pic 5 of Obscure store page is quite funny.
Did they really need to put that in lol
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He is just helping her to reach there, you dirty mind :)
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Seeing that variations of the air duct scene came up multiple times while I was cross-checking info for this thread (you can also find it 40 seconds into the trailer), it seems to be a core part of the game's promotional materials. As such, I don't imagine they put too much thought into the inclusion of an image clipped from that scene. Given that other shots in that same sequence are both more photogenic and more risque, there's good support for the consideration that they just slapped it up without any real thought.
That said, taking a closer look at that image, the position of her palm and leg, the position of his neck, and the glazed look in his eyes, I do realize that the image is extremely awkward, being presented the way it is. Thus, I've taken the liberty of fixing the image's shortcomings:
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I loved the first one but the second one was hard to get in to.. Think it was the controlls that were really shitty? Been a while.
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I really enjoyed the second one back in the day on the ps2. I remember wishing really hard I had someone to play the game with, though. You just don't get a lot of these type of games in coop. Especially back then.
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I know them but never played any of them yet I'm tempted to get them despite not knowing if I will ever play them
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Any advice on how well those can be played for single player only? For some reason I have the first one on wishlist, but should those games require someone to play coop with, they're probably not for me.
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There are plenty of single player let's plays on Youtube so I guess there are no issues with playing it single player. It's also marked as "single player" on Steam.
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Due to WHEN they were released, they are quite prepared for solo play. The difference is about the same as playing RE6 in solo or co-op (as in, practically none).
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Purportedly, when the AI is taking control of the second character it tends to rush them into suicidal encounters, so the single player appeal is likely thoroughly based in how tolerant you are of babysitting AI companions. In fairness, however, that's a fairly normal consideration for any game with an AI companion. >.>
If you're especially nostalgic for early RE game design, the AI shouldn't be a dealbreaker, given how little the games emphasize combat and the fact that you can freely kill off most of the students and still complete the game. Otherwise, there are 12 years worth of horror games that've been released since the last Obscure game. You've got other options you can go with. :P
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Of course, there's always other options. However, there aren't many with puzzles instead of "just another horror game". Maybe I'll just pick up the first one for now. The graphics don't seem much better in the second one anyway, and it's only €1.40 to see if I like it or not.
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If you have a local co-op partner both games can be recommanded although Obscure (despite being the older one) is the better choice for several reasons:
- You can revisit earlier areas as most of the game is placed in the college and you have to navigate the area yourself and unlock the buildings step-by-step (unlike Obscure 2 where you are dashing from new area to new area)
- Characters "special abilities" are completely optional as you don't need them, but changing characters can give you access to bonus items (unlike Obscure 2 where for every area your characters are pre-determined)
- Your characters can actually die and you can still keep playing which is a rather unusual and fresh mechanic. So if you play cautious you can end with everyone alive or being a sole survivor (unlike Obscure 2 where you have to restart if just a single person dies due to before mentioned predetermination)
- You have a light mechanic where you can save ammo if your co-op partner flashes the enemies and weakens them. In this manner coordination was rewarded (unlike Obscure 2 where they removed that mechanic for whatever reason O.o)
- Kenny does not die like .... you spent the whole first game to rescue him just so that they can kill him off in the second one .... - The game is not set on the premise that the whole student body is drug addicted O.o
I will not deny that Obscure has this wonderful B-movie flair but this "but" in your sentence is irritating. Because you know .... Resident Evil never grew out of its B-movie character nor did it want to. Just remember that really wacky live action intro for the original Resident Evil or the self-parodying quotes in several games: "Do you get all your ideas from comic book villains?"
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Thank you for the tip, I didn't know of these games before and with the bargain price + goood reviews I am tempted :)
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I finished the second one with my niece some time ago, in the Wii version
its fun to play in co op, not sure about single player
I remember there's a lot of puzzles
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If you have a PS2, and you enjoy older horror-puzzle games of that style, the Half-Life release for that console came with a co-op campaign called Half-Life Decay. Unlike the action-oriented core Half-Life campaign, Decay was primarily based in puzzles. [Just like with the core campaign] there's a lot of unskippable NPC dialogue in it, though, so it can be a bit annoying at times, and it's only about 4 hours long, but I recall it being rather enjoyable.
While there are a handful of enjoyable, more modern co-op puzzle games [like Trine and Ibb & Obb and Portal 2], I think Decay and Obscure were really the only ones of that particular kind of style. Well, System Shock 2 might have played similarly, but I never managed to get it to work with co-op, so I can't say for sure. Though, later on, Dead Space 3's co-op did give me a good impression of what System Shock 2's co-op mighta been like (albeit, DS3 is a fair bit more action-oriented than I recall SS2 being).
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I played them on PS2 and also on PC, they are great games. I was waiting for this sale.
I didn't find the game hard to control in the PC.
It would be good to have more games that was released on PS2 like Haunting Grounds and the disturbing Rule of Rose.
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thanks, what a nostalgic game, i played it on PS2 with my friend, its a lot of fun in that times.
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The lowest converted price for the Obscure Collection comes in at 94% off, so that package has a reasonable chance of getting added to the bundle list. Obscure 2 comes in at a similar conversation rate, while Obscure comes in at 93.5% off, giving it the best odds for avoiding bundle list addition.
I suspect there is a good chance of both games and the bundle being added to the bundle list.
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It's my understanding that the first game only has keyboard support, while the second game has full support for kb&m.
From what I gather, the classic gameplay mechanics mean that mouse inclusion isn't necessary for typical gameplay, but that playing with the keyboard is somewhat less responsive for quick combat actions than a controller would be.
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I played them back in the PS2 games, it was a refreshing take on survival horror at the time. Maybe I'll get this version too
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The 2014 Steam re-release seems to have only added controller support and widescreen support, but the games should otherwise be identical to their original PC release. Since the games were simultaneously released on PC and console to begin with, the Steam versions are just [mild] enhancements of the original PC versions, rather than ports (meaning there are no issues relating to porting).
In other words, these should be more or less just how you recall them being, without anything improved or worsened. :)
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I have them both wishlisted, so thank you very much for letting me know about the sale! I'm going to purchase them now!:)
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Thank you for this topic, you've made me curious enough to buy it then. I'm not sure if these 2 games are ever going to be in a bundle, which could very likely happen with recent heavily discounted games. But it's so cheap that I don't mind it.
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The developer isn't opposed to bundling and steep discounting, as seen with Final Exam [All three games were re-released on Steam in 2014; Final Exam first hit 80% in 2015 and repeated that discount multiple times, along with being bundled twice in 2016 and 2017], but they've been carefully milking the two Obscure games over the past five years [with only the one previous discount in 2017 being at all comparable to the current one].
As you said, $3 for an estimated 12~14 hours of total gameplay isn't a disfavorable exchange, so it's safer to gamble on the sale (given the liklihood that we'll have to wait another 2 years for a similar discount) than it is to gamble on this being a sign that the developer has changed their considerations toward how they're approaching the two games.
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Steam Store Link
Let me know if I'm mistaken on this, but it looks like Obscure 1 & 2's current 80% discount [available for 31 more hours as of this posting] is a new all-time low. The games should be unbundled, with a previous all-time low of 75% (August 2017), and typical discounts of 50% and 66%.
About the games:
In a sense, the games are spiritual successors to the early Resident Evil games, but with co-operative gameplay and cheesy, B-movie themed narrative and characterization. So basically, a less over-the-top example of what Saints Row is to Grand Theft Auto, but for pre-RE4 Resident Evils.
Multiplayer is local only, and the camera follows the primary player, so do consider beforehand whether or not that'll be a frustration for your gaming partner. I mean, unless you're intentionally trying to get someone you know to pretend to be a student before getting them killed by monsters in a place where there are no witnesses. In which case, you may want to take a closer look at the psychological fallout of your years within the education system. Perhaps while in the company of a psychologist.
In the first game, you have a total roster of 5 students whom you can swap through freely and, for the sake of the puzzles and the differing combat abilities of the characters, are expected to do so regularly. Of those, two characters will be simultaneously active at any given time, with the AI taking control of the second character if you don't have a co-operative partner to take the reins for that character.
Of course, due to that setup, and given the fact that one of the students in the first game is named Ashley, it is possible to end up travelling through one of these Resident Evil-like horror games with an AI-controlled companion named Ashley. ..Just a trigger warning to all of you who have been traumatized by Resident Evil 4 in the past.
The second game has you play with a roster of 6 students, which come in pairs predetermined by the narrative. Unlike the first game, which let you keep playing if characters died [due to their inherent interchangability], the predetermined character pairings result in more traditional progression failures on a character death.
According to HowLongToBeat, both games have aproximate gameplay lengths of about 6~7 hours each, with the slowest completions coming in at around 10 hours and dedicated speedruns coming in at around 2 hours.
Before you buy:
The games were released in 2003 and 2007, respectively, so they're rather aged. While Steam reviews for the first game are very positive (the second game gets a bit more criticism, primarily due to camera issues), critical reviews for the games were at times less favorable [so you should look up some of those before you consider buying].
I also saw some passing mentions of the games being free on Playstation Network, but I can't find anything official or credible on the matter; If that's a real thing, if it was temporary, or if it's part of Playstation Plus, I can't say- but those of you with such access may want to check there first.
On that note, if you can manage to dig up two copies of the PSP version of the second game, that version allowed for multiplayer without a shared screen. Downside, that version of the game had a lot of loading pauses, which were increased when playing multiplayer.
Giveaway considerations:
The lowest converted price for the Obscure Collection comes in at 94% off, so that package has a reasonable chance of getting added to the bundle list. Obscure 2 comes in at a similar conversation rate, while Obscure comes in at 93.5% off, giving it the best (though still not especially favorable) odds for avoiding bundle list addition.
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