Dave-Man

Dave-Man is a charming retro-style game that taught me to despise anyone named Cathy! (for real, there is something very satisfying about getting caught out by her for the 15th time and exclaiming 'GOSHDARNIT CATHY' while smacking your desk).The gameplay is heckin fun, reminds me of my terrible attempts at Pac-Man when I was a wee lad but with cool extra stuff like online shopping and cats!!!The music is delightful, love the chiptune sound and it is there to comfort you when you inevitably get caught because you tried the hardest difficulty room.The end of a run is a really nice touch too, I won't spoil it but it made me genuinely laugh.Overall I'd super recommend, and honestly it's a steal for the price. It's cheaper than a coffee from Costbucks for Christ's sake and it comes with janitorial friendship!!

[h1] I'll try to keep it concise: [/h1] [b] 1. [/b] The movement seems to be based on an invisible grid system making movements feel clunky and inaccurate. [b] 2. [/b] There are elements in the office maze sections of the game which are not explained at all. For example, one office worker I bumped into just talked to me about a new website, while another one released smoke that made me lose the level? It'd be nice if there was some sort of explanation of what npcs are friendly, and which ones are not because its incredibly unclear. [b] 3. [/b] Most of the game is spent in your home. Regardless of if you win or lose a level, you're constantly forced to go to your home, to hear your wife spout the same dialogue, and then sit at the same table to get the same dinner to then exit your bedroom to then hear your wife spout the same dialogue to then finally be able to leave your home to play the game. This just seems like a way to pad out your playtime without actually playing the game. It's fine the first time, but to hear the same dialogue and do the same motions each time you want to play another level makes me not want to continue to play the game because it feels like it punishes you for playing it. To be fair, the dev does state that this repetition is a part of the experience, so I can only speak for myself when I say I found it hard to enjoy. [b] 4. [/b] The goal is to retire; so I really don't understand why you care about promotions. Do your employers know you're leaving? It's unclear [b] Anyway, my experience with the game is subjective. Hopefully, you can have a better Idea of what to expect if you do decide to buy it. [/b] [h1] MY FINAL THOUGHTS AFTER REVISITING IT SEVERAL MONTHS LATER (STORY MODE): [/h1] [b] 1. [/b] Grid movement system works for in the office, but when you're in an empty house your movement is incredibly restricted. The grid works for being in a cramped office space, but doesn't translate well to an open home. [b] 2. [/b] At the end of the first day of work, Dave's Wife told him that she would have dinner "ready in an hour". Dave walked from the door to the kitchen table, and the food was ready. I'm amazed that it takes Dave an hour to walk to a table from the doorway. How many hours do you think he spends walking around a larger office to collect coffee beans? [b] 3. [/b] My boss likes to remind me that he is, in fact, my boss. He also brings up the concept of promotions. I work well enough, and I can earn one! This sounds cool, until you realize that promotions are literally pointless. Your money earned in game is based on the difficulty of the level you take on. Your promotion doesn't impact that at all. [b] 4. [/b] Every day you can earn money and promotion points. This is fine, but I find it odd that if you fail a day, you don't earn any money, but you still earn promotion points? I thought promotion and pay were both linked to a good performance. [b] 5. [/b] I realized that buying items Dave's Wife wants is kind of silly, because it will take at least a few days to afford wallpapers, and then you have to wait several days for it to arrive. and then you are literally prevented from opening the wallpaper until it is sunday, which essentially means that you'll only be able to buy three things that your wife wants before you retire in 30 days. I also found it particularly frustrating to have Daves Wife say "When are you going to put up the new wallpaper" when the game will not let me interact with it. [b] 6. [/b] Taking a screenshot in-game opens up the devtools, which I can only assume is not intended [b] 7. [/b] Going back to promotions, the concept of them are doubly pointless as you're going to retire in 30 days regardless. It doesn't make sense to care about that when your primary goal is to buy material things within a short timespan. Earning a promotion doesn't matter. because it doesn't give you more money which makes it pointless for the end game. [b] 8. [/b] I noticed that I had a powerup that was not explained to me. I don't know how to use it, or what it does. The game explains what it is once you've played several levels which is, in my opinion a little late to explain a game function. Not only that, but when I managed to use my powerup, the game did not indicate it was used. There was no sound, nothing to tell me that I just used my powerup. [b] 9. [/b] NPCS are vaguely explained on the office select section. You know there are 2 enemies and 1 friendly, but when they are all dressed as office workers, and all seemingly have their own movements- it can be hard to discern who is good and who is bad. It would have been helpful to have some kind of explanation of what office worker types are good and bad so I know who I should be avoiding. [b] 10. [/b] The grid system the characters move on, can be tricky to get used to. I was forced to glide into a chatty cathy as the game decided I wanted to continue to move right when I was trying to change directions to the left side. It seems once your original direction is selected, you're forced to move into the next tile until the animation completes. Anyway, This will most likely be the final time I check in on the game. It's not currently enjoyable for me, but I do have some suggestions for changes I think could make the game better: - Promotions should give you a "bonus" each time you complete a mission, so that promotions can influence your spending habits, which would help Dave buy items he wants. (this would make promotions useful and would make me care about getting a promotion) - Allow Dave to have either multiple actions before dinner, or allow Dave to open boxes any day of the week. That would allow for Dave to buy and add more items to his home in a faster amount of time. - Add a tutorial that goes over EVERY game function such as ALL enemy types as well as friendlies. Let players know how to use their powerups, and what kinds of powerups they could use. I appreciate the dev response to my first review of this game, but I just don't enjoy the experience of Dave-Man in its current state. Maybe that will change someday, but regardless this game just isn't for me.