DAVE THE DIVER
analyzed 2026-10-09 · sample of 428 English reviews across the whole review history
Across 428 sampled reviews, the most-mentioned aspect is gameplay, at 22.9%, and it draws mostly positive remarks — players describe a loop that is "extremely satisfying" and "like a Venn diagram of a bunch of different styles of games in one package". Content amount follows at 17.3%, again largely positive, with comments such as "lots of content, it just keeps on giving". Relaxation appears in 13.1% of reviews, story in 11.2%, and art style in 8.9%, where all 38 mentions are positive; one player writes that "the art style is charming". Addictiveness, price value, characters, music, animation, and replayability also skew positive. Opinion splits in a few places. Pacing is mentioned in 5.4% of reviews, with 13 positive against 10 negative. Combat draws 8 positive and 6 negative mentions, and controls 4 positive against 7 negative, including complaints that "The action buttons are inconsistent". Quest design, balance, and learning curve come up less often but attract criticism; one review notes "some quests interrupt the main game loop too much". Smaller recurring threads include the soundtrack, the developer team, and post-launch updates, which players bring up without a consistent lean. Performance and bugs appear rarely and divide those who mention them.
numbers checked against this report's stored data · quotes copied verbatim from reviews · plain text is the language model's own wording
Aspects
share of sample, axis to 30% · ± is the sampling uncertainty around each share
- positive
- mixed / neutral
- negative
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gameplay
82 positive · 14 negative · 2 mixed · 0 neutral
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The game play loop is extremely satisfying, the art style is charming, the humor lands, and the mechanics are just deep enough without becoming overbearing for a more casual player.
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This game is like a Venn diagram of a bunch of different styles of games in one package.
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It's a mix of fishing, cooking, exploration, and a role-playing game.
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content amount
68 positive · 5 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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Really great game, lots of content, it just keeps on giving
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The amount of content in this game for being in early access is astonishing.
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loveee this game,, it's the game that keeps on giving
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relaxation
52 positive · 2 negative · 2 mixed · 0 neutral
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If you want a relaxing game that has a hint of grind, this is it.
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The game is beautiful and I would recommend buying it, it is very fun and a nice relaxing game.
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A couple of the earlier bosses have too low hp but past that a very very enjoyable laid back game.
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story
40 positive · 6 negative · 1 mixed · 1 neutral
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The story is intriguing.
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☑ Good
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Great characters, decent story, fun little mini games to break up the action and a cute art style!
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art style
38 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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The game play loop is extremely satisfying, the art style is charming, the humor lands, and the mechanics are just deep enough without becoming overbearing for a more casual player.
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Beautiful, Fun and so creative and funny.
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The game is very artistic.
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addictiveness
31 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Just be warned it's highly addictive!
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playing this game all summer, it got me so hooked (heh), and even after the splashing first month debut the devs still dishing out new content and QOL updates.
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Beautiful graphics, highly addictive loop, original, and great fun.
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price value
29 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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It's worth every penny of $20 - but I would still reccomend finding a sale on G2A.
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So worth the money.
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☑ Worth the price
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characters
26 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Plus the animation is so breathtaking as well as the characters.
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This steady flow of novelty, coupled with colorful characters and cutscenes chock-full of personality, make DAVE THE DIVER one of the standout casual RPGs of recent years.
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Great characters, decent story, fun little mini games to break up the action and a cute art style!
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pacing
13 positive · 10 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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The flow of the game is really nice where it's collecting, then cooking sim, then collecting, cooking sim, etc. It breaks up the game in a great way that would otherwise be monotonous.
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Basically nothing overstays its welcome.
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With everything that you have to do - diving, restaurant managing, prepping food, farming, it could easily be overwhelming, but they have perfectly paced new things so that just when you're about to feel like you're repeating things, a new element is introduced.
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graphics
16 positive · 2 negative · 1 mixed · 1 neutral
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The game is beautiful and I would recommend buying it, it is very fun and a nice relaxing game.
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Beautiful graphics, highly addictive loop, original, and great fun.
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☑ Beautiful
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see more
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writing
15 positive · 2 negative · 2 mixed · 0 neutral
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The game play loop is extremely satisfying, the art style is charming, the humor lands, and the mechanics are just deep enough without becoming overbearing for a more casual player.
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The character writing is effortlessly funny and charming without being in-your-face about certain characteristics that ABSOLUTELY would have been driven right into the dirt in most other games.
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Paired with an interesting story, fun and colorful characters, a great sense of humor and tons of anime references this is a game I can't recommend enough to everybody.
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exploration
16 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 1 neutral
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It's a great mix of CSD mixed with 2d exploration/spearfishing/collecting.
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Great exploration, memes, variety of contents.
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I normally really only play multiplayer games with my friends these days, but this is a single player game that I always try and play once a day to get one more dive in and explore!
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combat
8 positive · 6 negative · 1 mixed · 2 neutral
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The bosses are fun puzzles to solve, and I'm absolutely digging this game.
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"You wanna hunt Tuna with an M32 Grenade Launcher? Go for it, King!
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Nice cosy chill game with decent boss fights if you want them and complete relaxed fishing if not.
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music
15 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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First of all, the soundtrack is amazing.
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Absolutely magnificent little game with a beautiful art style, boppin music, some of the more humorous cut scenes I’ve seen in a game, diverse gameplay, and just generally wholesome experience.
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On top of this, it has an awesome soundtrack, good story and funny ass cut scenes.
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animation
13 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Plus the animation is so breathtaking as well as the characters.
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The over the top animations are fantastic and filled with character.
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- Fantastic pixel animations in both cutscenes and sprite work, this team really did a fantastic job
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controls
4 positive · 7 negative · 0 mixed · 1 neutral
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- Swimming feels extremely slow later in the game and there is no way to speed yourself up
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The action buttons are inconsistent.
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fun game ruined by couple terrible boss fights and even worse controls
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difficulty
7 positive · 2 negative · 2 mixed · 0 neutral
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It is so fun, and not at all difficult - yes there is button smashing but it's not hard (coming from someone who sucks at button smashing games).
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☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
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I also love the casual side of it, if you fail you can still attempt it later.
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learning curve
5 positive · 4 negative · 0 mixed · 2 neutral
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It seem a lot at the beginning, but you quickly get the hang of it.
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And they way they constantly switch up the play style throughout keeps it fresh, by forcing you to learn and try new and unique play styles.
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Easy to get into and so much stuff to do!
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progression
9 positive · 2 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Even after finishing the story, I still feel the pull to keep leveling my equipment, sushi, and inventory.
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It's never overwhelming, and it's good about offering things to target as well as giving you time to work towards improving the different parts of the game whether it's better diving gear and weapons or better employees and food, etc.
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… dissapointed you, surely at first you maythink it repetitive but not yet it will bring you fresh experience in each dive, at you progress very standout by each upgrade you have ^^
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dlc
8 positive · 2 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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I hope it gets DLC down the road.
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eagerly waiting to play new dlc or dave the diver 2
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- DLC? I fully completed the game, but I still want more!
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game length
5 positive · 0 negative · 1 mixed · 4 neutral
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[h2] 183 hours and worth every second [/h2]
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Very fun and entertaining, it can be as long as you like and many interesting mechanics.
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At the time of writing I played about 22 hours and it seems that I missed a good chunk of what the game had to offer.
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quest design
3 positive · 5 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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My only gripe is that some quests interrupt the main game loop too much.
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Then there are these random mini-game events that really don't belong (Duff's waifu karaoke is a good example).
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The quests aren't even interesting either, it's completing a side fetch quest to progress in the main fetch quest.
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updates
6 positive · 0 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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Can't wait for updates.
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playing this game all summer, it got me so hooked (heh), and even after the splashing first month debut the devs still dishing out new content and QOL updates.
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Also, while I don't think I'm near the end of the game yet, I heard they're planning more content, and I can't wait to see what else they add next!
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performance
3 positive · 3 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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The game works on Steam Deck but doesn't have the best performance, had to lock to 30 with some stutters - still playable but not perfect.
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* long loading screens
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A 60 FPS lock in 2023.
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replayability
6 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Finished it this weekend and it’s definitely one I’ll go back to.
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It's a game I'm considering going back and getting 100% achievements in at a later date.
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There is a wonderful story to the game, but it is highly replay-able to capture every fish, explore every nook and cranny, and become the best restauranter in the world.
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world
6 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Being Dave is fun and teaches you about the enviorment, and conservation efforts in a way that isnt boring and gets you invested.
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Cool world, simple yet interesting
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Nice way to chill out, look at pretty fish, and enjoy the dream of running your own sushi restaurant in a tropical getaway.
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balance
0 positive · 5 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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A couple of the earlier bosses have too low hp but past that a very very enjoyable laid back game.
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- The bosses: While they're all very cool looking and the fights are a spectacle, they only come in 2 flavors : Very Easy or Undoable without a specific loadout.
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There are oxygen tanks EVERYWHERE and several ways of stunning enemies, so you just end up killing all the hardest enemies and hauling them back since they're worth the most.
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bugs
3 positive · 2 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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☑ Never heard of
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It's got a wholesome story, loads of content, minimal issues, and has been a complete blast for me.
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I don't think I've ever encountered a single bug while playing the game.
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developer conduct
3 positive · 2 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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The most wholesome and responsive dev team I've ever encountered.
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If the devs are reading this: thanks guys. Good job.
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Kudos to the team of Dave the Diver. You, guys, are amazing. Thank you for your amazing efforts & hard works making this game.
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emotional impact
5 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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There isn't a way i can describe HOW this game makes me feel, but i can tell you that Dave the Diver Makes me feel SOMETHING.
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Despite being terrified of the ocean and initially panicking whenever I saw a shark, finishing this game has been absolutely beautiful.
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Simply great, varied, beautiful, challenging, scary at times.
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Review timeline
monthly peak 30,601 reviews · all languages
monthly share rated positive · 50% reference · months with <5 reviews faded
the timeline as a table
| month | reviews | up | down | positive | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2022 | 721 | 685 | 36 | 95% | |
| Nov 2022 | 4,415 | 4,320 | 95 | 98% | |
| Dec 2022 | 1,368 | 1,327 | 41 | 97% | |
| Jan 2023 | 1,134 | 1,103 | 31 | 97% | |
| Feb 2023 | 599 | 592 | 7 | 99% | |
| Mar 2023 | 1,796 | 1,734 | 62 | 97% | |
| Apr 2023 | 891 | 859 | 32 | 96% | |
| May 2023 | 537 | 525 | 12 | 98% | |
| Jun 2023 | 2,530 | 2,434 | 96 | 96% | |
| Jul 2023 | 30,601 | 29,543 | 1,058 | 97% | |
| Aug 2023 | 6,466 | 6,234 | 232 | 96% | |
| Sep 2023 | 2,848 | 2,743 | 105 | 96% | |
| Oct 2023 | 2,229 | 2,155 | 74 | 97% | |
| Nov 2023 | 18,580 | 18,438 | 142 | 99% | |
| Dec 2023 | 5,822 | 5,595 | 227 | 96% | |
| Jan 2024 | 4,944 | 4,749 | 195 | 96% | |
| Feb 2024 | 1,745 | 1,679 | 66 | 96% | |
| Mar 2024 | 2,655 | 2,541 | 114 | 96% | |
| Apr 2024 | 1,649 | 1,562 | 87 | 95% | |
| May 2024 | 2,457 | 2,371 | 86 | 96% | |
| Jun 2024 | 3,536 | 3,396 | 140 | 96% | |
| Jul 2024 | 3,963 | 3,770 | 193 | 95% | |
| Aug 2024 | 1,552 | 1,482 | 70 | 95% | |
| Sep 2024 | 1,713 | 1,620 | 93 | 95% | |
| Oct 2024 | 1,585 | 1,498 | 87 | 95% | |
| Nov 2024 | 2,953 | 2,877 | 76 | 97% | |
| Dec 2024 | 2,523 | 2,445 | 78 | 97% | |
| Jan 2025 | 1,675 | 1,601 | 74 | 96% | |
| Feb 2025 | 958 | 914 | 44 | 95% | |
| Mar 2025 | 1,523 | 1,458 | 65 | 96% | |
| Apr 2025 | 2,151 | 1,945 | 206 | 90% | |
| May 2025 | 1,085 | 1,024 | 61 | 94% | |
| Jun 2025 | 1,981 | 1,870 | 111 | 94% | |
| Jul 2025 | 2,288 | 2,154 | 134 | 94% | |
| Aug 2025 | 1,122 | 1,061 | 61 | 95% | |
| Sep 2025 | 780 | 742 | 38 | 95% | |
| Oct 2025 | 1,200 | 1,140 | 60 | 95% | |
| Nov 2025 | 2,221 | 2,171 | 50 | 98% | |
| Dec 2025 | 1,819 | 1,722 | 97 | 95% | |
| Jan 2026 | 1,641 | 1,527 | 114 | 93% | |
| Feb 2026 | 1,228 | 1,158 | 70 | 94% | |
| Mar 2026 | 1,317 | 1,245 | 72 | 95% | |
| Apr 2026 | 989 | 925 | 64 | 94% | |
| May 2026 | 1,127 | 1,063 | 64 | 94% | |
| Jun 2026 | 4,106 | 3,805 | 301 | 93% | |
| Jul 2026 | 3,398 | 3,145 | 253 | 93% | |
| Aug 2026 | 1,673 | 1,570 | 103 | 94% | |
| Sep 2026 | 1,210 | 1,130 | 80 | 93% | |
| Oct 2026 | 516 | 485 | 31 | 94% |
How this report was made
- Population
- all Steam reviews of the game (every language, purchase type, and verdict), walked newest-first per window; only English-language reviews are analyzed
- Sample
- 428 English reviews, time-proportional draw over 49 windows (newest-first within each), taken from an all-language walk and kept English-only — where English is a minority the sample runs smaller than the draw, and every margin of error is computed at 428
- Aspect yield
- 244 of 428 analyzed reviews carry at least one aspect (57.0%); every share on this page divides by all 428
- Interval regime
- calm: standard margins of error for a share of a sample (Wilson interval), no widening needed
- Fetch paths
- 49 time windows fetched directly (windowed)
- Language mix
- 1,000 fetched: english 428 · schinese 251 · brazilian 53 · 21 more
- Steam-marked windows
- none flagged by Steam (Valve's off-topic flagging began March 2019)
- Marked share
- 0.0% of sample inside marked windows, under the 2% floor
- Narrative
- passed the grounding gate after one corrective retry
- Evidence floor
- aspects and emergent themes appear only with 5+ supporting reviews; smaller counts sit at the classifier's false-positive floor
- Instrument readings
- measured once on the study corpus for this model and prompt: frozen calibration, not properties of this run
- · aspect tagging vs. human labels
- 0.801 [0.752–0.844] (F1 against a human-labeled test set; 1.0 is best)
- · quotes filed under the wrong aspect
- 11.6% [6.6–19.6] of quotes, measured by hand on a sample; lower is better — measured on the prior model (2026-08-05); re-measurement pending
- · independent model vs. production labels
- 0.791 [0.772–0.810] (F1 of the production labeler against an independent judge model) — measured on the prior model (2026-07-25); re-measurement pending
- Versions
- deepseek-flash · prompt classify-v1 · ontology v2
- Run
- serve-20261009T195348Z-469c126c · code 798e06c
full methodology in the milestone write-ups