Dave The Diver – In The Jungle DLC Review: A Wild New Descent

Dave the Diver – In The Jungle DLC on PS5 Pro

Dave the Diver is one of those rare games that should not work as smoothly as it does. On paper, it sounds like too much: a diving adventure, restaurant management sim, comedy RPG, light farming game, social hangout, boss rush, collectathon, and minigame showcase all crammed into one pixel-art package.

Yet the base game turned that excess into identity, a masterstroke by Mintrocket. It never felt like a game that knew when to stop, but that was also the magic. Every time Dave went back into the water, there was something else waiting below the surface.

That makes Dave the Diver – In The Jungle both exciting and dangerous. A DLC like this could have taken the easy route by adding more fish, a few more recipes, and another excuse to return to Bancho Sushi. Instead, the team treats this as a proper expansion of Dave’s world. The Blue Hole is no longer the only place worth exploring, Bancho is no longer bound to sushi, and Dave once again finds himself pulled into a new mystery that quickly becomes bigger, stranger, and busier than expected.

For those who already loved the base game, this is a welcome return. In The Jungle has the same generous spirit, the same absurd escalation, and the same ability to make a simple errand spiral into five different activities. It is not flawless, and its ambition does occasionally make the experience feel crowded. But as a DLC built for fans, it delivers exactly the kind of second helping Dave deserved.

A New Biome That Still Feels Like Dave

The biggest strength of In The Jungle is that it does not simply repaint the Blue Hole green. Moving Dave into the jungle gives the DLC a strong sense of place, with freshwater diving, village exploration, and a new cultural rhythm that sets it apart from the base game without eroding its identity. The shift could have felt like a gimmick, but it works because the jungle is treated as a proper ecosystem rather than a decorative backdrop.

The freshwater setting immediately changes how exploration feels. There is still the familiar satisfaction of descending into dangerous waters, scanning unfamiliar creatures, managing oxygen, and pushing a little further than you probably should. However, the jungle lake brings a different texture to that loop, feeling more enclosed, more earthy, and more unpredictable than the wide oceanic mystery of the Blue Hole. Dave is still Dave, but he is now moving through a world that has its own rules.

Utara Village also adds a stronger social layer to the DLC. The base game already had memorable characters, but In The Jungle leans more directly into the idea of living among a community. There are more people to meet, more errands to chase, and more reasons to wander around before deciding what to do next. For fans, that expanded structure gives the DLC a pleasing sense of holiday chaos, as though Dave has somehow stumbled into another full-time job while technically being away from the old one.

Bancho Grill Adds A Fresh Flavour

Bancho Grill is one of the smartest additions because it gives the restaurant side of the game a new identity. It would have been easy to make the DLC an extension of the existing branch mechanic, but shifting towards grilled freshwater dishes gives the nightly routine a different flavour. The spirit is familiar, yet the setup feels distinct enough to justify the move.

That matters because the base game’s restaurant management was never just an economy system, but more of a release valve after the tension of diving. You spent the day gathering ingredients, then watched that effort turn into a frantic evening of serving dishes, upgrading recipes, managing staff, and trying not to let the whole operation fall apart. In The Jungle understands that satisfaction, but it also knows that simply repeating the same rhythm would not be enough.

The result is a DLC that respects muscle memory while giving returning players something fresh to adjust to. Bancho remains a scene-stealer, Dave remains the dependable middleman caught between everyone else’s ambitions, and the restaurant still provides that satisfying link between exploration and reward. It is not a total reinvention, but it does enough to avoid feeling like a leftover plate from the base game.

The Jungle Keeps Throwing Ideas At You

Like the base game, In The Jungle has very little interest in restraint. One moment you are diving for new ingredients, the next you are helping villagers, dealing with new tools, exploring from a broader perspective, or being pulled into another minigame that feels like it wandered in from a completely different genre. That variety is part of the appeal. Dave the Diver has always had the confidence of a game that believes every idea is worth trying at least once.

That confidence mostly pays off here as the jungle setting gives the developers permission to expand beyond the original dive-and-serve structure, and the DLC feels richer for it. The added activities make the world feel busy in a way that suits Dave’s exhausted charm. He is not a hero in the traditional sense; he is a man who keeps agreeing to help people and somehow ends up at the centre of every local crisis. That remains funny, oddly wholesome, and deeply readable as a continuation of the base game’s personality.

Still, this is also where the DLC can feel jarring. Some new systems slot neatly into the loop, while others are more disruptive. Turn-based combat, puzzle spaces, village errands, and expanded exploration are interesting additions, but they also change the pace. Veteran players who adored the clean tension of diving and restaurant work may occasionally feel like the DLC is pulling them away from the parts they came back for. The variety is impressive, but it is not always elegant.

Where Veteran And New Players May Struggle

For returning fans, the biggest adjustment is that In The Jungle sometimes feels less like a focused DLC and more like a sequel trying to prove how much it can do. That is exciting, but it can also be messy. The base game already walked a fine line between delightful surprise and mechanical overload. This expansion pushes further in that direction, which means its best quality can also become its most noticeable flaw.

There are moments where the constant stream of new activities risks breaking the rhythm. When Dave the Diver is at its best, every part of the loop feeds naturally into the next. Dive, gather, serve, upgrade, repeat. For In The Jungle, that rhythm is complicated by more surfaces to manage, more distractions to follow, and more systems competing for attention. Many of those additions are enjoyable on their own, but taken together, they can make the experience feel busier than it needs to be.

For newer players, the issue is slightly different. Without that strong foundation from experiencing the base adventure, the jungle’s density may feel overwhelming rather than generous. The characters, returning jokes, and sudden mechanical pivots land harder when you already have affection for Dave, Bancho, Cobra, and the strange world they inhabit. As a standalone entry point, it may be a little too much too quickly.

A Wonderful Reason To Return

What keeps In The Jungle together is the same thing that held the base game together: charm. Dave remains one of gaming’s most quietly likeable protagonists, not because he dominates the story, but because he reacts to absurdity with a kind of weary kindness. The world around him is loud, dramatic, and constantly demanding something from him, while Dave simply keeps going. That contrast is still funny and gives the game its heart.

The presentation helps enormously. The pixel art remains expressive, the animations still have that exaggerated comic timing, and the cutscenes continue to sell mundane moments as if they were life-changing events. The jungle gives the art team a new palette to work with, and the best moments come when the DLC lets its new environment feel lush, humid, and strange without losing the cartoon energy that made the base game so memorable.

As a DLC, Dave the Diver – In The Jungle is generous, confident, and occasionally overstuffed. It gives fans a proper reason to come back, not just a small excuse to revisit familiar waters. Some of its new ideas are smoother than others, and its busier structure may not be for everyone. But when it works, it captures that wonderful Dave the Diver feeling all over again: one more dive, one more dish, one more ridiculous problem to solve before calling it a night.

Dave the Diver – In The Jungle is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.