2023's biggest sleeper hit Dave the Diver just got a hefty content update featuring auto farming, new missions, and the electrifying concept of a 'lobster party'

2023's best game about managing an underwater sushi restaurant is getting even better. The already ludicrously deep Dave the Diver got its first content update yesterday, bringing a surfeit of improvements to the undersea management sim and, crucially, introducing the spellbinding notion of the "Lobster Party".

The update arrived yesterday, and although Mintrocket had already chatted a little about what it would bring ahead of time, we've now got the full patch notes, as well as the game itself, to pore through with a fine-tooth comb. 

We've got stuff like new sub-missions (get it?) in late-game areas, new creatures, and a new kind of special customer who will return to sell you goodies if you serve him delicious enough grub. Plus, Steam trading cards, which I will enjoy selling for a thruppence apiece on the Steam marketplace so that I might afford one-ten-thousandth of the questionable Snow Leopard gloves I've been coveting in Counter-Strike 2.

The thing that leaps out at me, though, is the new Auto Farming feature. Henceforward, players will be able to hire MC Sammy, that most reliable of men, to help you tend to chores on your farm. Despite my mixed feelings about this whole "industrial revolution" thing that's really harshed my vibe these last 200 years, I'm a big fan of any kind of automation in games like this. At some point, I get tired of having to do the hunting and gathering myself.

We've also got a whole suite of bug fixes spread across various parts of the game. I won't go into detail myself, but you can find the full patch notes below if there's a particularly nasty error you're running into that you want to see fixed.

Aside from that, well, Dave the Diver continues to be Dave the Diver, an excellent game that scored a splashy 91% in Chris' Dave the Diver review here on PCG. Back then, Chris called it "the biggest surprise of 2023 and hands-down my favorite game of the year so far," and heck, that was before it had lobster parties. Dave the Diver also made our Top 100 PC games, published just yesterday.

Here are the full patch notes, beware some unmarked endgame spoilers in "New Contents" section 1, "Improvements" section 3, and "Bug fixes" section 1 and 2:

Dave the Diver content update patch notes

[New Contents]

1) New Story - Sub Missions

New sub missions have been added to late-game regions, which were previously focused on the main story.

2) Lobsters & Crab Traps

New crabs and lobsters have been introduced along with the system called ‘Crab Traps’, which are used for catching them.

You can set up crab traps and wait to capture crabs, lobsters, and etc.

A new “Lobster Party” event, featuring new species, have been added.

3) Auto Farming

Hire MC Sammy to help with chores in the farm.

New devices for storing eggs and feeding chickens have been added.

4) New Event Boss

A new boss will appear when ALL Marinca cards have been collected.

5) New Special Customer - Wandering Merchant

New special customer ‘Wandering Merchant’ will visit Bancho Sushi.

Serve him a special dish and he’ll occasionally return to sell various items, including new ingredients.

6) New Night Species

To address the issue of many daytime fish species being prevalent during night dives, we are introducing new exclusive fish species that can only be found at night.

7) Additional Contents

Seed upgrade is now available at Kazhin’s seed shop.

An ‘Operator' has been added to your contacts.

Contact the operator to enter promotion codes, check your fortune, and review your dive information.

A new ‘Nocturnal’ category has been added to the Marinca. Species that only appear at night will be moved to this category.

8) Trading Cards & Steam Point Shop Items

Various Steam Point Shop items including Trading Cards, Emoticons, and Backgrounds will be added.

https://store.steampowered.com/points/shop/app/1868140

[Improvements & Balance Changes]

1) Loading Time and Performance Improvements

We’ve conducted an overall optimization of the game, resulting in shorter loading times and overall performance enhancements.

Face icons of NPCs are now displayed on the loading screen.

2) Underwater Exploration

Aggro range, speed, and damage of thresher sharks have been reduced.

The magazine that Dave reads during the depressurizing screen in the escape pod has changed to ‘Weekly Fish’.

3) Missions

[Chapter 2] You can now resume your progress from a mid-mission save point even if you die when 

[Chapter 2] Improved the issue where it was difficult to notice that a phone call had to be made after defeating the 

4) Sushi Restaurant

Made improvements to prevent the same party from being selected repeatedly.

[After Chapter 3] Addressed the issue where the chopping animation was a bit off during the VIP cooking battle.

When each employee reaches their maximum level, you can view their Cooksta feed which showcases their daily lives on your phone.

You can now engage in new conversations with the employees assigned as managers during daytime.

New Bancho cutscene for enhancing dishes have been added.

5) Farm & Fish Farm

Added an option to prioritize 2-star or 3-star fish when utilizing the ‘Keep up to 2’ function.

You can now farm fish species that were previously unavailable in the fish farm.

6) Sea People Village

You can now purchase seeds directly from Gumo at the seaweed farm.

New dumpling has been added at Mima’s Restaurant.

New missions for late-game have been added to the board in Sea People Village.

7) Other Improvements

You can now engage in more diverse conversations with the people on your contacts.

[Bug Fixes]

1) Missions

[After Chapter 3] Fixed an issue where the  mission could not be completed under certain circumstances.

[Chapter 6] Fixed an issue where the menatee would pass through walls in the ‘Lost Baby Menatee’ mission.

2) Sushi Restaurant

[After Chapter 3] Fixed an issue in the  mission where ingredients would occasionally fall outside the pot.

[After Chapter 3] Fixed an issue where not all customers would enter the restaurant during the .

Fixed an issue where Luis’s contact was not registered in specific situations.

Fixed an issue where the BGM did not speed up when the restaurant was about to close.

3) Underwater Exploration

Fixed an issue where the movements of the Pink Dolphin would appear choppy when taking photos in its photo spot.

Fixed an issue where the background UI of item acquisition screen was displayed abnormally in specific regions.

Fixed an issue where the ammo box disappeared in certain situations.

Fixed an issue where Dave’s breathing effect was not displayed in some cutscenes.

4) Other Bug Fixes

Fixed the typos and errors of in-game texts that were reported in our community channels.

Fixed an issue where texts would go over their UI boundaries in the pause window during mid-dive.

Fixed an issue where the fish farm tutorial was not displayed as intended when playing the game in certain resolutions.