Well, technically you can say that there are several games inside Dave the Diver. While it is ultimately a diving, exploration and restaurant management game there's just so many glimpses of other games and genres inside the game. But this one is a little different. It's an actual different game inside of Dave the Daver. It's Balatro.
Gameception
Balatro is a game I haven't dared delve into yet. I just know I'd become totally consumed and addicted to it, and the brief cameo that the game had in Dave the Diver has proved that to me.
At a certain point in Dave the Diver you unlock a game parlor. At first you can play things like match the cards and find the pearl here, but eventually you unlock a game called Jimbo's Game, that looks and plays very similar to Balatro. That's because it just is Balatro. I had to look it up and it is an official crossover done as a collaboration between the developers. A fantastic indie game working together with another fantastic indie game. This is what we like to see.
Apparently this was patched in sometime before Christmas last year, roughly half a year after the game came out. I have to say that it's impressive to see developers making updates like these to their games. Unexpected but welcome.
The Balatro questline takes roughly 40-60 minutes to complete depending on your luck, and you can keep on playing for fun afterwards. I bet it's not as deep as the original game is but it does well to show off the general gameplay loop. I was completely consumed for the full hour that this sequence took me to complete, and now I honestly want to go and buy Balatro. I've at least added it to my wishlist for the future.
Dave the Diver continues to impress me. I've spent roughly 20 hours in the game now and I'm excited to see what more it's going to throw my way. If I end up playing Elden Ring or something inside of Dave the Diver I'm going to lose my mind.
All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.