Before the release of the game, we remember playing the demo and being entirely enthralled by it. That demo allowed us to get fully immersed into the dark world of DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain and to try our best to survive the first 10 days by diving and fighting in an unforgiving world where death is unavoidable. Even though the demo had high replay value, we wanted to dive deeper and experience more. Well, the game is out now and we got a lot more than we bargained for.
To dive or to die, that is the question!
Each time you dive into the pool, you need to pay attention to your oxygen levels, as well as your health and sanity. All three are important; otherwise, all the food, mementos, and materials will have been collected for nothing. It always feels like you’re pressed for time, trying your best to explore as much as you can. The dash ability helps you swim faster, but the faster you swim, the faster you burn through that oxygen tank. Those first few sessions were very short and uncertain. We didn’t yet understand which resources were worth risking our lives for. We didn’t know where to go or how to deal with those leafy tentacles that were tirelessly trying to grab us and hinder our progress. Every dive forced us to make constant decisions. Should we spend precious oxygen searching one more room for crafting materials, grab enough food to keep everyone alive for another day, or risk pushing deeper in hopes of uncovering another sacred relic? Even combat wasn’t always the right answer. Some creatures were better avoided altogether, and learning when to run instead of fight became just as important as learning how to defend ourselves.
But with each dive, we got better and more confident. We eventually stopped grabbing every shiny object we saw and began leaving behind resources we knew weren’t worth the oxygen. After all, we had a village to upkeep and mouths to feed. As hostages in this world, we have no choice but to survive. The world we knew is gone, and the only refuge for the handful of humans left from the drowning of the black rain is the mountaintops. It is there that we dwell between dives. We frequent the few places that we have built and see what new strength we can muster. That strength doesn’t simply come from crafting better equipment. Every survivor has to be assigned somewhere useful, whether that’s helping improve the camp, gathering resources safely on the surface, recovering from their wounds, or preparing for another descent. Deciding who should risk another dive and who should stay behind became almost as stressful as the dives themselves because every experienced survivor is valuable, and once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.
Once we’re done on the surface, we’re off to the abyssal pool to start another race. The more dives we do, the more progress we make. Our fragile camp starts expanding and flourishing, and our survivors, thanks to new tools and equipment from the workshop, become better at what they do. Those upgrades don’t simply make numbers bigger. The difference wasn’t dramatic after a single upgrade, but after several days we started noticing we could stay underwater just a little longer, push past routes that used to send us running, and finally explore places we’d been forced to abandon before.
But progress comes at a price. The abyss is a cruel and unpredictable mistress, and another, final flood is preparing to drown everything. We can’t emphasize enough how every single one of those 40 days that we have matters. There were days where we were able to accomplish so much, we managed to return with enough food to keep everyone alive, crafted a new piece of equipment, and even uncovered another relic. And then there were days that were a total setback, where we barely escaped with a single survivor carrying just enough food to buy us another morning. It felt like we were always on the brink of a losing game, taking one step forward followed by three steps back. Every day spent gathering supplies also has to move us closer to finding the sacred relics hidden throughout the abyss because simply surviving the forty days isn’t enough if we fail to prepare for the final flood.
DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain is not a game where you win. It’s a game of losses and dealing with those losses. It’s a game of falling and trying to get up while you’re mercilessly being kicked down. There were times when we really wanted to quit. Some of those times we did, but we couldn’t move on to another game. The abyss called us. And try as we might, we couldn’t ignore the call for long. This makes it especially strange since we don’t usually enjoy games without some instant or fast gratification. We failed and made some terrible choices more times than we are willing to count. And yet, whenever we made a morsel of accomplishment, even if it was on shaky legs, we were excited. DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain is a game that gives little and in short doses, but takes a lot, often. Somehow, every defeat only made us want to plan one more dive.
- Developer: Drop Rate Studio
- Publisher: Dear Villagers
- Platforms: PC
- Release Date(s): July 21, 2026
- Genre: Exploration, horror, roguelite
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