$6.99Obscure Survival horror for two on the couch
Five students stay behind after class at Leafmore High, where classmates have been vanishing. A classic survival horror with a killer soundtrack, scarce ammo and a friend on the couch: explore the dark halls, solve puzzles, and try to make it to morning.
Is Obscure worth it?
Obscure is worth it if…
- you miss the survival horror of the PS2 era, fixed cameras and all
- you want a horror campaign to play with a friend on the same screen
- you like scarce ammo, careful exploration and puzzles over pure action
- you enjoy teen horror movies and don't mind a bit of cheese with your scares
Screenshots
A night locked in Leafmore High
After one of their friends disappears, Shannon, Kenny, Ashley, Stan and Josh stay behind after class to find out why. The school locks them in, and the search begins: dim corridors, empty classrooms, and clues pointing at strange experiments buried in the school's past. This is old-school survival horror, in the spirit of the early Resident Evil games. Ammo and healing items are scarce, so every fight is a decision: swing the baseball bat, spend shotgun shells, or run. And when the bullets run low, the flashlight becomes your best weapon against the creatures. Fixed camera angles keep you from seeing what waits around the corner, which is exactly the point.
Five students, five abilities
You control a group of five teenagers, and each one brings something different: one hits harder, one picks locks quickly, one points out items you missed in the room, another offers hints about where to go. You choose who comes along and can switch between them at a meeting point, so the team you pick shapes how a fight or a locked door gets handled. When you play alone, the computer controls your partner, and if your character goes down, control passes straight to the survivor. Saving works the old way too: you find CDs scattered around the school and use them whenever you dare. Die without one saved, and the night starts over from your last pick-up.
Survival horror for two
Few horror games let you share the dread on one screen, and this is the part that sets Obscure apart from its genre cousins. A friend can join the campaign locally, each of you controlling a student, splitting weapons and ammo between you and watching each other's backs down the same dark hallway. It changes how the game feels: you talk your way through puzzles, call out creatures before the fixed camera reveals them, and decide together who carries the last shotgun shells. And when a character dies, they stay dead, no checkpoint rewinds it away. Losing your partner mid-run hits differently when that partner is a person sitting next to you.
Questions you might have?
Can you play it solo?
Yes. Alone, the computer takes over your partner and fights on your side, and if your character falls, you take direct control of the survivor instead. If both of your current pair die, you return to the meeting point and pick the next student from the group. The co-op mode is local and shared on one screen, so playing solo is a fully supported way through the campaign.
How hard is it?
Fairly hard, mostly because resources are tight. Ammo and healing items are scarce, so wasting shells early leaves you swinging a bat later. The game does scatter supplies as you go, and save CDs are common enough that you can save often if you pick them up as you explore. Going in expecting to manage every bullet, rather than shoot your way through, is the right mindset.
How has it aged?
It plays like its era on purpose: fixed camera angles, tank-ish controls and manual saves are all part of the design. The controls take an hour or two to get used to, and the visuals hold up well for a game of its age. If classic survival horror is what you're after, that old-school feel is the draw, not a flaw to endure.
