Dave the Diver In the Jungle Review: A Big DLC With Familiar Currents

Image: IGDB

Store links: Dave the Diver: In the Jungle on Steam

A paid expansion that acts like a sequel, with one important catch

Dave the Diver: In the Jungle is the first major paid, original-story expansion for Mintrocket’s genre-blending diving and restaurant sim, and the concrete pitch is unusually substantial for DLC: a new jungle village, a freshwater lake, relationship systems, an isometric overworld, fresh combat wrinkles, and another restaurant to run. AltChar lists the expansion as released on June 18, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2, with Mintrocket as both developer and publisher. PC Gamer lists the expected price at $10/£8.49, while AltChar lists $9.99/€9.99/£8.99, so regional storefronts may differ slightly.

That scale creates the central tension of this Dave the Diver In the Jungle review. For returning players, the question is no longer whether Mintrocket can add a funny crossover event or a few extra diving targets. It is whether In the Jungle meaningfully changes the daily loop that made the base game so sticky: dive, haul, upgrade, cook, serve, repeat. Based on the reported review builds from PC Gamer, TheGamer, Game8, AltChar, The Wand Report, and TheXboxHub, the answer is mostly yes, though the expansion’s narrative framing is rougher than its mechanical craft.

The strongest version of In the Jungle is the one that treats Dave’s vacation from the Blue Hole as a systems remix. The weakest version is the one that leans on a familiar “outsiders help the village” setup and, according to The Wand Report, stumbles into uncomfortable stereotypes. As a package, it is ambitious and generous. As a story, it needs more care than charm can cover.

The jungle changes Dave’s day before he even gets wet

The base Dave the Diver made its surface life deliberately compact. You moved through a small slice of sushi-bar operations, then plunged back into the Blue Hole. In the Jungle expands the world above water first. The Wand Report describes Utara Village as a freely explorable isometric space where Dave completes tasks, gathers resources such as wood and stone, and builds relationships with villagers through a heart-style favor system. AltChar similarly identifies the village shift as the expansion’s most significant change, because Dave can now roam in multiple directions instead of being confined to side-scrolling surface spaces.

That matters for the exploration loop because In the Jungle adds errands and social routing to the time between dives. The Wand Report compares the village layer to a lighter version of Stardew Valley, with villagers asking for items and gradually becoming willing to visit the new restaurant. PC Gamer also frames the expansion as a blend of Dave’s usual scuba diving and bartending with village quests and local favor. This is not a full life sim, and the sources are clear about that. The Wand Report says the systems are simplistic next to dedicated cozy games, noting that villagers can tell you what they want and that a tool tracks requests for you.

For a returning player, that simplicity is a strength until it becomes frictionless. In the Jungle gives you more reasons to walk around, harvest, talk, and plan, but it rarely appears to ask for the kind of opaque memory work or long-term social scheduling that defines deeper farming sims. The result is a livelier pre-dive routine rather than a new genre takeover. It changes the shape of Dave’s day without burying the original game’s pace under chores.

Utara Lake keeps the diving familiar, then widens the threat list

Once Dave enters the water, In the Jungle is still recognizably Dave the Diver gameplay. That is important. Game8 says the diving foundation mainly stays the same, while AltChar says Mintrocket keeps the core diving mechanics close enough to the base game that long-time fans will not feel lost. The setting does the heavy lifting: the Blue Hole gives way to Utara Lake, a freshwater ecosystem reported by TheGamer to include recognizable river life and, beneath the lake bed, prehistoric marine life tied to the expansion’s mystery.

The creature list gives returning players immediate mechanical pressure. The Wand Report names crocodiles, electric eels, and giant sturgeon as new dangers in the jungle lake. TheGamer highlights the freshwater ecosystem as a refreshing change of pace and says the story still pushes deeper into an ocean-floor-style mystery beneath the lake. PC Gamer reports battling a half-dozen new bosses and hunting birds in addition to diving, which suggests In the Jungle is not content to add only passive fish cataloguing.

The best design choice here is restraint. Mintrocket has changed the destination and threat profile without throwing away the dive-risk economy. You still care about what you can catch, how much you can carry, and how safely you can return. The jungle adds surprise through habitat and enemy behavior, not through a total rewrite of underwater movement. That makes In the Jungle a strong expansion for lapsed players who want to feel reoriented but not reset.

The upgrade chase gets its best new toy in the Jungle Gun

The clearest upgrade hook reported in the source material is the Jungle Gun. TheGamer describes it as a combination weapon with a net, armor-piercing sniper rifle, shotgun, and basic rifle, all swappable during a dive. Each setting reportedly has its own upgrade tree, which lets players invest in the modes they actually use. For a game built around preparation and opportunistic underwater problem-solving, that is a smart piece of expansion design. It reduces loadout regret while giving returning players new progression lanes to chase.

In the Jungle also stretches progression across above-water systems. The Wand Report says relationship gifts can come from quests, the shop, or the lake, and that village tasks feed back into restaurant attendance. Game8 points to RPG-like overworld play, friendship systems, environmental puzzles, and turn-based combat as additions that can make the DLC feel close to a standalone game. The Wand Report specifically calls out Pokemon-like turn-based battles, though the supplied excerpt does not detail their depth.

The tradeoff is that several of these systems seem intentionally approachable. That is consistent with Dave the Diver’s wider design language, where new minigames are often digestible rather than demanding. If your favorite part of the base game was optimizing weapon upgrades, recipes, staff, and profits into a neat little machine, In the Jungle gives you new upgrade surfaces to polish. If you wanted a dense RPG progression web, the reported relationship and gifting systems may feel too guided.

The restaurant rhythm improves because dinner now starts in the village

Restaurant management remains a central pillar, but In the Jungle reroutes the path to a busy dinner service. TheGamer reports that the sushi bar is swapped for a grill using new ingredients and recipes. The Wand Report says Bancho teaches cooking methods and that villagers become potential customers once Dave raises relationships to a required level. In practical terms, dinner service is no longer only the payoff for diving well. It is also the payoff for social work, gathering, errands, and village trust.

That gives the expansion its most meaningful loop change. In the base game, the day often feels like a clean hinge: underwater acquisition becomes evening service. In the Jungle, the hinge has more teeth. You are not only asking what fish will sell. You are asking which villager needs what, which item is worth collecting, and which relationship will affect the restaurant’s customer base. Game8 says this makes the experience feel more immersive, because villagers feel more connected to Dave’s work than another anonymous dinner crowd.

The actual service layer appears familiar by design. TheGamer says the restaurant gameplay remains very familiar, and Game8 says the foundation of restaurant management mainly stays the same. That will disappoint anyone hoping Mintrocket had rebuilt the night shift as aggressively as the village map. For most returning players, though, the more important change is upstream. In the Jungle makes the reasons for cooking feel broader, even if the rhythm of serving remains comfortingly close to Bancho Sushi.

Charming craft, busy references, and a story that draws criticism

Visually, In the Jungle seems to understand why Dave the Diver’s pixel art worked in the first place. Game8 praises the retained signature pixel style and says the jungle’s flora, fauna, and new creatures add color and detail. AltChar describes the freshwater lake as lush and inviting. TheGamer also reports a heavy run of easter eggs and cameos, citing references that range from Guitar Hero to Journey to the Savage Planet and Two Point Museum. That fits the series’ appetite for playful interruption, where a new mechanic or joke is often waiting around the next corner.

The story is where the expansion’s confidence wobbles. The broad setup is confirmed across sources: Dave and the Bancho crew travel to a jungle village after a strange ancient creature washes ashore. AltChar names the village as Utara and says the mystery drives roughly ten hours of new content. The Wand Report is much harsher on the narrative framing, criticizing stereotypes in the depiction of the village and taking issue with scenes in which Bancho teaches locals how to cook fish to avoid illness. Game8 is more positive overall, scoring the story 8/10, but still says the plot can feel too similar to the original game’s structure, with Dave’s crew helping a community and solving its problems.

That split is worth taking seriously rather than sanding down. In the Jungle’s mechanical generosity does not erase questions about perspective and cultural framing. Players who primarily come to Dave the Diver for systems may find the writing easy to glide past. Players sensitive to the series’ treatment of its new setting may find this the one part of the expansion that feels underdeveloped compared with the care spent on mechanics.

Verdict: the loop is meaningfully refreshed, even when the writing lags behind

Dave the Diver: In the Jungle is the rare DLC that seems aimed at players who already exhausted the base loop and need a stronger reason to return. Its biggest success is structural. The isometric village changes how you spend daylight. Utara Lake changes what you expect from a dive. The Jungle Gun gives the upgrade chase a flexible new centerpiece. The grill and relationship-gated customers make restaurant prep feel more socially grounded than another evening of converting catches into cash.

It is also not a clean slam dunk. The village systems are reported as lighter than full cozy-game equivalents, the restaurant service itself remains familiar, and the narrative has attracted credible criticism from The Wand Report even as other outlets praised the expansion’s charm and scale. The time commitment is also variable. AltChar lists approximately 10 hours to beat, while PC Gamer reports more than 25 hours played without being finished, so completionists and system-tinkerers should expect a longer tail than story-focused players.

For returning fans, this is an easy recommendation at around ten dollars if you want fresh Dave the Diver gameplay rather than a tiny side episode. For newcomers, it still makes sense to start with the base game, because In the Jungle’s best tricks rely on your memory of the old routine. As a Dave the Diver expansion, it succeeds where it counts most: it makes the dive-to-dinner rhythm feel newly curious again.