A Fresh Adventure Beyond The Blue Hole
Dave is back with the DAVE THE DIVER – In the Jungle DLC pack. This additional content release sees Dave and crew trading the blue ocean vistas of the hole for an inland lake, deep in a remote jungle. This isn’t just a sightseeing trip though, Dave has been recruited to help investigate mysterious prehistoric fish that have suddenly appeared in this remote lake.
The In the Jungle DLC does more to shake things up then simply relocate where the journey takes place. Many new features are introduced, and while diving is still a core component of the gameplay loop, in many ways it feels like a very different game to that found in the base DAVE THE DIVER experience.
A New Home In The Jungle
To start, In the Jungle brings with it an isometric gameplay loop that fills the periods between dives. During the day, Dave can explore the local village, talk to the residents, and participate in a variety of mini-games. Of course, the option to go on dives also exists, and all Dave needs to do is go down to the dock by the lake where he can don his diving suit and explore.
Like the base game, during the evening, Blancho runs a new restaurant serving the locals and exploring the many new flavors and ingredients that the jungle provides. Dave also has his place, helping with the shop’s operations, but instead of simply running back and forth between customers in a single line, the restaurant also takes an isometric perspective. Villagers will request beverages, a variety of dishes, and there are even skewer grills that Dave has to fire up and serve from during the dinner service.
Many of these features are expanded versions of the base game, but the new perspective and the expanded socialization with other characters do a lot to change the feel of the game.
On top of this, instead of a static timer that only advances when major actions are taken, In the Jungle introduces an active timer. Time will pass during the day as Dave explores the village, talks to new people, and gathers resources. There is a prompt to go fishing if Dave hasn’t deigned to explore the lake yet for that day, but as long as the fish are stocked for dinner service then it’s perfectly acceptable to skip diving for the day.
There are no hard time limits or restrictions, so there’s no real pressure on what needs to be done in the day. So for players that are worried about oppressive timers, they can breathe a sigh of relief.
Plenty Of New Ideas – Perhaps Too Many
Despite that though, In the Jungle does a lot to deviate from the formula that served as the foundation of the base game. While diving is still a major part, there are a ton of minigames and side missions that pop up during the course of the DLC. Many of these don’t need to be engaged with in any major capacity, but their frequent introduction during the course of the DLC can cause the pacing to feel awkward.
There are also additional major changes, including a deeper jungle exploration segment that introduces a lite RPG system. Dave and Cobra need to venture to a mysterious temple and along the jungle path the game switches to a turn based combat system, where Dave and Cobra take turns attacking and using special abilities to defeat enemies.
This completely caught me off guard in a game that was predominately about fishing. This section takes up a sizeable portion of the DLC too, and while the gameplay itself isn’t bad, it’s also fairly shallow since it isn’t the main focus of the game. There’s a level system that gets introduced, but the balancing and progression for it becomes slow and inconsistent.
Enemies may be encountered that are several levels higher than Dave and Cobra, but they can still be defeated. But while the fight might be longer and more tedious, getting through the encounter also doesn’t grant any significant, or even decent amount of, experience for what would normally be perceived as a major win. The section also goes on for a bit longer than it really needs to, and I found myself wanting to be back in the water after some time in the temple.
Again, it’s not bad, but it isn’t the main focus of the game, so there are inherently going to be shortcomings in the gameplay loop when compared to the diving elements.
Diving Remains The Star Of The Show
Focusing on the positives, the diving is as great as it was in the base game. In fact, weapons are consolidated into the new jungle gun. This single weapon combines the net gun, shotgun, rifle, and sniper into a single weapon that can swap between firing modes. This is a huge quality of life improvement for diving. Dave doesn’t need to constantly swap between weapons anymore, and it makes it so he isn’t defenseless in situations where players want to focus on non-lethal capturing of fish.
It also makes combat encounters much less tedious, especially for boss fights, something that was one of my main criticisms of the base game. Using the harpoon during combat encounters was awkward and slow, but during the In the Jungle DLC, I rarely had to swap over to it when fighting enemies.
Diving also has new mechanics introduced that prevent Dave from simply swimming to the bottom of the lake to discover what’s wrong. The water is contaminated with hydrogen sulfide that is toxic to Dave and needs to be filtered out while diving. This is one of the challenges and mysteries Dave is tasked with investigating in the jungle, and offers a narratively satisfying explanation for why he isn’t able to dive to the same depths immediately.
A Village Full Of Personality
The village itself is also a wonderful addition to the game. Each NPC is a named character with their own personality and many of them have quests that give background on who they are and develop Dave’s relationship with them. Progressing in the main story introduces Dave to many of these characters, and also continues to expand on the mechanics of the game.
The hut that Dave lives in can be customized and decorated, and those decorations can be built by the local carpenter, but to build them resources need to be gathered. To gather resources, Dave needs new tools, with those upgraded by the local blacksmith. There are also games to play, with the village residents being partial to a wooden block stacking game.
It feels like everything Dave does leads to some new mechanic. There is even a rock, paper, scissors beetle wrestling mini-game that allows Dave to collect various beetles throughout the jungle. Many of these mechanics are fun, but it begins to cross into the territory of the game being a mile wide, but only an inch deep. Thankfully there was already a solid foundation that everything was built on top of, which allows the game to maintain its own personality.
Worth Diving Back In?
Weirdly enough, I got very similar feelings when playing the In the Jungle DLC as I do when I play the Yakuza / Like a Dragon games, which are also filled with mini-games while built on a strong core foundation. It’s less weird to think about though when there actually is a DAVE THE DIVER: Ichiban’s Holiday crossover DLC with the Like a Dragon universe.
All of this to say that the DAVE THE DIVER – In the Jungle is definitely a worthwhile investment for someone who enjoyed the base game and wants to keep the adventure going. The new story adds at least another seven hours of gameplay, but that can be easily extended by fully engaging with the different new mechanics. While it does deviate from the core diving experience, of which there is a huge amount, none of the new systems function badly.
Important Links
DAVE THE DIVER Heads Into Uncharted Territory With In The Jungle Expansion – https://www.thexboxhub.com/dave-the-diver-heads-into-uncharted-territory-with-in-the-jungle-expansion/
DAVE THE DIVER ‘In the Jungle’ DLC Gets June Release Date – https://www.thexboxhub.com/dave-the-diver-in-the-jungle-dlc-gets-june-release-date/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/dave-the-diver-in-the-jungle-content-pack/9p93hsc115fw
