Obscure : A 'blood drenched' 2.5D Sidescroller

I love horror movies. I really do. They've been a staple of my film consumption since I was a little kid and had a subscription to Fangoria. So it should be no surprise that one night I was sitting around alone, as is custom, thinking about my love of monsters, blood and eccentric mayhem and thinking, “When will someone release a light-hearted sidescroller that talks to me. That feeds MY needs as a consumer.”

Just as that thought popped into my head, a recognizable ding rang through the air. It was my email, and I leaned over the piles of chinese-food takeout boxes and empty Monopolowa bottles to see who would be disturbing my session of substance fueled Misantropic Meditation.

Luckily, it was completely worth it. Focus Home Interactive have just announced the very sidescroller I was thinking about. Obscura. This comic-styled 2.5D sidescroller basks in teen-horror movie goodness and blood, and presents it in a way that takes the absurd nature of this genera and pushes it to the extreme. You'll be able to play as one of four students, each with their own special abilities as you battle monsters, gain expect to level up your character, explore non-linear levels and discover new weapons. Yes...non linear levels and weapon discovery, which makes this something more than your typical sidescroller. And is that a dude with a rabbit head?

The idea of playing different students with different abilities in this type of game also really reminds me of some of the old NES horror games like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, though the latter didn't have abilities per se. Looking at the trailer (below) you'll notice some sections that hark back to retro gaming elements which, thrown into the mix in an intelligent way, are great to change thing up.

Obscure also features cooperative play with up to four people in local or online.

I haven't gotten into a score-based download title in awhile and I'm hoping that Obscure scratches that itch. The aesthetics and gameplay are right up my alley, and if this works as well as it seems it'll be one of those games I can dive into continually for quite a long time. 

Obscure we be released on PC, PSN and Xbox LIVE in spring 2013.