Diver Dave really helped my Thalassophobia
Since it launched in 2023, Diver Davean action-adventure scuba diving game that combines spear fishing with restaurant management, received nearly universal praise from critics and fans alike. Despite its unique premise and cute pixelated visuals, I didn’t buy the game until late 2024. The only reason I was reluctant to give it a try Diver Dave is my crippling thalassophobia and megalophobia. However, new year, new me. It was time for me to overcome my fear and to my surprise, it worked better than I imagined.
Honestly, I think most people have thalassophobia. I thought, “It’s not unreasonable or ridiculous or something I need to deal with. Have you ever seen how vast and dark the ocean is and realized how small we humans are compared to it? The idea of being trapped underwater while God knows what lurks around you in the murky depths is terrifying. And by the way, don’t get me started on the creatures that live down there. Whales are friendly, I know, but they are too big. What if it accidentally swallows you? Fish don’t have to be big to be scary. Some look like illegitimate children Lovecraftian horror And Satan’s nightmare. Of course, that’s when I remembered that marine biologists and divers exist in real life. So maybe that fear isn’t as normal as I thought.
My fear of the ocean (any large body of water, really) is so bad that I freaked out when I took the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride at Tokyo DisneySea. the fish world commercial, when it showed the giant fish about to swallow all the other fish, made my heart beat faster. A trailer I saw Subnautica One time it scared me so much that I had to quit YouTube. Yes, I know how embarrassing this is and how weak I seem, but I can’t help it. Because even clips of Subnautica looked scarier than any horror game I’d ever seen, I decided Diver Dave is the safest place to start. I mean, how scary can it be?
IN Diver DaveYou play as a guy diving for fish, then you give this fish to sushi chef Bancho. At night, you also need to help at Bancho restaurant. The pixel graphics are cute and the gameplay loop sounds relaxing. Sure, I can see that the ocean is a lovely place filled with friends, and that would make me less afraid. That optimism didn’t last long. The moment I had to travel into the depths and a giant shark appeared from the darkness, I wanted to turn off the game. All the tunnels full of tube worms and hostile jellyfish, as well as the sheer scale of the ocean you can see in the background, scared me.
But you know what? My idea really worked. I was right about how accessible the game’s visuals were. I won’t lie and say that the depth didn’t scare me at first, but after a while, I no longer hesitated to dive in there to fish and quest. Subnautica has a much larger space and it forces you to look at it from a first-person perspective. From Diver DaveIts level design is more compact and you see it from a third person perspective, it’s not so bad the more you play. The design of the fish is not very realistic thanks to the pixel art and you can see them from such a distance that even the species I usually shout about look okay.
There’s something soothing about grinding too. Focusing on finding coral or finding a particular species of fish to hunt keeps my eyes and mind busy enough that I no longer pay attention to the dark environment. The game constantly forces you to go down there to do missions, as well as the rather static layout which makes the depths more familiar, which is another way to reduce the fear. Pixel art also really softens the image when it comes to the more menacing-looking sea animals. Boosted with high confidence, I checked a few Subnautica clip and had to turn around before seeing the Leviathan Reaper. So I really appreciate the overall design in Diver Dave.
Gaming therapy is a real thing and it is something that is gaining real traction since its first use in 1980. Different cases call for different games or genres. Relaxing games like Flower can reduce stress, while some therapists use more open world games such as Minecraft ARRIVE help autistic children. For better or worse, gaming has now become a more popular hobby. Sure, there are some people today who still believe that games (like anime or cartoons) are just for children. However, that seems to be a minority opinion these days. So, it makes sense that as games become more prevalent in our daily lives, different fields and professions will use them for their own purposes.
Saying so Diver Dave helping me escape my obsession with the real world is like saying Band-Aid saved my broken arm. Throw me into the sea, far from land, and I will definitely panic. But at least while I take over Dave’s body and sail around his pixelated waters Diver DaveI feel better about my thalassophobia. At least I can see how silly that is fish world ad with normal resting heart rate. Maybe one day in the distant future, I will practice to play Subnautica.
Diver Dave To be available on PS4, PS5, Nintendo SwitchWindows and macOS computers.
