DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain
In the codexActionAdventureIndie

DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain

Every descent is a deadly gamble. DIVE or DIE in the cursed abyss, face Eldritch horrors to uncover the mystery of the black rain. Scavenge and upgrade, recruit and sacrifice. Save your camp... The Flood is coming.

DEV: Drop Rate StudioPUB: Dear VillagersAppID 3590290
UPDATE PULSEevery ~12d·last 51d ago·9 recent on record

Is DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain still being updated? — the short answer, with the evidence.

87.0
Strong

Elixir Rating

91.5% of 1,416 Steam reviews are positive, which after adjusting for sample size gives a reception score of 90. It was sold as a game that would keep being worked on, and the developers have gone dormant — subtracting 3.0.

reception 90·support −3.0·Strong

Computed from Steam’s own review tally and observable developer activity — never from anyone’s opinion of the game. How this is calculated

Should you look into this?

From Steam's own record

Current price

$14.39$17.99−20%

Development

Dormant

Last heard from developers

2 months ago

Usual rhythm

every ~4 days

Substantial updates (6 mo)

5

Current silence

13× normal

The developers have been silent for 51 days against a normal rhythm of about 4 — roughly 13 times longer than usual. 5 substantial updates landed in the past six months, 1 of them major. It is currently 20% below its usual price.

Distilled by the oracle

Our coverage

2 dispatches written from this game’s announcements

releaseAug 24, 2026

DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain Launches with Launch Discount and Endless Mode

What launched

DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain (AppID 3590290) is now available on PC, developed by a three-person team — Théo, Achille, and Julien — over approximately two years.

The core loop, as described in the launch announcement, involves diving for resources, keeping a group of survivors fed and sane, and working toward a goal within a forty-day in-game window tied to something called the Rainmaker.

What's included at launch

  • Standard campaign: a forty-day countdown structure with a defined end condition
  • Endless mode: strips away the time limit for open-ended exploration; framed by the developers as a "marginal" and "more relaxed" option rather than the intended experience
  • Endless mode caveats: some achievements are disabled while the mode is active, and countdown-related UI elements and dialogue persist even without the timer
  • Launch discount: 20% off for the first two weeks following release

The announcement also references a prior demo that accumulated "multiple hours" of play from the community, and a series of dev diaries that preceded the release — though no specific details about those are provided in the source.

For players who have been following the project through its demo or dev diary phase, the full release delivers the complete forty-day structure the studio has been building toward; those wary of pressure have an opt-in pressure valve, with the studio's own caveat attached.

releaseAug 20, 2026

DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain Launches on PC with 20% Discount

DIVE or DIE – Children of Rain has launched on PC, authored by a three-person team — Théo, Achille, and Julien — over the course of two years.

The game's core structure revolves around a forty-day countdown: players dive into flooded depths to gather resources, keep a group of survivors fed and sane, and make hard choices about who survives when supplies run short. The deadline is fixed by a character called the Rainmaker.

What's included at launch

  • Main campaign — forty-day survival loop with a hard time limit and a named antagonist condition
  • Endless mode — removes the countdown timer for an open-ended dive; described by the developers themselves as "a more relaxed option, and a marginal one at that"
  • Endless mode caveats — some achievements are disabled while it is active, and the timer's presence persists in UI text and dialogue even with the clock stripped away
  • Launch discount — 20% off for the first two weeks

The developers note that Endless mode is not the intended way to experience the game, framing the main forty-day run as the canonical pressure that shapes its decisions.

For players who followed the demo or the studio's dev diaries, the ship has finally sailed — though the waters, by all accounts, remain deeply unwelcoming.

Two years of development

■ substantial ■ routine

Nov2025FebMayAugNov2026FebMayAug

30 announcements · 9 substantial · 17 months with nothing

Recent Transmissions

30 entries in codex

Community AnnouncementsAug 13, 2026
Patch #2

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and this time it's for the second, bigger patch. You've been diving for a couple of weeks now, and you've been sending us everything you've found down there: bugs, issues, and feedback. We've been reading all…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsAug 12, 2026
Thank you to all our 50,000 divers 🌊

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and while you're here, we wanted to thank you. 💜50,000 of you have now dived into the Abyssal Pool. Fifty thousand people feeding their camps, losing their divers, and answering the Rainmaker's call alongsid…

Community AnnouncementsJul 29, 2026
The Reviews Are In 🌊🌊 Accolades Trailer!

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and this time the kind words aren't just ours.The critics have been diving into the Abyssal Pool, and they've had some lovely things to say. We gathered the highlights into one short trailer.Watch it here:Her…

Community AnnouncementsJul 25, 2026
Good company in the deep 🌊

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and we've found some neighbours in the deep.Turns out we're not the only ones who think the bottom of the ocean is where the interesting things live. DIVE or DIE now comes bundled with three other games that …

Community AnnouncementsJul 24, 2026
5 Tips to Survive the Abyss 🤿

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and this time we brought advice.You've been diving for a few days now, and we've watched a lot of you learn the hard way what the Abyssal Pool does to the unprepared. So whether you're on day one or you're st…

Community AnnouncementsJul 24, 2026
Hotfix #1.5

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and it's time for a first patch of the first patch.If your save is currently stuck in a soft-lock state, try reloading it with the new patch as it might be fixed depending on the exact cause.So, here's the on…

Community AnnouncementsJul 23, 2026
Steam Deck Verified! ✅

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and a reminder was due!It's been true since the demo days, but now that the full game is out, it's worth saying again.You can dive into the Abyss on Steam Deck too! ✅This means you can take the plunge anywher…

Community AnnouncementsJul 23, 2026
Patch #1

Aye, I figured you'd come by... and this time it's for the first patch.You've been diving for a couple days now, and you've been sending us everything you've found down there: bugs, oddities. We've been reading all of it and we're dedicated…

Read this patch for

Rock, Paper, ShotgunJul 21, 2026
Out today, Dive or Die is a promising roguelite scuba sim that basically turns Darkest Dungeon into Ecco the Dolphin

A day will dawn when the premise "what if Darkest Dungeon but also XYZ" will lose its crablike stranglehold on my fancy, but that day is not this day, for today we Dive or Die. Not that the two activities are mutually exclusive. In this 2D …

Community AnnouncementsJul 21, 2026
DIVE or DIE - OUT NOW! 🌊💀

Aye, I definitely figured you'd come by… and this time, it's for launch day!!!The Black Rain has cursed these dark waters for too long. Today, that ends. DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain is OUT NOW on PC! 🥳🎉For two years, three of us have b…

Read our dispatch on this

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsJul 20, 2026
🌊 100,000 of you. Thank you!

Aye, I figured you'd come by... but all 100,000 of you at once?! 👁️👄👁️We never expected this for our little Lovecraftian indie game. 🫀Thank you, to every single one of our hundred thousand Children of Rain. We can't quite believe it's a…

Community AnnouncementsJul 16, 2026
Regional pricing and additional release details

The Black rain is clearing, be ready to diveWe are only few days away from the full release of Dive or Die - Children of rain Can you feel it too? The pull of the Rainmaker, calling for you from deep within the abyss. The game has been in t…

Community AnnouncementsJul 9, 2026
DEV DIARY#5 WHAT LURKS BELOW

Aye, figured you'd come by…😌As we are closing in on our release date it felt like the right moment to talk about what's actually waiting for you down there. Giving Thalassophobia a shape.The underwater world can be scary for many reasons. …

Community AnnouncementsJun 19, 2026
DEV DIARY #4 - Surviving the Surface: Camp Management

Aye, I figured you'd come by… Dev Diary #4 is here.We talked a lot about diving. But the truth is, almost half of DIVE or DIE happens above the dead waters, at the camp!When your divers climb back out of the Abyssal Pool, they come home to …

Community AnnouncementsJun 1, 2026
Thank you for 50k wishlists!

🌊 50,000 wishlists! A new deep stop has been reached.We didn't expect this.When we first showed DIVE or DIE to the world back in February, there were three of us, a lighthouse, and a lot of dark water. We didn't know if anyone would want t…

Community AnnouncementsJun 1, 2026
PUBLIC DEMO PATCH #6

The 6th demo patch (1.0.3.802) is now available ahead of the game's official release on July 21!It includes improvements and bug fixes:CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTSJoystick and mouse movement no longer change the active input device (only button p…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsMay 27, 2026
Dive or Die launches on July 21st!

The water level is rising, and the flood is approaching fast. We’ve been working hard for a long time, taking your feedback on the demo into account, and we’re very excited to announce that... DIVE or DIE launches on July 21 on PC! We reall…

Community AnnouncementsMay 20, 2026
Ocean Fest - Demo Update #5

Hey Divers, we’ve got a new update (patch 1.0.3.792) for you as part of the Steam Ocean Fest to keep you entertained until the game launches. Don’t worry, we’ll be back very soon with some news you’re going to love! :DQUALITY OF LIFE & IMPR…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsMay 18, 2026
Dive or Die Demo is part of the Steam Ocean Fest 🌊

Hi Divers! We're taking part in Ocean Fest with Dive or Die! It's your chance to try out our demo if you haven't already :DFor those of you who can't wait for the game to come out (just like us actually 👁️👄👁️): don't worry, we'll be back…

Community AnnouncementsApr 23, 2026
DEV DIARY #3 – Creating a Lovecraftian Underwater World 🌊

Aye, I figured you'd come by… Dev Diary #3 is here, and this one goes deeper. We wanted to share how we’re building the world of DIVE OR DIE, from the lore that underpins everything, to the art direction and the sound design of the diving g…

Community AnnouncementsApr 16, 2026
DIVE or DIE at Games Made in France / 23-26 April

We'll be part of Games Made in France 2026, a Twitch event celebrating French indie games!The event runs from April 23 to April 26, featuring a selection of other French indie gems.DIVE or DIE will be showcased on Saturday, April 25!We can'…

Community AnnouncementsApr 2, 2026
DEV DIARY #2 - How DIVE OR DIE Actually Plays 👀

Aye, figured you'd come by…😌 Dev Diary #2 is here. Last time we talked about why we made the game. This time, we want to walk you through how you actually play it.DIVE OR DIE is an extraction diver at its core. Every day you send a survivo…

Community AnnouncementsMar 20, 2026
DEV DIARY #1 – Why We Made DIVE OR DIE 🤿

Hello everyone! We wanted to DIVE DEEP 😌 into some topics related to the game, so we're starting a dev diary series. This first entry is where it all started! WHY WE MADE DIVE OR DIEA manifesto from the three of us at Drop Rate Studio Ther…

Community AnnouncementsMar 17, 2026
PUBLIC DEMO PATCH #4

Hello Children of Rain 🤿The 4th patch for the demo is here! It includes several improvements in terms of art, UI, and fixes. Feel free to play again and give us your feedback on the changes!IMPROVEMENTSArtPolished Sacrificial altar assets.…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsMar 5, 2026
PUBLIC DEMO PATCH #3

The 3rd patch for the demo is here! It includes several improvements in terms of balancing, UI, onboarding, and fixes. Feel free to play again and give us your feedback on the changes!IMPROVEMENTSBalancingWe made a few changes to the dreade…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsMar 4, 2026
Thank you for Diving With Us! ✨ Steam Next Fest Recap ✨

Steam Next Fest has come and gone, and you showed up. In force.We are genuinely overwhelmed by the response to the DIVE OR DIE demo, and we wanted to take a moment to look back at what you all made possible.🌊 20,000+ wishlists 📥16,000+ de…

Community AnnouncementsFeb 26, 2026
PUBLIC DEMO PATCH #2

The second patch for the demo (1.0.1.741) is here! This update contains minor improvements, mainly concerning balancing, onboarding, UI, and a few fixes. MINOR IMPROVEMENTSGeneralThe game now saves when quitting through the pause menu.The g…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsFeb 25, 2026
DIVE or DIE is now Steam Deck Verified! ✅

You can now dive into the Abyss on Steam Deck!This means you can take the plunge anywhere, with a fully optimized experience.Try our demo hereFeel free to leave a reviewIt's always a pleasure to read your feedback! We care a lot, and it als…

Community AnnouncementsFeb 23, 2026
DIVE or DIE demo is part of Steam Next Fest!

It's time to take a deep dive into Steam Next Fest with our demo available now!Try the opening of DIVE or DIE in our free demo during the Steam Next Fest! From February 23 to March 2, experience the complete tutorial and survive your first …

Community AnnouncementsFeb 20, 2026
PUBLIC DEMO PATCH #1

The first patch for the demo (1.0.1.726) is now available:MINOR IMPROVEMENTSBalancingSlightly reduced the total number of Blessed Rain-Touched in the Blessed Shallows to make it a bit less difficult (especially if you happen to bless the bi…

Read this patch for