The Game Census
The Terrible Old Man cover art

The Terrible Old Man

Cloak and Dagger Games · 2019-10-10

Steam

AdventureIndieFree To Play

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Side view

Releases: May 09, 2015 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Experience a bite-sized slice of Lovecraftian horror in this updated version of our cult freeware point and click adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's classic short story.

The Terrible Old Man is an Adventure, Indie and Free To Play game released in 2019, priced at free-to-play, with an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (89% of 671 reviews).

2
playing now
89%
positive of 679 reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
1h
to beat · rushed 1h
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unknown
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: 0
Free
steam price (US)

2 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 14:00 UTC (census sample)

Health check

Quiet
  • · 2 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 22 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~3/week).
  • · Review velocity down 42% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (98 reviews).
  • · Top 16% of 28,739 Adventure games in the census by review count.

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
878720192026Week of 2019-10-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

202026-09-14 23:00 — 0 players2026-09-16 07:00 — 0 players2026-09-17 15:00 — 0 players2026-09-18 22:00 — 0 players2026-09-20 06:00 — 0 players2026-09-21 13:00 — 0 players2026-09-22 21:00 — 1 players2026-09-24 04:00 — 0 players2026-09-25 12:00 — 0 players2026-09-26 19:00 — 0 players2026-09-28 03:00 — 0 players2026-09-29 10:00 — 0 players2026-09-30 18:00 — 0 players2026-10-02 01:00 — 0 players2026-10-03 09:00 — 0 players2026-10-04 17:00 — 0 players2026-10-06 01:00 — 0 players2026-10-07 08:00 — 0 players2026-10-08 16:00 — 0 players2026-10-09 23:00 — 0 players2026-10-11 07:00 — 0 players2026-10-12 14:00 — 0 players2026-10-13 22:00 — 1 players2026-10-14 14:00 — 2 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
60Oct 2019Jan 2023Oct 2019 — avg 6 · peak 14Nov 2019 — avg 3 · peak 10Dec 2019 — avg 2 · peak 8Mar 2020 — avg 1 · peak 5Apr 2020 — avg 1 · peak 4May 2020 — avg 1 · peak 4Aug 2020 — avg 0 · peak 3Oct 2020 — avg 1 · peak 3Feb 2021 — avg 1 · peak 3Apr 2021 — avg 1 · peak 4Apr 2022 — avg 1 · peak 3Oct 2022 — avg 1 · peak 4Jan 2023 — avg 1 · peak 3

No change (0) in avg players vs prior month — Jan 2023

Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Completion

6
achievements tracked
62.7%
earned "Three for Two"
52.5%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFamily Sharing1 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2019-10-10 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)1,05790%6

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

2DDarkCrimeDramaRetroHorrorMysteryThrillerAdventureHand-drawn

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Don't Knock TwiceHouse of CaravanMasochisiaRusty Lake HotelQuern - Undying ThoughtsRusty Lake: RootsVampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2Infliction

Similarity via IGDB.

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