11 best games like Dave the Diver

Dave the Diver is a gem. You have calm, relaxing fishing that can occasionally get chaotic if large, aggressive fish catch you. During the night, you experience the joys of managing a sushi restaurant during peak times. It's a lot, but that's what makes it fun.

While it's certainly a unique game, it's still possible to fill the void left after finishing your Dave the Diver playthrough. Whether you like the sushi restaurant aspects, deep ocean diving, or management mechanics, we've developed a list of the best games like Dave the Diver that you can play right now.

Moonlighter

One of the closest matches you'll find on this list is Moonlighter, a game that has you dungeon-crawling at night and selling your wares during the day. With a similar gameplay loop to Dave the Diver and a sequel planned for Summer 2025, Moonlighter is one of your best bets if you want a mix of shopkeeping and, in this case, dungeon diving, all while learning valuable lessons about chasing your dreams.

Luna's Fishing Garden

What if you're only interested in some fishing and adorable pixelated graphics and don't want the stress of Dave the Diver's combat? Luna's Fishing Garden is a short and sweet fishing game where your goal as the game's protagonist, Luna, is to clean up nearby islands and deliver fish to spirits that reside on them.

You won't find any complex gameplay mechanics or deep lore here. You're here to fish, clean up some trash, and decorate your islands to transform them from empty lands to beautiful, lush environments. If you want a short game that you can finish in one night after your Dave the Diver playthrough, Luna's Fishing Garden might be just what you're looking for.

Dredge

On the other side of the fishing game spectrum is DREDGE, a single-player adventure that focuses on intricate exploration and mechanics alongside a fascinatingly unique art style. While it has a noticeably grittier vibe than Dave the Diver, it's another perfect choice if you enjoyed the game's fishing half but want something a little different.

Chef RPG

Chef RPG has it all. Whether you like Dave the Diver's restaurant management system, resource gathering, or its graphics, you'll find many of these aspects and more in this title.

Taking place in White Ash Harbor, your goal is to revive a local restaurant, Le Sequoia, across seasons while befriending the town's locals and discovering hundreds of cooking recipes. There's friendship and romance along the way, giving you plenty of side goals to unlock as you focus on your primary goal of restoring a rundown restaurant to its former glory. Regardless of which part of Dave the Diver's story and gameplay was your favorite, you're likely to find plenty of similarities between it and Chef RPG.

SteamWorld Dig

How do you feel about a game that has the same feel-good energy as Dave the Diver but with a completely different premise and gameplay loop? SteamWorld Dig is all about heading into some mines, collecting resources to sell, and uncovering secrets within the world. There's more than meets the eye here, much like in Dave the Diver's universe.

Better yet, there are multiple of these games, including a SteamWorld Dig 2 sequel and SteamWorld Heist if you want to change genres for a bit. If you want a mix of resource gathering, questing, and combat that you can spend anywhere from a few to dozens of hours playing, this is certainly a worthwhile pickup.

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

It's time to jump into the oldest entry on this list, Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale. At its core, your goal is to venture into dungeons, collect loot, and make a ton of money through your item shop. While it may seem simplistic at first, Recettear's mechanics delve a little deeper with features like haggling, varying buying habits among customers, and item upgrades to make dungeon diving easier. All the while, you have a cute anime art style from the early 2000s, creating a peaceful and familiar vibe.

Between all that and an HD Edition planned to release sometime in 2025, Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is a great choice if you want to jump into the past with a surprisingly complex shop management game with dungeon-diving mechanics.

Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends

Most of these entries so far have focused on Dave the Diver's deep-sea diving and shop (well, restaurant) management systems without looking at one of its most important parts: sushi. If your favorite part of the playthrough was owning a sushi restaurant and learning more about different fish, Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends is a great next choice.

Rolling Hills has you playing as an adorable robot who, you guessed it, runs a sushi restaurant. Over time, you'll unlock new recipes, purchase items to upgrade your dishes, and buy furniture to improve your restaurant's ambience for customers. These features and Dave the Diver's sushi restaurant share multiple parallels, with enough differences to distinguish the two in their respective genres.

Doloc Town

A newer entry in this list is Doloc Town, a post-apocalyptic farming simulator game with cooking, fishing, structure building, and more. For a world following apocalyptic events, it's surprisingly cozy and peaceful beyond the ruins you find throughout your playthrough. Whether you prefer more modern takes on Dave the Diver's gameplay loops, want to try something within its genre but need a little change, or just like pixelated graphics, Doloc Town is a solid choice, especially if you also enjoy games like Terraria, Stardew Valley, or even Minecraft.

At the time of writing, Doloc Town is currently in Early Access, giving even more opportunities for its story to grow and develop over time. However, that also means it's subject to change, which can influence its spot on this list. We'll continue to update this information over time as more details become available.

Travellers Rest

What's more satisfying than running a tavern built on your own hard work and dedication and watching your patrons relax for the night? Much like Dave the Diver, Travellers Rest has a resource gathering and shop management gameplay loop, with your primary purpose to make the best tavern around.

Throughout your playthrough, you'll create workshop structures, gather materials, and decorate your shop to make your customers happy, all while discovering new recipes to better your establishment. Travellers Rest is another great option if you enjoyed both Dave the Diver's world exploration and restaurant management mechanics alongside its satisfying art style.

While the Iron's Hot

We've talked a lot about food in this list, but what about owning your own blacksmith's workshop? While the Iron's Hot has you playing as a young smithing expert who's goal is to travel around Ellian, a land known for gathering and developing legendary artisans, to collect resources and hone his smithing skills. Along the way, you'll rebuild an abandoned village through your blacksmithing skills while discovering various secrets scattered throughout the world.

If you enjoy seeing your actions directly impact the world around you, While the Iron's Hot is a great pick.

Cult of the Lamb

Am I comparing Dave the Diver to a game about creating a cult? You bet I am, even if it's not for that particular reason. Cult of the Lamb is all about running around and defeating heretics in hopes of recruiting various animals to your cult. Looking past the noticeable differences in art style and vibe, the gameplay loop between it and Dave the Diver is shockingly similar.

Outside of finding new followers for your cult, you and your members will also collect resources and build a base of operations during the day, while nighttime is when you venture out into the woods to slay monsters, collect gold, and recruit new cult members. There's a lot more to this story than it initially presents to you, and it's certainly worth picking up after concluding your Dave the Diver playthrough.

Honorable Mention - Subnautica

We can't have a list of games involving deep-sea exploration without mentioning Subnautica. As one of the most well-known and in-depth aquatic exploration games out there, you're in for a treat with this one.

However, comparing this to Dave the Diver is a bit of a stretch, especially since it's geared more toward open-world survival and occasional horror elements than restaurant management and relaxing ocean exploration. Nonetheless, if your favorite part of Dave the Diver was exploring deep sea depths and you want more of a challenge, Subnautica is here to get your heart racing.

What's your favorite game that creates a unique experience by combining multiple genres? Let us know in the comments below!

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