsed.
For those living under a coral reef, Dave the Diver is a wickedly addictive game that wears many hats. The gameplay splits into two primary components. During the day, you explore an ever-changing ocean, with fish to hunt, sharks to fight and mysteries to solve. The deeper you go, the weirder things get.
Once night falls, the action shifts to a sushi restaurant. You hire the staff, plan the menu and serve the guests. This is one part management sim and one part arcade game, with a hectic pace that recalls the coin-op classic Tapper.
The two gameplay mechanics shouldn’t mesh well, being so wildly different, but somehow they do. It’s like, uh, ocean-exploring peanut butter and sushi-making jelly. Dave the Diver is also surprisingly funny, with a large cast of oddballs both over and under the sea. Let me put it this way. You can hire an off-brand Jason Voorhees, a velociraptor and a ninja to be your waiters and sous chefs. There’s a reason why it made our list of the best games of 2023.
PS5 players are getting some slight improvements to suit the console, including haptic feedback that makes use of the adaptive triggers of the DualSense controllers. There’s also Godzilla-based DLC coming in May, which promises “even more enormous threats lurking in the depths.” The game’s already available for the Nintendo Switch and PC, though it remains absent from the Xbox catalog.
In addition to Dave the Diver, PS Plus members will soon be getting another treat. Sony just announced that the action-adventure title Tales of Kenzera: Zau will be a day one exclusive to PlayStation Plus on April 23.
