DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain

10/10 It's like playing Dave the Diver with all the stupid sushi shop stuff taken out and replaced with cosmic horror!

If I understand the game's credits correctly, Dive or Die was made by a skeleton crew of just 3 core people. Which helps explain why Dive or Die is just the skeleton of a good game. It has a reasonably enjoyable start, but is unfortunately seriously lacking in depth and polish, which includes some deep design flaws that can't be fixed in updates. In short, there's not nearly enough stuff to support themes like exploration or survival; overall game balance is poor; and the story is barebones. In more detail, here are some of my issues with the game: [list] [*] From its art style and presentation, Dive or Die appears to be a mix of games like Darkest Dungeon and Dive the Diver. There's a dark and foreboding atmosphere as divers can die when they run out of health, sanity, or oxygen; your survivors can die when they run out of food or hope; and the game even threatens that your run will outright end after a short countdown of 40 days (30 on Hard difficulty). In other words, atmosphere and mechanics imply that runs are losable. But the campaign countdown timer very quickly becomes completely obsolete because you can increase the countdown by >1 day per day. I played on Hard difficulty, with a 30-day countdown, and my countdown never dropped below 18 days remaining despite playing a whole lot longer than 30 days. [*] Since runs appear to be losable (even though they aren't), one might have the impression that runs might meaningfully differ from one another. But the game has no replay value, with zero randomization in the map layout and hardly any for the loot and enemy placement. [*] The joy of exploration is further hampered by there only being ~6 distinct biomes, each featuring just 1-2 monsters. In a diving-themed game which you'd expect to thrive on exploration, there's just not enough to explore here. [*] The survival fantasy suffers in the same way: monsters that are initially threatening (some of which can insta-kill divers) become entirely toothless once you understand how they work. Plus all non-insta-killing monsters eventually fail to keep up with your increasing stats and improved equipment, and thus even huge monsters eventually just tickle your survivors instead of being able to inflict actual harm on them. [*] Another issue with the exploration theme is that there's a game feature about blessing particular biomes, which makes them somewhat more threatening while improving the loot therein, and this feature forces you to completely re-explore already-explored environments in a way I found unsatisfying and annoying. For example, the map doesn't even tell you which spots you have yet to re-explore, so you have to keep track of that manually. [*] Thematically and aesthetically, the game has its own problems. For instance, the unchanging environments and the low monster variety run counter to the horror theme. [*] As does the laughably low number of random events. Regarding the latter, it felt like there were about 5 events total, which constantly repeated. This was particularly absurd as these events are mostly text-based with just one accompanying image, so the devs really could've been more generous with the content here. [*] And even besides those aesthetic issues, narratively there's no resisting a Lovecraftian horror; instead the entire gameplay loop consists of collecting Lovecraftian stuff and upgrading your base and survivors with it. A Lovecraftian foreboding theme just makes no sense here since the gameplay loop is closer to biopunk. Either theme would work fine by itself, but together they just don't mesh well. [*] Finally, the overall gameplay objective, of finding 8 McGuffins (idols) and bringing them somewhere, is only accompanied by a mere sketch of a story, one that is neither compelling nor particularly makes sense. [/list] Overall there are aspects to this game that I liked, but as a holistic experience it feels completely hollow. I recommend playing superior games instead, e.g. Dave the Diver for the diving fantasy, Hollow Knight for the exploration fantasy, or Darkest Dungeon for the Lovecraftian horror survival fantasy.

What if Dave the Diver and Dredge had a baby, and the baby was terrifying? Extremely good. Art, music, voice acting, absolutely crush

데이브더다이버의 수중탐사와 다키스트던전의 하드코어함이 섞인 상당한 수작 게임이었습니다. 플레이 방식은 생존을 위해 심해 깊숙히 파밍을 나가야 되고 집에 돌아오면 마을에 주민들을 각 시설물별 배치시켜 레벨링을 시켜 줄 수 있습니다. 근데 이 게임에서는 레벨링을 할때마다 효율성이 눈에 띄게 좋아지기 때문에 레벨링 하는 보람이 있었습니다. 그리고 처음에는 숨통도 작고 가방도 작고 속도도 느리지만 심해 속 더 좋은 장비 청사진들을 구한 뒤 제작해서 사용하면 나중에는 거의 잠수함 수준의 수영 능력이 생기게 됩니다. 하여튼 분위기도 굉장히 달크하고 저는 이 게임 아주 재밌게 즐기고 있기 때문에 추천드리고 싶네요. 아 그리고 현재 공식한글지원이 되지 않아 저도 처음에는 아예 플레이 조차 안하려했었는데, 그래도 지금 퀄리티가 상당히 좋은 한글패치가 나와있어서 여러분도 플레이하시는데 문제 없으실 것 같습니다. 아래는 한패 주소입니다. 한패해주신분께 감사드립니다. 한글패치 주소 : https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=indiegame&no=452978 [아래 리뷰영상 참고] https://youtu.be/uyzc4-TbI6k?si=UIuF-yw4WnN1v6BK

目前一周目困难打到了还剩15天，收集了三个神像，基地发育一直很不错，乐观感觉能顺利打通。 先说下整体流程体验不错，难度和反馈都挺丝滑，一周目除非时间充裕抱着钻研心态来不然建议正常难度开，游戏流程顺滑需要一些基本了解，有不少的小细节如果没看攻略第一次必定会踩，即使如此这游戏也只适合喜欢一定挑战且精打细算的玩家。 说下我目前的一些简单的心得供大家少踩坑： 1，学会背地图留意资源随机刷新点，食物士气矿产等等产物虽然随机但是都有一定刷新范围，熟记地图加资源可以使氧气极为充裕从而加点给负重。 2，目前网上攻略较少，建议有不明白的可以sl或者开一个测试档自己尝试。 3，第一天建议快速收集完资源赶紧上岸看第一天招募的人的资质刷开局，主要是负重，我对比过，招募一个10负重开局（还是8负重我忘了反正很离谱的初始）的资源和发展速度碾压6负重的，因为滚雪球能力懂得都懂。 4，尽最快速度做出祭坛，因为祭坛可以每天献祭多余物资给DDL增加天数，早一天开就有更充裕的时间；建议拿奖杯就是要给祭坛供奉的那个时派出自己这边的白板去拿，拿完送一个虔诚特质，用带有虔诚特质的人去献祭（推进主线必须要献祭人所以最好用带虔诚的）可以比没有这个特质的去献祭多拖延最终日期DDL的时间，如果你用主力顺手拿了奖杯，那么你也舍不得献祭你的主力吧！ 5，跟着主线进度走永远不会出错，只要任务让你去的地方附近你都认真探索了，得到的蓝图和各种材料的流程就是最顺滑效率最高的。 6，动作层面没有任何难度和考验反应的，基本都是各种策略手段对付怪物，只要了解各个怪物机制即可，越往后推的地图目前基本上都是增加各种阻碍的环境加上放上我们无法战胜的大怪，想办法绕开或者边逃边收集，总之提倡智斗，目前几乎没看到有啥硬刚的玩法可能。 7，远征收益巨大，建议早开早享受，因为可以早点开始roll强力角色比初始的强的不是一星半点儿，还有资源拿。 8，注意第一个远征留意猎手（极其重要的特质）的幸存者并将其作为重点多潜水快速升级，可以解锁神级道具镇静子弹，造价相对便宜可得，还能硬控我们杀不死的大怪，直接降低游戏难度 9，经营非常重要！一定要把雪球滚起来，因此人员在前期就是一天招一个，剩下的怎么精打细算经营就太杂了而且也不难。 ——目前就只体验到这么多。

Such a great premise, and the intro cutscene immediately pulled me in. I really wanted to like this game, but the actual gameplay and presentation ended up being a huge disappointment. One of the biggest missed opportunities is the item descriptions. The morale-boosting mementos are a perfect chance to flesh out the world and make exploration feel meaningful, but instead every description is something generic like, "A reminder from when times were good." They're all so vague that they blur together. Imagine finding a family photo described as, "A picture of a family at a carnival, with an ominous storm looming in the background." Even simple details like that would make the world feel lived in and memorable instead of making every collectible feel interchangeable. I also don't like being able to choose my character traits. They should be random. Randomized traits would make each run feel unique and create those exciting moments where you end up with an unexpectedly overpowered or hilariously bad character. As it is now, I'll just pick the strongest traits every run, which removes a lot of replay ability. The loot placement constantly breaks immersion. Why are cans of food, pictures, and other items just floating or suspended underwater? A can should be sitting on the floor. A picture might be caught on debris or resting somewhere believable. Items underwater should either be on the bottom or floating at the surface, depending on what they are. Instead, they feel like video game pickups rather than objects that belong in the world. The gameplay itself is where things really fell apart for me. The default key bind for swapping equipment being E,Q feels bizarre when the number keys have been standard for selecting equipment for years. More importantly, starting with less than two minutes of air completely undermines the atmosphere the game seems to be aiming for. Instead of carefully exploring the environment, taking in the art direction, and enjoying the tension, you're forced to sprint from one glowing collectible to the next before your air runs out. The opening hour didn't feel like underwater exploration—it felt like a speedrun through a scavenger hunt. I barely had time to look around before I had to surface again. Starting players with something like five minutes of air and a basic diving knife would make a huge difference. It would give players time to actually appreciate the environments before the survival mechanics begin putting them under pressure. The oversized glowing loot indicators make things even worse. Rather than naturally noticing objects in the environment, the game becomes a cycle of spotting giant yellow markers, grabbing another identical can or rock, and immediately sprinting toward the next one before your oxygen runs out. The loot itself already looks out of place, and the exaggerated highlighting only makes it feel even more artificial. After 37 minutes, I realized I wasn't having fun. I was enjoying the game's premise and visual style far more than actually playing it. At that point I decided I'd rather go play Darkest Dungeon than keep forcing myself through another run, especially since playing any longer would have put me past Steam's refund window. The foundation is there. The atmosphere, premise, and opening cutscene are genuinely strong. But the generic collectibles, immersion-breaking loot placement, restrictive oxygen timer, and repetitive scavenging loop completely overshadow those strengths for me.

"뭘까?" "해도 될까?" 걍 해! 처맞고 당하고 좀 뒤져라 이 완벽주의 편집증 환자들아 이런 게임은 제발 공략 좀 보지 마라 미지의 심해로 몸을 집어넣는 스릴과 재미가 일품이다

I played the demo and bought the game when it came out and i recently started playing it. And I have to say that I am very happy with the result of the game they added lots of stuff changed some stuff etc. I recommend this game with my full heart love the progress it made!

Идеально Помесь Barotrauma - сеттинг дайвинга и ужасов но в духе Лавкрафта и смешали с Darkest dungeon обреченность рассудок фатализм но по мягче и справедливее по геймплею + менеджмент базы-деревни и ее жителей, по началу не все было понятно что за что отвечает и как это работает , но со временем обдумал-в курил и как поперло ,что жизнь пошла относительно спокойно в этой мрачной обстановке ,жители работают ,прогрессируют, дайверы выживают с погружений и приносят полезности ,опытные рыбаки балуют находками ,в экспедициях находят все лучше и лучше выживших по опыту и классу ,часики темного бога тикаю ,дней до потопа осталось 22 ,а я нашел только 2 идола из 8 ми ,что заставляет каждый день приносить жертву ,кто будет менее полезен обществу ,или быть может кого то из новичков, а может ресурсов и провизии хватит что бы хоть так откупиться ,и увеличить себе день до наступления П. в общем затягивает ,играется не сложно ,исследуется прокачивается ,все глубже все дальше ,честно наказывает и вознаграждает . отдельно + за русский язык, и возможность убрать таймер если хочется поиграть в своем темпе без гонки с карой богов ,но однозначно для первого прохождения крайне рекомендую играть с таймером (так задумано разработчиком , ощущения риска прям острее) По минусам вот вообще не к чему придраться ,за 3 часа игры не заметил не багов ,не просчётов ,и критиковать что то и не хочется ,ну нет ничего лишнего . Добавлю только благодарность за качественный продукт ,и надежду что в этой игре быть может разовьют тему игры еще больше глубже и разнообразнее ,быть может длс ....или мастерскую стима ,игра прям напрашивается на моды )