Obscure

Obscure is a survival horror game that takes place in a school and you take control of one of 5 characters. The intro video for the game definitely gives off a Dawson's Creek meets Resident Evil vibe.

The game came out in 2005 and while the graphics do show its age, they were also surprisingly good. On PC at high resolutions the graphics were sharp and I didn't mind them at all. The school had good detail and while there aren't many monster types, they looked pretty good. Especially the final boss.

Each of the game's 5 characters have a different attribute that separates them from the rest. The good thing is that there is never a time where you HAVE to use a particular character. You can run around with one character, or two and switch between them with the press of a button. You can also play the game in co op mode with a friend.

Josh tells you if there are more items to be picked up in a room or any more areas of interest to check out.

Stanley tells you if there are any more locks in the area that can be opened.

Kenny can sprint

Shannon is Kenny's sister and she gives hints on what to do next and she can heal 20 percent more with health items/

Ashley is Kenny's girlfriend and can double fire handguns and does more damage with melee weapons.

The tips the characters give out helped me a few times in the game. At one point where you need to find 4 statues, I had 3 and couldn't find the last one anywhere. I had Ashley and her hint at first was "The last statue must be outside of the basement..."

I used the hint so much she finally said "  I think the last statue is in the library"

And there is was....

Another thing about the game is that if a character dies, they are gone for the rest of the game, unless you reload a save game and try again.

There was a section near the end where you had to go down some stairs that were under an elevator. If you didn't secure the safety lock before going down, then one of your team members gets crushed and killed by the elevator falling. If you secure it, then everyone makes it down safe..

The voice acting in the game is actually pretty good. I've seen games with bigger budgets with far worse voice acting than in Obscure. Also the game isn't overly long. I think I beat it in just under 5 hours.

There are a few melee weapons which are really just a couple different bats, and a steel bar, and the rest are handguns and shotguns. You can also find flashlights and attach them to your weapons.

The story has to do with one of your teachers kidnapping students and doing experiments on them that has to do with plants , and he turns students into monsters that react badly to sunlight. Kenny is kidnapped at the start of the game and you save him later on and then can use him for the rest of the game. Pretty basic story but the gameplay is fun enough that the story doesn't really matter all that much.

The enemies in the games are hurt by light, so if you focus your flashlight beam on the first and dispel the dark stuff circling them, they become weaker and take less damage before being defeated.

There are some pretty easy puzzles to solve, a bit of backtracking, and some special items to find, like the lazer at the end of the game.

Also, after beating the game on normal, you unlock hard and special mode and you unlock an extra costumer per character. Apparently you need to finish the game in hard mode to get the real ending. I haven't done that yet.

The game has a sequel called Obscure 2: The Aftermath which I haven't beaten before but what I played was fun. It has new characters with Kenny, Shannon and Stan returning.

There was also another game which was supposed to be Obscure 3, but it became Final Exam. A 4 player co op side-scroller. I have no intention of playing that one, but I do recommend the first two games if you want something different that wont take too long and will only cost a couple dollars on a steam sale.