How to Play DIVE or DIE
Learn how to play DIVE or DIE: Children of Rain — camp management, diving basics, and winning your first run.
The Core Concept
DIVE or DIE: Children of Rain is a Lovecraftian underwater survival roguelite. You are the Chief of humanity's last settlement above the Abyssal Pool. Each day, you send a diver into flooded ruins to collect resources, Blueprints, Maps, and Eldritch Idols while managing Nutrition, Morale, and a ticking Flood Countdown.
Win by collecting eight Eldritch Idols and offering them to the Rainmaker on the final day. Lose if the countdown reaches zero or your settlement collapses from starvation and despair.
Surface Phase — Managing the Camp
Between dives, assign survivors to buildings, craft equipment at the Workshop, recruit at the Lighthouse, allocate stats at the Town Hall, and make Worship offerings at the Altar. The Camp Report each morning summarizes overnight consumption.
Build all nine structures, assign staff, then upgrade the Diving Deck and Workshop based on your current bottleneck. Keep two dedicated divers and never over-recruit.
Dive Phase — Exploring the Abyssal Pool
Equip your diver at the Diving Deck and descend. Collect Blueprints and Maps first, then resources. Monitor oxygen constantly — return with reserve for safety. Combat enemies using appropriate tools: Knife for Killer Algae, Nailgun for Rain-Touched.
Each completed dive advances the Flood Countdown by one day. Make every dive day count with a specific objective.