Not quite a horror game, I’m on Observation Duty involves tension and an unsettling job. You have to spot anomalies and report them to be handled, or the system overloads when too many are active at once. There are several games within the series now, with the sixth being a recent release. You don’t have to get them all, though. To save you some thought, we’ll go into ranking the best I’m on Observation Duty games in this guide list.
The Best I’m on Observation Duty Games, Ranked Best to Worst
There are currently six games in the series, each one with its own location, camera style, and anomalies to seek out.
1. I’m on Observation Duty
The first game takes place in a house, but the cameras only show black and white. This changes between games, but the monochromatic style adds more tension and horror to the game. Your job requires spotting anomalies, and the lack of color can make that more difficult to do. Many anomalies in this game are super subtle, so you have to pay closer attention to the camera images. While the first game isn’t perfect, I find that it’s more difficult because of that. There’s also minimal explanation about what each anomaly looks like, so there’s plenty of trial and error. This one also features the “!!HUGE MAN!!” that the series is known for. He’s later featured in the fourth, fifth, and sixth games.
2. I’m on Observation Duty 4
The fourth game returns to the black and white camera style, which again adds difficulty and makes it even harder to spot anomalies. You have to pay close attention to every detail, and the anomalies have the potential to be jump scares. The other hard part in this one is that objects in the room are naturally in disarray, so your instinct is to put that as an anomaly that objects moved. However, their placement stays that same. What makes this one challenging is that it’s easy to miss anomalies because you focus on objects that haven’t moved.
3. I’m on Observation Duty 2
Here, we have color cameras in the second game. The pace feels much slower in this one, and the modern setting might not seem that frightening. However, the intruder anomaly brings jump scares because you don’t expect to see a person who wasn’t there before. The hardest feature introduced in this game is that the cameras skip rooms, and that’s an anomaly under the missing room category. Even with color cameras, your brain starts tricking you and you think items moved that have always been there or that there’s nothing wrong when an object goes missing.
4. I’m on Observation Duty 5
The fifth game features black and white cameras, with one camera showing an elevator. This means you’ll see people in it on occasion without it being an intruder anomaly. It feels like there are more rooms to watch in this game compared to others, and you have a camera in an alley to keep track of as well as others in what seems to be an apartment building. The pacing feels better than in the second game here, but the game punishes you for false reports more than before. Three false reports is a loss, making the fifth game a bit more difficult when it can already be hard to spot anomalies.
5. I’m on Observation Duty 6
The sixth game has the most maps to pick from, meaning it has the most variety. The report system changes where you select specific things you believe are anomalies. While the penalty for false reports is gone, you’re limited to one report at a time and it takes awhile to go through. This means you might miss a report or end up with too many anomalies (which is a loss). We return to color cameras here, but the nature of some anomalies feels more humorous than frightening.
6. I’m on Observation Duty 3
The third game goes with a free roam style, and it doesn’t pay off. Making continuous rounds through the area and trying to memorize every object from different angles is a lot. It’s not surprising that the game style returned to the stationary cameras after the third installment because they fit better with the game’s tasks and mechanics. While it’s interesting to play once, the third game isn’t one I’d return to if the rest of the series is an option.
And those are the best I’m on Observation Duty games, ranked from best to worst. The horror genre continues to evolve, and experiencing styles that are slower with sprinklings of tension and jump scares ends up being horrifying from the anticipation of something happening. For more horror content, check out the top 10 horror games to play for Halloween 2023 or the 10 best SCP Roblox games.
