Dave-Man

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Dave-Man is kinda like if Pac-Man had RPG elements… but not like that actual Pac-Man RPG… this is more like classic arcade style maze dot collecting, or in this case, coffee bean collecting, mixed with that sort of quirky, self aware humor and sincerity you’d find in the Mother series. Dave is a simple guy. He wakes up late for work every day, and prioritizes getting a fresh cup of coffee over everything else. To get that cup of coffee, Dave has to avoid annoying co-workers. If he succeeds, he performs well at his job and takes home some pay. If he fails, his work suffers, and he goes home without any pay. Dave needs money to buy stuff, because he’s thirty days away from retirement and doesn’t want to be bored for the rest of his life. He spends a lot of time online shopping, but he has to be careful with his purchases. His wife is going to get rid of the computer once Dave retires, so he needs to buy everything he wants while he still has time. The audio and visuals feel like a cross between the Gameboy and the NES, with some really charming and finely crafted pixel art all throughout the game. I could forgive someone for mistakenly writing this off as some overly simplistic retro throwback indie game, but there’s really a lot more going on here if you take the time to dig in. There’s a thing that I’ve seen in some indie games where the game itself is almost more like a zine or chapbook accompanied by a familiar or relatively simple gameplay mechanic. That gameplay mechanic helps the title fulfill its role as a “game”, but the real meat in these sorts of projects is in the writing and presentation. There is a ton of really fun, creative writing all throughout this game, and in order to read it, you need to interact with the world and complete objectives. The desire to explore the creativity on display in Dave-Man is what drives you to succeed at the Pac-Man style gameplay found between these reading sessions. While you do try to avoid your annoying co-workers, some co-workers can be found at the water cooler, and approaching them allows you to safely engage in conversation. You can shoot the ♥♥♥♥, learn about new websites to order new stuff from, or trade quest items. Yes, there are some quests in the game. How you treat people and how you spend your time and money in Dave-Man all gets recapped at the end of the game, which kinda reminded me of the endings for Fallout 1 and 2. There’s something surprisingly powerful about taking on the role of a person trudging through the mundanity of their final month of work, faced with the unknown of retirement and the looming threat of death, and responding to all that with doing as much online shopping as possible. It’s funny, but it’s sad. I had Dave-Man on my Steam Wishlist for a while before finally picking it up, but I’m really glad I finally did. You can play through the story mode in about 90 minutes, but there’s definitely a whole lot more to explore on subsequent playthroughs if you enjoy the writing, tone, and visual stuff.