A short horror game about thalassophobia
Discover the Ocean is a free simulation video game wherein you must explore the murky and dangerous depths of the sea. Developed by Warkus, this indie retro analog horror game is an atmospheric first-person adventure that features a creepy VHS style of gameplay.
Similar to CorpseOcean, Discover the Ocean has easy controls since it mostly plays on a screen interface, so there’s nothing to be confused about. However, the ending can be quite vague and short as it actually just offers various website links with its clues to expand more of the horror aspect.
The ocean’s secrets
In Discover the Ocean, you play as an unknown protagonist who decides to take part in the Ocean Exploration Program and use its interactive display to explore the ocean depths. It mainly plays out like an infomercial and video walkthrough combined into a short analog horror video. However, while the dread of seeing something strange as you explore is always there, the ending’s execution can leave players wanting for more.
The game’s controls are easy as you only have to move the camera or cursor using the WASD keys. You can also use the arrow keys or the I, J, K, and L keys. Majority of the time, the game plays automatically since it’s presented as an interactive VHS. Thus, the gameplay can be quite lacking in many ways. It doesn’t help that the ending isn’t fully explained.
To uncover more secrets—like in No Players Online—you’ll need to decipher the code given to you by the voiceover. It’s actually spelling out a website called “pastebin.com” using the NATO phonetic alphabet. Type this in and the code on the screen, and you’ll be given a code that can be decrypted via a caesar cipher. This is just the beginning of many difficult code puzzles the game hides.
Could use some more content
All in all, Discover the Ocean is an interesting little analog horror game but it could still use some improvements. For one, there’s a lack of varied gameplay mechanics that can immerse the players more into the whole underwater exploration aspect. Additionally, the secrets after the ending can be hard to figure out since they require specific code knowledge such as ciphers and the NATO phonetic alphabet.
