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If you sank an unreasonable number of hours into Dave the Diver, this one's for you. Mintrocket has revealed Bancho The Chef, a standalone prequel built around the sushi master's early years, long before he ever ended up running a restaurant alongside Dave. It's coming to PC and consoles, and you can wishlist it now on Steam and the PlayStation Store.
Much like a good fusion dish, Bancho The Chef is two things at once: a cooking simulation with a side of light RPG progression. You step into a young Bancho's shoes as he travels across Asia, studying regional cuisines and slowly building the skills that turn him into the chef fans already know.
The structure should feel familiar to anyone who enjoyed how Dave the Diver constantly juggled different systems. You'll learn ingredients, serve customers, run a restaurant, and complete region-specific challenges, all feeding into a progression loop. Earn the approval of local masters, and you unlock the next region. It's the kind of "just one more shift" design Mintrocket has already proven it can pull off.
Japan, Korea and China on the menu
Rather than one location, the game spans several distinct culinary regions, with Japan, Korea and China all confirmed. Each comes with authentic dishes and techniques inspired by real local cuisine, plus its own community to win over by serving the dishes people actually want. Building your reputation in each region is the core driver, and it's a sensible way to give the globetrotting structure some shape.
There's the expected spread of side content too: fishing, VIP missions and other distractions, alongside a story that gradually fills in Bancho's backstory and his ties to the wider Dave the Diver universe.
Bancho was always one of the more intriguing faces in Dave the Diver, so handing him a full origin story is a reasonable bet. Head of Mintrocket Jaeho Hwang described him as a mysterious, highly skilled character the team felt deserved his own backstory, which tracks with how the original game treated him.
The obvious question is whether a cooking-focused spin-off can carry the same charm as the diving-and-restaurant juggle that made the original so moreish. Dave the Diver worked partly because no single system overstayed its welcome, and a game built primarily around the kitchen will need that same variety to keep its loop fresh. Mintrocket has earned enough goodwill to make it worth the benefit of the doubt.
Platforms and release
Bancho The Chef is heading to PC and consoles. There's no release date or specific platform breakdown yet, with Mintrocket saying timing and further details will follow. Wishlists are open now on Steam and the PlayStation Store.
