For personal reference more than anything else. Have done the spoiler warning just in case.

Second time finishing the game. About 3-4 years after the first time.

The story is paper thin and pretty obvious, especially when the characters or clues you can find in the game just up and state things that could be major moments in the story but come far too early to have an impact even if you could tell certain things already. The game also seems to have a problem with not being able to balance giving the player information about what is going on with inserting it in a way that would also make sense in the game's universe (There's photographs in the main lobby of the theatre dating over a hundred years and when you visit there the characters will act surprised that their principal is a) in all of them and b) looks no different in any of them and yet we're supposed to believe this is apparently a section that, normally students will visit quite often). This kind of thing crops up throughout the game for both clues and the main story but as nonsensical as it can get, I think it makes the game more fun and it adds to the slightly dated and riffing off of kinda crap horror films experience.

The characters also kind of suck, they range from having next to no personality to just being kind of annoying. Their specials are mostly useful (being able to tell whether a room has anything left in it to pick up and the ability to run especially) but then you have one guy whose ability is to pick locks faster than anyone else but at the end of the day this feels useless considering that everyone else can pick locks as well and time isn't really an issue as it just seems natural to get rid of any enemies (if there are any) before trying to open safes.

The gameplay is the real draw here though and the way this game utilises its mechanics really makes the game something special. Having only five characters and when one dies they're gone forever created a level of tension that I don't really think I've felt in other games from a gameplay mechanic alone. The pair system is great as well, as despite playing with an A.I partner I still felt worried for them in dangerous moments and enjoyed being able to get annoyed with them for making stupid decisions. The A.I having dumb moments did bring some issues though when they just wouldn't fight something or died an unnecessary death (the final boss fight is kinda painful for this as my partner died so many times from not being in one of the safe zones). Both the permadeath and partner system do make the game much more replayable though, considering that on this playthrough I made sure to use different characters more often so that I would hopefully be able to save people other than the one from my first playthrough.

The setting is another one of my favourite things about the game as the school and all of its different sections like the library, dorms and cafeteria are fun to navigate and explore. The basement is admittedly kind of boring to me though, I think because it feels like an area I've seen in so many games at this point but its still kind of interesting in a way. The setting also gets complemented by the music which is just amazing, the choice to go more orchestral than anything else fits super well with the school but also adds to the tension.

The puzzles were a bit of an issue for me however as while there weren't too many of them, I just found them confusing and had to use a guide. This could just be me being kind of stupid but from what I've seen online other people tend to have similar issues so I think that perhaps they're just kind of obtuse or something.

The game also has some of the usual conventions of survival horror of the 90s/00s but the ones that are used feel better here somehow like the fixed camera angles and the game also handled inventory management really well as it doesn't restrict how much you can carry but gives you the amount of ammo, healing items and saving discs it thinks you'll need (thankfully had quite a few of the saves so I could save pretty regularly, also love that the saving is done through discs). There are minor things where the game feels like it could be better in terms of gameplay but not really enough to affect the experience in a noticeable way.

Ultimately I had a great time with this game and am looking forward to replaying it again at some point in the future where I can try and get more of the characters to survive to the end. Probably one of my favourite horror games.

Esse jogo é um clássico de PS2 pra mim.

Zerei com a minha sobrinha em uma única jogatina o que é um ponto bem positivo. O simples fato de existir um survivor horror no pique de Resident Evil clássico que permite coop já é foda por si só.

Pelo que eu entendi a história envolve um diretor que tá vivo a mais de século, mas não aparenta. Ele tem esse irmão gêmeo que morreu no passado e então fez experimentos nele para trazê-lo de volta, assim como nos alunos da escola e isso gerou os bicho tudo.

Eu diria que a história é boa e ponto, assim como os seus personagens. O que acaba marcando mais é a ambientação da escola e sua trilha sonora, além das coisas que tornam ele mais único como o próprio coop e, pra mim, o sitema de inventário que é bem interessante. Um dos problemas de jogar em cooperação é que a câmera consegue se manter em apenas um jogador, deixando o outro meio perdido de vez em quando. Gostaria, inclusive, que desse para jogar com uma variedade maior de personagens, mas os cinco que tem são o suficiente.

Espero no futuro ver um terceiro jogo de Obscure. Ainda estou pra jogar o segunda, mas imagino que seja no mesmo nível que esse.