Obscure combines school exploration, puzzles and survival horror around a group of five students. It costs $6.99 at Steam; its appeal rests on each character's special ability and the choice between solo play and local co-op. The current price may suit you if that mix is what you want, while a future Steam sale window does not guarantee a discount.The offer activates on Steam for $6.99 at Steam; Dec 17, 2026 – Jan 4, 2027 is the next announced Steam sale window, though the game is not guaranteed to participate.
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated daily
Historical Low~ $1.742025-09Current Low Across Stores~ $6.99Steamvs. Historical Low+302%
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
In Obscure, five students investigate their school's dark secrets after a friend vanishes. Explore dim classrooms and long corridors, solve puzzles and fight to survive with an assortment of weapons; each student has a distinct ability.Steam player reviews: 95% positive from 3,151 reviews.The Steam PC version supports single-player and same-screen co-op.Listed interface languages are English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
$1.742025-09-13 · SSteamBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.
Language support
Language
Interface
Subtitles
Audio
English
Yes
Yes
Yes
French
Yes
Yes
Yes
Italian
Yes
Yes
Yes
Show 2 more languages
Language
Interface
Subtitles
Audio
German
Yes
Yes
Yes
Spanish
Yes
Yes
Yes
Steam PC edition data · 2026-11-11
02Before you buy
Play modes
The Steam PC version lists single-player and local co-op for two people on the same screen.
Language and controller
Steam lists English, French, German, Italian and Spanish audio and subtitles. The description states Xbox 360 controller compatibility.
03Frequently asked questions
What is the story about?
Five students investigate their friend's disappearance and strange events at their school.
What do you do in the game?
Each student has a special ability, and the group uses weapons and solves puzzles.
Can two people play together?
Yes. The description specifies co-op for two players on the same screen.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviews
Selected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
I played Obscure back on the PS2 at its original release and remember being pleasently surprised. This game utilises "fixed camera angles" like the classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill games but mixes it up with a cheesy high school teen slasher flick story, and combining gameplay from both franchises. This survival horror has alot of the classic elements you would expect; variety of actual puzzles, limited supplies, dark and tense atmosphere, unique monster designs and since this is a co-op experience, reliability on your partner.
Speaking of partners each different character you can play as, and switch to at any time, have their own special abilities - so it is advisable to use different characters in the appropriate situation, I think this adds depth to the gameplay.
The story is cheesy, not serious, but there is a charm to it. It also features my favourite "game fetish" storyline in which everything is normal at first, but slowly devulges into the horror you came to expect, and you have to fight and learn the mystery behind how this all happened.
The combat is basic, there is auto-lock, power attacks and standard attacks, but that's all this game needs I feel. The good thing is that the controls are easy to learn and complexity is not needed here.
Unfortunately, for me, the music is quickly forgettable so don't expect some Akira Yamaoka level of quality here. That being said, what I hear fits what is happening, just that it isn't something you would listen to casually.
I recommend this game to fans of the classic RE and SH games, and looking for their fix on survival horror with some original concepts to it. However, this game was originially released back in 2005, so expect some outdated mechanics compared to modern horror.
Also, this PC port is a re-release of an older port but adds native widescreen support and full controller support, among general optimisations to work on modern Windows systems. The only bummer is that there is still no mouse support. I should also mention the game does indeed run at 60fps.Show moreShow less
4.5 hours at review287 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
As someone who plays a fair amount of horror games, I really wanted to give ObsCure the benefit of the doubt. And in many ways, it shines. Creature design is great, the underlying premise once you get past the "disposable teens" veneer isn't bad, and the variety of puzzles manages to keep things interesting while keeping in theme with the school campus setting. However, there are a lot of drawbacks to the game, to the point I'm not entirely sure why it receives such high praise.
In general, ObsCure seems rather player unfriendly. The UI itself is pretty solid, with the relegation of menus to the shoulder buttons on a controller proving fairly intuitive. Ammo and healing item scarcity seems reasonable, for the most part, and while there are some tough enemies, you're usually well-equipped to take care of them. Emphasis on "usually," which we'll get to shortly. However, the game seems to have overlooked something rather major in that there's no listing in the controls section as to how you can pass items and weapons on to your partner if you're playing single-player. I was several hours deep and frustrated by a long run of deaths before I finally found what button combination handed things over thanks to a FAQ, thus arming my second character with a second weapon in case their shotgun ran out.
The item scarcity also became an issue when boss monsters entered the picture. Rather than giving you the chance to maybe stock up on a bit more ammunition or healing items than normal before a big fight, you're left to pray that you've hoarded enough and that your last save disc was used somewhere not too far back. If you get far enough in, this can be game-ending, as you end up with less than adequate firepower to survive. I got so frustrated with what I think is the 2/3 point of the game that I sacrificed two of the five students in combat, just to keep the ones I actually liked having around going.
ObScure also gets cheaper and cheaper as the game wears on. The most egregious example I made it to occurs in the Dormitory area, late in the game, where hidden holes in a hallway floor result in instant death despite there presumably being a floor to land on, albeit with injury, beneath. This is the first instant death situation I can remember in the game, and it comes out of nowhere after everything else just smacked you really hard at worst. It just feels like a really unfair leap without any precedent. If it makes any difference, all of this was encountered on the Normal difficulty level.
I'm tempted to give this another chance, maybe on Easy, just to see how the story resolves, but I don't recommend that anyone else suffer through it. Save yourself the frustration.Show moreShow less
5.1 hours at review44 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
I first got my hands on Obscure back in 2004, on PS2. Was quite surprised to see it on Steam. It's one of the games which reserved a spot in my memory. I remember having a lot of fun playing it, and i got the same pleasure replaying it after 10 years.
Obscure is an old-school horror survival game which manages to entertain by offering a cheesy story, influenced by the Robert Rodriguez's "The Faculty" movie. It uses the music from the movie and even contains a character based on it. Even though i heavily disliked the movie, Obscure succeeded in offering me a whole different perspective.
You have 5 students trying to escape their school, from an entire horde of monsters created by their Principal who was experimenting on students. You can choose to play for any of them, and at any time a second player can join the game for any other character, which doesn't force you to start a new game if you want to play local co-op with a friend. Each one of them has a different special ability like running faster, better healing, or picking locks skills. I loved especially the method of saving the game. You do it using a CD which you need to find in-game, and i consider it to be an important aspect in a survival game, so that one won't be able to save every 2 minutes since the amount of CD's you can find is limited. The outstanding soundtrack composed by Olivier Derivière, in this particular environment, creates a even creepier atmosphere. There are few types of monsters, and also limited types of weapons, but what makes it better is that except weapons there is something else that hurts monsters - light. So when you are in a room with windows, and got yourself cornered - you can always break some windows and let them know who the boss is, as for the rooms with no windows - one can combine any firearm with a flashlight. I didn't notice for the light of the flashlight to inflict any damage, but at least it keeps the monster at distance for a short period of time.
There are also some cons of course, but none which caused me any inconvenience. You can choose a resolution up to 1920x1080 but the game does not support widescreen so you'll just get a 4:3 aspect with black borders on the right and left side. Playing it with keyboard & mouse is possible, but not entirely comfortably. At least i couldn't do it, so i just used a Xbox 360 controller which worked just great. Graphics are not the best, but also not awful, especially for a 10 years old game. I enjoyed Obscure very much, and would recommend it to anyone who likes old school survival games. Looking forward to play the second game. Hope i'll enjoy it as much as the first. Cheers ;)
* NOTE > The game also includes all the Deluxe Edition content: Soundtrack, Artwork, Screenshots, Sketches...Show moreShow less
20.8 hours at review97 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
For SteamDeck & Linux users - it won't work, as of now.
So yeah don't bother on linux.
Quote from user IceBreak via protondb:
"Obscure uses a different file compared to GOG, for some reason... the Steam version uses directx9 but it's so janky that the launcher is not going to even work, it opens but it stays in the background"
Update:
To actually run this title SteamDeck & Linux.
1. Download and unpack to the root of the game directory file "D3D9.dll" from dgVoodoo 2.81.3
2. Use widescreen resolution fix from PCGamingWiki ( Steam version ), place both "scritps" folder and "dinput8.dll"
3. Set Launch options:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="D3D9,dinput8=n,b;" %command%
4. Enjoy
AD1.
"To use gamepad controls, launch the game in desktop mode and switch to gamepad controls in the settings."
AD2.
"The game lacks licensed music and bonus music videos from the original releases, but they can be restored with the ObsCure Music Restoration mod."
Thanks to user Kitsune_Yagiza via protondb.Show moreShow less
0.8 hours at review14 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
I remember playing this years back on PS2 and PC.
If you like survival horror games, you will like this one.
This reminds of those high school horror movies played out at as a 3rd person survival horror game.
The gameplay, action, suspense and camera movement is much like what you would find in games like Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Silent Hill and Cold Fear, except in this game you play as several high school students, Stan, Kenny, Ashley, Shannon and Josh, that you can switch over to at any time and you will need to for teamwork to pass certain obstacles. The game feels good in that way because it brings extra life to the game rather than thinking you are playing as a lonely character. Each character has a special ability which will make progressing through the game easier if you don't let them get killed.
Stan by far is the best character. His personality is just too carefree and cool. :P
But if you want to have real fun, invite a friend over and grab an extra controller for 2 player Co-op playing out the story of the game. It is a lot of fun! You can even share items and weapons, passing them to each other when needed.
A couple of downsides are that the game hasn't been updated to support wide screen monitors, so you will have a 4:3 aspect ratio unless you lower the res to 1600x1200, 1280x1024, 1152x864 or lower to get a full screen without side borders. Also, use of a controller is highly recommended as the game really wasn't optimized for mouse and keyboard.
Obscure is a great game though and yet another surprise to appear on Steam. :)Show moreShow less
6.3 hours at review96 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
did not age well, the gameplay, graphics and the storyline is dated and tortured...Show moreShow less
0.8 hours at review10 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
i can't beat it on hard.
EDIT: I beat it on hard.Show moreShow less
12.1 hours at review77 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
still does not run on linux/steamOS: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/2633Show moreShow less
2 hours at review9 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Like good frosting on a slightly stale cake. It's good and it's sweet at times, but it's awfully dry and hollow.
Well, for its time the game was not bad
https://youtu.be/tg8MWZQnwpQShow moreShow less
14.1 hours at review55 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
For the first quarter of this game is alright as a sort of b-movie Resident Evil clone. But by the half-way mark the game quickly becomes a slog as a new enemy is introduced, being capable of stunning players as well as two-shotting someone at full health. Making matters worse, these monsters frequently come in pairs and usually only spawn in tight hallways or small rooms. The most efficient way to play by this point is to exploit the fact that exiting a room resets monster positions but not their health.
But perhaps the most annoying part is the lack of options, namely sound settings. Playing this with a friend via remote-play was funny only for the fact that we repeatedly had to yell at each other to be heard over the music that would usually reach a fever pitch while we walked down empty halls. Being a rather janky game, sometimes the combat music would even continue on repeat until you load a save.
3/10 - You'll be haunted by a base boosted Tuba through the empty halls of a high school.Show moreShow less
8.5 hours at review9 people found this helpful
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.
