Heartopia × Dave the Diver: everything about the August 8 collaboration and how to prepare for it

Teased on 16 July and then confirmed on 6 August by XD, the Heartopia × Dave the Diver collaboration kicks off this Saturday, 8 August, at 6 a.m. server time (UTC-5), which is 1 p.m. in mainland France. According to the game's official X account, the event runs until 7 September at 5:59 a.m. server time: a full month to help Dave in Heartopia and grab the exclusive rewards.

The announced program fits in one sentence, but it's a packed one: exclusive outfits, accessories, furniture and recipes to unlock by taking part in the event, along with a scripted storyline in which players help Dave recover the "Diving Valve", repair his diving tank and continue his underwater adventure. In other words, one of gaming's most famous divers is coming to settle into the waters of the Season of Whales.

XD has not yet published the full details of the rewards or the complete patch notes — these traditionally drop on launch day. Here is everything confirmed as we write this, what the previous Sanrio collaboration suggests about how the event will work, and above all how to prepare for your 8 August session so you don't lose a minute.

What's confirmed about the Dave the Diver collaboration

The official announcement on 6 August, published on Steam and on the @MyHeartopia X account, sets the launch for 8 August and lists four categories of rewards: outfits, accessories, furniture and recipes, all exclusive to the collaboration. The event's premise is also laid out: Dave has lost his "Diving Valve", his diving tank is out of order, and it's up to you to help him get back to exploring the depths. A roughly thirty-second trailer accompanies the announcement and shows Dave splashing around in Heartopia's waters.

On X, the publisher specifies the exact window: from 8 August at 6 a.m. to 7 September at 5:59 a.m., server time. Since Heartopia uses UTC-5 for all its deadlines, that means a launch on 8 August at 1 p.m. Paris time, and an end on 7 September at 12:59 p.m.: a full month, with no intermediate deadline announced for now.

If you're not familiar with the guest, Dave the Diver is the surprise hit of 2023 from Mintrocket, a label under Korea's Nexon: by day, Dave dives into the Blue Hole to spearfish ingredients; by night, he runs Bancho's sushi restaurant. The diving-management mix fits perfectly with Heartopia's summer 2026 identity: fishing, cooking and underwater exploration are already the three pillars of the current season.

A collaboration tailor-made for the Season of Whales

The choice of Dave the Diver is no scheduling coincidence. Since 11 July, the "Call of Whales" fashionwave — our Season of Whales — has given Heartopia all the infrastructure a diver could dream of:

• Whalefall Canyon, the underwater zone accessible through the portal at the foot of Whale Mountain, with its brand-new ingredients (Sea Grapes, Glasswort, Wakame) and its exploration catalogue;
• Ocean Cleanup, the seabed-cleaning passion added on a permanent basis, which will therefore remain playable throughout the collaboration;
• the Seamount, the buildable underwater plot unlocked by completing the canyon's expedition quests, where players can build their own deep-sea home and release their fish to form decorative schools.

A detail worth noting: the collaboration extends well beyond the end of the fashionwave, which wraps up on August 22 at 5:59 AM server time. XD has therefore designed a standalone event that won't disappear with the season. The rewards tied to the Whalefall Canyon exploration catalog (the "Seaside Holiday" outfit set, the "Inflatable Whale House" furniture), however, remain tied to the season: if you're aiming for those, they should take priority over Dave in your to-do list.

The checklist to be ready by August 8

The event opens at 1 PM Paris time. Here's what's worth sorting out before you launch your session:

• Unlock access to diving. The entry requirements for the underwater season are level 7 at the Builders Association and completion of the main quest "The Answer Lies Within". A collaboration centered on a diver is very likely to lean on Whalefall Canyon: if you've never put your head underwater, catch up on this now.
• Clear out your mailbox before midnight. The compensation from the August 5 flash update — 8,000 gold coins and 5 Wishing Stars — expires precisely on August 8 at 5 PM UTC-5, which is midnight in the night of August 8 to 9 in Paris. It would be a shame to start the collaboration by letting free gold slip away.
• Make room in your inventory. The announced exclusive recipes will go through cooking, and the canyon's marine ingredients (Sea Grapes, Glasswort, Wakame) are the obvious candidates. Stocking up in advance costs nothing and can save you several trips back and forth.
• Keep some Wishing Stars and gold in reserve. The event's currency is still unknown, but at XD, exchange shops and gacha pulls are never far away. Avoid spending everything in the Fashionwave shop the day before launch.
• Repair your diving tools. The durability of Ocean Cleanup tools is checked with use; starting off with equipment in good condition will save you an interruption in the middle of the first quest.

What the previous Sanrio collab suggests

XD hasn't detailed the structure of the event, but the Sanrio collaboration running since July 17 gives a fairly clear idea of the studio's usual method. The publisher breaks its crossovers into several complementary building blocks: daily event quests that feed into a collection (the "Sweet Secrets" stickers), a social item to place at home that other players come activate (the Sanrio gacha machine, limited to five uses per day), a gacha pull exhibition paid for with dedicated passes (the Gilded Acorn Exhibition), and an exchange shop with limited stock.

Applied to Dave, this pattern suggests a series of scripted quests — finding the valve, repairing the tank — that gradually unlock rewards, plus one or two repeatable mechanics to fill the four weeks. The presence of recipes in the official list also raises hopes of a nod to Dave the Diver's sushi restaurant: Heartopia's cooking pot is just waiting for that. Take these projections for what they are, though: the exact workings will only be known once the Event page opens on August 8.

Where to fit Dave into an already packed August

Good news for packed schedules: with a deadline set for September 7, the Dave the Diver collaboration is the least urgent event of the month. The "Call of Whales" season ends on August 22, and the Sanrio collaboration on the 24th: anything tied to those two takes priority. If you only need one game plan for August 8: check out Dave's quests on Saturday for the fun of the launch, then devote your following sessions to the seasonal collections that are expiring, and save the second half of August and early September to calmly finish up the collaboration.

See you Saturday at 1 p.m.

Until it opens, keep an eye on two spots: the Event page in the top right corner of the main screen, where the collaboration will appear on August 8, and the game's Steam announcements, where XD consistently publishes the details of rewards and mechanics at launch. We'll update this guide as soon as the full list of outfits, furniture, and recipes is known. In the meantime, level up your Association, empty your pockets, and warm up the wetsuit: Dave is just waiting for you to dive back in.