ObsCure let's the player choose from 3 different difficulty modes to play the game in (one of them being locked at the start), and a "Special Mode", which is separated from the difficulty. Each mode has its own unique characteristics.
Easy Mode[]
As the name implies, this difficulty mode is meant for those who are new to the game, and aren't used to playing other Survival Horror titles. It lets the player find better weapons earlier than in higher difficulties, and more health items, which are also more efficient at healing. The enemies don't do as much damage, and there's more ammunition to be found around the game's map. This mode doesn't have to be unlocked; it can be selected on your first playthrough.
Normal Mode[]
This is the default difficulty setting, and the way the game was "meant to be played". It's the most appropriate setting for new players who do have experience with other Survival Horror games. Resources aren't as abundant as they are in easy mode, but there's still enough of them so that you can make some mistakes while playing.
Hard Mode[]
This difficulty mode is unavailable at the beginning, to unlock it, the player has to beat the game a least once in any other difficulty. Here, the game is quite tougher, specially at the start; weapons will appear a little late into the game, with the player being forced to use only melee weapons for a while, and even when you start finding guns, ammunition will be quite scarce and enemies will be more dangerous. There are also fewer save discs to be found, meaning the player has to be extra careful when choosing when to save.
Extra Mode / Special Mode[]
Just like Hard mode, this mode will be unavailable at the start, and the only way to unlock it will be beating the game at least once on Easy or Normal. Technically, this mode can be selected separate from the difficulty, and isn't meant to make the game harder or easier (Although in reality, it does decrease the difficulty a little because of its features), the main difference is that the playable characters feature different clothing, and some weapons have a different look and act differently.
New character skins[]
New weapons[]
You will also find 2 new weapons early in the game, they can only be obtained in this mode:
- The Morgenstern Bat, replacing the regular Baseball Bat found in the cafeteria at the start of the game.
- The Laser Gun, replacing Friedman's Automatic Pistol in his office.
Trivia[]
- Shannon's Special costume may have inspired her appearance in ObsCure II. She's also seemingly not wearing any underwear.
- After beating any mode the screen image of the start menu will change, there's 4 background for every winning, the default, the easy/normal, the hard and the special.
- According to Steam's achievement statistics[1], as for 10/11/2022, 17,9% of people have beaten the game on Normal Mode, 4,3% have beaten it on Special Mode, and 3,5% have beaten it on Hard Mode.
- Although there are no difficulty settings in the second game, it does feature a sort-of dynamic difficulty system, where when you enter a room, the game will check what resources you have, and spawn more resources if you're running low on them, either out in the open or in the boxes that you can break.
