Games Like Dave the Diver - 12 Best Diving, Cooking and Systems-Stacker Picks

Quick Answer: If you loved how Dave the Diver stacks a relaxing daytime dive against a frantic nighttime restaurant rush, three strong picks are Moonlighter, Dredge, and Stardew Valley. Moonlighter mirrors the exact "loot by night, sell by day" loop; Dredge keeps the ocean and the catch-to-cash rhythm but trades sushi for eldritch dread; Stardew Valley is the gold standard for stacking five gentle systems into one cozy obsession.

Why These Games #

Dave the Diver is hard to shelve. It is part scuba-diving roguelite, part sushi-restaurant tycoon, part RPG with boss fights and a story mode that keeps spawning new mini-games. That genre-blending is exactly why a flat "more diving games" list misses the point. What hooks people is not the water — it is the loop: a calm gathering phase that feeds a tense management phase, with every dive making your restaurant stronger and every successful service funding deeper dives.

So GameGeeker built this list around three pillars, and every pick clears at least two of them. The first is the two-phase day/night loop — a gather-then-spend rhythm where your two activities feed each other. The second is the systems stacker quality — games confident enough to bolt farming, cooking, combat, crafting, and shop-keeping into one save file without buckling. The third is the ocean itself, for readers who came for the diving fantasy and want that specific blue-lit serenity.

Our editorial angle is to refuse the easy trap of listing twelve underwater games. Dave the Diver is barely "about" the sea — it is about the satisfaction of one activity bankrolling another. That is why a dungeon shopkeeper sim, a rice-farming samurai action game, and a graveyard-management dark comedy all sit alongside the literal diving picks here. We lead with the closest loop-twins, then walk you through the ocean cluster, the cozy-systems cluster, and the darker management cluster, so you can pick by the feeling you are chasing rather than the setting.

Top Picks #

1. Moonlighter #

KinguinCA$1.43-96%Steam CA$1.43View price →

Developed by Digital Sun and released in 2018, Moonlighter is the purest expression of the Dave the Diver loop. By night you raid procedurally tinged dungeons as the shopkeeper Will; by day you price and sell that loot in your own store, reading customer reactions to set the perfect markup. The pixel-art combat is tight, and the shop economy has real teeth.

• Similar because: identical "delve by night, run a business by day" structure, loot-feeds-shop economy, gear upgrades funded by sales, run-based dungeon excursions, charming pixel art.
• Different because: top-down action-RPG combat instead of side-on diving, fantasy dungeons instead of an ocean, manual price-setting as a core mini-game, no cooking system.
• Best for: players who loved the business half of Dave the Diver most and want a tighter, combat-forward version of the same gather-and-sell rhythm.

2. Dredge #

KinguinCA$7.26-82%Steam CA$7.26View price →

Black Salt Games' 2023 breakout keeps Dave the Diver's ocean and its catch-to-cash loop, then drips it in Lovecraftian dread. You trawl an archipelago by day, sell your haul to fund a bigger boat and better nets, and learn very quickly why the locals never fish after dark. The panic-inventory Tetris and creeping madness mechanic give it a unique edge.

• Similar because: ocean setting, fish-catch-and-sell economy that funds upgrades, escalating exploration into more dangerous waters, day/night risk dynamic, bite-sized session loop.
• Different because: top-down trawling instead of free-swimming dives, horror tone over comedy, no restaurant to run, narrative mystery as the spine.
• Best for: divers who want the same sea and the same loop but crave tension, atmosphere, and a story that pulls you under.

3. Stardew Valley #

GOGCA$10.15Steam CA$10.15View price →

ConcernedApe's 2016 phenomenon is the benchmark every systems stacker is measured against. Farming, fishing, mining, foraging, combat, cooking, and a whole town of relationships layer into one impossibly moreish daily routine. If Dave the Diver taught you to love juggling interlocking systems, this is the deepest well of that feeling on the market.

• Similar because: many small systems stacked into one save, daily time-management rhythm, fishing mini-game, cooking and selling loop, "one more day" pull.
• Different because: open-ended cozy farming with no fail state, no roguelite dives, far longer time investment, relationship and marriage simulation.
• Best for: anyone who came to Dave the Diver for the joy of stacking systems and wants the genre's defining, near-endless version.

4. Cult of the Lamb #

EnebaCA$10.75Steam CA$10.75View price →

Massive Monster's 2022 hit splits cleanly into two halves that feed each other, just like Dave the Diver. You clear roguelite combat dungeons to gather resources and converts, then return to manage, build, and feed your growing cult of devoted animals. The day/night split between "venture out" and "tend the base" is almost a structural cousin.

• Similar because: two-phase loop of run-based combat plus base management, resources from runs fuel your home settlement, charming-yet-dark art, satisfying progression spiral.
• Different because: roguelite hack-and-slash combat, cult/base-building instead of a restaurant, follower-management sim, macabre comedy theme.
• Best for: players hooked by the gather-then-manage structure who want a punchier action layer and a deliciously weird base to grow.

5. Spiritfarer #

KinguinCA$3.72-91%Steam CA$3.72View price →

Thunder Lotus' 2020 "cozy management game about dying" hands you a boat, a roster of systems, and a deeply moving job: ferrying spirits to the afterlife. You fish, farm, cook, mine, and craft to upgrade your vessel and care for your passengers, blending hands-on resource loops with one of gaming's most affecting stories.

• Similar because: stacked mini-systems (fishing, cooking, crafting, gathering), upgrade-your-vessel progression, gentle gather-and-tend rhythm, hand-drawn charm.
• Different because: no combat or roguelite dives, emotional narrative is the core, exploration-and-care focus, deliberately slower pace.
• Best for: players who loved Dave the Diver's warmth and system-juggling but want feelings over fights and a story that lingers.

6. Subnautica #

EnebaCA$6.91Steam CA$6.91View price →

Unknown Worlds' 2018 survival landmark is the ocean fantasy taken to its terrifying, beautiful extreme. Stranded on an alien water world, you dive ever deeper to scan creatures, harvest resources, and craft submarines, all while managing oxygen and the very real fear of what lurks below the thermocline.

• Similar because: free-swimming underwater exploration, resource-gathering dives that fuel crafting and upgrades, escalating depth as progression, that pull to see what is deeper.
• Different because: first-person survival-crafting, no restaurant or selling loop, open-world base building, genuine survival stakes and horror.
• Best for: divers who wanted Dave's underwater half to be vaster, scarier, and the entire game rather than one of three.

7. Abzu #

KinguinCA$10.13-69%Steam CA$10.13View price →

Giant Squid's 2016 underwater poem is the palate cleanser of this list. There is no economy, no boss fight, no clock — just a wordless, gorgeous descent through schools of luminous fish, scored by an orchestral soundtrack. It captures the single most relaxing thing about Dave the Diver, the dive itself, and turns it into a 90-minute meditation.

• Similar because: serene free-swimming diving, vibrant marine life to discover, the pure exploratory pleasure of going deeper, striking art direction.
• Different because: no management, combat, or progression systems, a short linear experience, art-game pacing, story told entirely without words.
• Best for: players who only ever wanted the calm, blue-lit dive and would happily skip the restaurant rush entirely.

8. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin #

KinguinCA$21.53-67%Steam CA$21.53View price →

Edelweiss' 2020 cult favorite is two great games welded together, which is the most Dave the Diver thing a game can do. Side-scrolling action-platforming combat funds and feeds a startlingly deep rice-farming simulation, and the harvest in turn powers up your divine harvest-goddess hero. The loop between fighting and farming is pure system-stacking joy.

• Similar because: two interlocking halves (action plus deep production sim), gather-and-cook loop, side-on action sections, stats that improve as you master a craft.
• Different because: agriculture instead of diving, hand-drawn 2.5D combat, Japanese mythology setting, an almost agronomically detailed farming system.
• Best for: players who loved how Dave the Diver bolts a tense action layer onto a satisfying production system and want that contrast turned up.

9. Graveyard Keeper #

GOGCA$3.17-80%Steam CA$3.17View price →

Lazy Bear Games' 2018 dark comedy bills itself as "the most inaccurate medieval cemetery management sim ever," and underneath the gallows humor is a sprawling systems stacker. You harvest, craft, cook, farm, and quietly cut corners to maximize the value of your morbid little business, with tech trees branching in every direction.

• Similar because: dense interlocking crafting and production systems, run-a-business optimization loop, gather-process-sell economy, dark-comic tone over a cozy frame.
• Different because: medieval cemetery theme, no diving or roguelite runs, heavier grind and tech-tree management, single persistent world.
• Best for: players who loved squeezing efficiency out of Dave the Diver's restaurant and want a deeper, darker optimization puzzle to obsess over.

10. My Time at Portia #

GOGCA$4.02-81%Steam CA$4.02View price →

Pathea Games' 2019 life-sim puts you in charge of a workshop in a post-apocalyptic-yet-sunny town. You gather materials, run crafting machines, take commissions, farm, fight the occasional dungeon, and build relationships, layering a whole stack of cozy systems around the spine of a small business you grow over time.

• Similar because: stacked systems (gathering, crafting, farming, light combat), grow-a-business progression, daily time-management rhythm, commission-and-sell loop.
• Different because: 3D town life sim, crafting-workshop focus over a restaurant, relationship sim depth, no ocean or roguelite structure.
• Best for: players who enjoyed building Dave's restaurant empire and want a broader, 3D town to invest dozens of hours into.

11. Coral Island #

GAMIVOCA$31.58Steam CA$31.58View price →

Stairway Games' 2023 farm sim is the rare pick that touches every pillar at once. It is a lush Stardew-style life sim where you farm, fish, mine, and crucially dive to restore a polluted coral reef. The diving and ocean-cleanup loop sits right inside a deep cozy-systems stack, making it the most literal bridge between Dave the Diver and the farming genre.

• Similar because: actual scuba-diving and ocean exploration, stacked life-sim systems, gather-and-sell economy, vibrant marine life, a reef you actively improve.
• Different because: cozy open-ended farm sim with no fail state, relationship and town simulation, no restaurant rush or roguelite runs, slower seasonal pacing.
• Best for: players who want the diving fantasy and a full cozy systems stack in one save, with no tension and all the serenity.

12. SteamWorld Dig #

KinguinCA$0.79-95%Steam CA$0.79View price →

Image & Form's 2013 metroidvania-miner is the loop stripped to its cleanest form. As the robot Rusty you dig ever deeper into a mine, haul ore back to the surface town, sell it, and spend the cash on upgrades that let you dig deeper still. Swap "ocean" for "underground" and the descend-gather-sell-upgrade rhythm is unmistakably familiar.

• Similar because: descend-to-gather-then-surface-to-sell loop, sell-to-upgrade-to-go-deeper progression, escalating exploration risk, tight, readable session pacing.
• Different because: side-scrolling mining-platformer, underground instead of underwater, no cooking or restaurant, shorter and more linear.
• Best for: players who loved the core "go down, grab loot, cash out, upgrade, repeat" spiral and want it distilled into a crisp, focused package.

Comparison Table #

Game	Similar Because	Different Because	Best For
Moonlighter	Identical loot-by-night, sell-by-day loop	Top-down action-RPG, fantasy dungeons	Fans of the business half
Dredge	Ocean catch-to-cash loop fuels upgrades	Horror tone, top-down trawling, no restaurant	Divers who want tension and story
Stardew Valley	Many systems stacked into one daily routine	Cozy farm sim, no roguelite dives	System-stackers wanting the genre benchmark
Cult of the Lamb	Two-phase run-then-manage loop	Roguelite combat, cult base-building	Players wanting a punchier action layer
Spiritfarer	Stacked craft systems, upgrade-your-vessel	No combat, emotional narrative core	Players wanting warmth over fights
Subnautica	Free-swimming dives fuel crafting	First-person survival-crafting, no selling	Divers wanting the ocean as the whole game
Abzu	Serene diving, vibrant sea life	No systems, short linear art game	Players who only wanted the calm dive
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin	Action half feeds a deep production sim	Rice farming, 2.5D combat, mythology	Fans of the action-plus-craft contrast
Graveyard Keeper	Dense crafting and business optimization	Cemetery theme, heavier grind	Optimizers who loved the restaurant min-max
My Time at Portia	Stacked systems, grow-a-business loop	3D town life sim, workshop focus	Players wanting a broad 3D town
Coral Island	Real diving inside a cozy systems stack	Open-ended farm sim, no rush	Players wanting diving plus full cozy stack
SteamWorld Dig	Descend-gather-sell-upgrade spiral	Side-scrolling miner, underground	Players wanting the loop distilled

Filters #

• Closest day/night two-phase loop: Moonlighter, Cult of the Lamb, Dredge, SteamWorld Dig
• Ocean and diving fantasy: Subnautica, Abzu, Coral Island, Dredge
• Cozy systems stackers (no fail state): Stardew Valley, Spiritfarer, My Time at Portia, Coral Island
• Action meets management: Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, Cult of the Lamb, Moonlighter
• Steam Deck friendly: all twelve run well on Steam Deck, with Stardew Valley, Dredge, and Spiritfarer verified standouts for handheld play.

FAQ #

What should I play right after finishing Dave the Diver? #

Start with Moonlighter — it copies the "loot by night, sell by day" loop most directly, just with action-RPG dungeons instead of dives. If you want to stay in the ocean, Dredge keeps the sea and the catch-to-cash rhythm while adding a gripping horror mystery. And if it was the joy of juggling systems that hooked you, Stardew Valley is the deepest version of that feeling ever made.

Is there a game that actually combines diving with farming like Dave does? #

The closest is Coral Island, which builds genuine scuba-diving and coral-reef restoration directly into a Stardew-style cozy farm sim. You farm, fish, mine, and dive in one save, making it the most literal bridge between Dave the Diver and the life-sim genre. Subnautica and Abzu cover the diving fantasy more single-mindedly if the farming matters less to you.

Which of these works best on Steam Deck? #

All twelve are playable, but Stardew Valley, Dredge, and Spiritfarer are the smoothest handheld experiences, with crisp controls and long battery life. Cult of the Lamb and SteamWorld Dig also play beautifully on the Deck thanks to their tight, controller-native design.

Why are non-ocean games like Graveyard Keeper and Sakuna on this list? #

Because Dave the Diver was never really about the ocean — it was about the addictive rhythm of one activity bankrolling another. Graveyard Keeper nails the dense run-a-business optimization, while Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin welds an action layer onto a deep production sim exactly the way Dave bolts diving onto restaurant management. They match the structure, which is what people actually miss.

I'm new to this style of game. Which is the gentlest place to start? #

Go with Abzu for a short, stress-free underwater meditation with no systems to manage at all, or Stardew Valley and Coral Island for cozy, no-fail-state stacks you can learn at your own pace. Save the higher-pressure picks like Cult of the Lamb and Subnautica for once you have found your rhythm.