The Old Gentleman

The Old Gentleman is a short horror game about guiding a crewmate across the seafloor from a submarine trapped at the bottom of the sea. You help him gather missing parts and repair the sub while avoiding the source of a mysterious light. The game takes about half an hour and draws inspiration from the real-life “Old Gentleman” dive suit.

Guide your crewmate

The submarine is shown through several fixed-perspective views. You interact with its control monitors using the mouse, consult a map and send sonar pings to locate missing parts. The periscope shows only the submarine’s immediate surroundings, and visibility is extremely low. Once your crewmate leaves the lit-up circle of safety, you must rely on the map and sonar to track him.

You learn Morse Code during play, using a codebook to send dots and dashes through the transmitter and direct your crewmate’s movement and actions. If the stalking monster gets too close to him or the submarine, you can tell him to distract it with a flare, but the supply is limited. The submarine’s monitors also blow out one by one and reroute to a spare, forcing you to spend more time moving between them as you try to stay ahead of the monster.

Style and atmosphere

The game has a grungy retro art style, FMV sequences and a claustrophobic, deep-blue ocean atmosphere. Its play centers on making decisions with limited information, learning opaque systems and operating submarine control panels under pressure.