Summary
- Players in Phasmophobia are powerless observers in a ghost's realm, unable to fight back.
- There will never be a way to combat ghosts in Phasmophobia, emphasizing player defenselessness.
- The Sanity system in Phasmophobia heightens fear by showcasing the player's helplessness against ghosts.
At long last, Kinetic Games' paranormal horror experience Phasmophobia has been given a console release date of October 29, although it will remain in early access for the time being. With the award-winning horror game now being ported over to consoles, Phasmophobia may see plenty of new players trying their hand at hunting ghosts, so they'll want to be well-versed in one of its core design principles before doing so.
One thing players always need to be aware of before diving deep into Phasmophobia is that they are merely outside observers heading into a ghost's camp, leaving them powerless to directly affect the ghost's presence. As much as players might like to fight back once a ghost begins to hunt them down, Phasmophobia has been intentionally designed to ensure they are never given a fighting chance.
All Difficulties In Phasmophobia (And All Difficulty Differences)
Phasmophobia offers a range of different difficulties and challenges to try out. Here's the differences between all of them.
Phasmophobia Players Are Purposefully Defenseless
There Will Never Be Any Way to Fight Back in Phasmophobia
Unfortunately for those who would like to eventually be able to fight back against the ghosts in Phasmophobia, there are not and will never be any methods for doing so in the game. This is all due to one of Phasmophobia's core design pillars, which sees to it that players always feel as defenseless as possible while they are hunting ghosts. Ultimately, this increases the game's horror by making the ghosts actually feel like a threat, and that is especially true when players are enjoying the game solo as opposed to co-op.
In solo play, Phasmophobia's horror is naturally intensified, as players don't have the physical and emotional support of friends to rely on, but co-op remains the quintessential Phasmophobia experience.
Rather than fighting back against ghosts in Phasmophobia, players have a few other options to evade them until their looming threat subsides. For example, one of the first things players are encouraged to do when being hunted by a ghost in Phasmophobia is to turn off their flashlight, as it is almost certain to indicate the player's location to the ghost. Additionally, while remaining completely still is sometimes the best way to deal with an agitated ghost, running away is still an option. However, simply running generally isn't enough and players will need to run and hide instead.
Furthermore, Phasmophobia has built-in noise detection that will alert ghosts to the player's presence if they speak into their microphone. The PC version of Phasmophobia even allows ghosts to understand voice commands, a feature that will be unavailable on consoles at their October 29 launch. Nevertheless, all versions of Phasmophobia allow ghosts to detect any noise coming through the player's microphone, so they have no choice but to be as quiet as possible when a ghost is on the prowl. The long and short of it is this: players are powerless against ghosts in Phasmophobia, and they should always enter every one of its locations with that knowledge in mind.
Phasmophobia's Sanity Mechanics Contributes Toward Players' Defenselessness
One of the primary mechanics players are strongly encouraged to remain aware of is Phasmophobia's Sanity system. Every ghost in Phasmophobia has a Sanity threshold that will allow it to attempt a hunt against the player, making the mechanic one of the most important in the game. When a game begins in Phasmophobia, players have 100% Sanity, but that number can decrease rapidly depending on a number of factors. It's a struggle to work against while simultaneously trying to identify the type of ghost in the game, but it's a major part of what contributes to feeling defenseless in Phasmophobia.
Phasmophobia's Sanity system is undoubtedly one of the top contributors to the game's fear factor, as it shows just how powerless players are against ghosts. This mechanic, along with Phasmophobia's giving players no option to fight back, makes players nothing more than unwanted outsiders who are trespassing on grounds claimed by a ghost.
Phasmophobia is currently available on PC via Steam and is launching on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation VR2, and Xbox Series X|S consoles on October 29, 2024.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 76 /100 Critics Rec: 62%
- Released
- October 29, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Blood, Use of Drugs, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Kinetic Games
- Publisher(s)
- Kinetic Games
WHERE TO PLAY
Phasmophobia is a 4-player, online co-op, psychological horror game. You and your team of paranormal investigators will enter haunted locations filled with paranormal activity and try to gather as much evidence as you can. Use your ghost-hunting equipment to find and record evidence to sell on to a ghost removal team.
Immersive Experience: Realistic graphics and sounds as well as a minimal user interface ensure a totally immersive experience that will keep you on your toes.
Unique Ghosts: Identify over 20 different ghost types, each with unique traits, personalities, and abilities to make each investigation feel different from the last.
Equipment: Use well-known ghost-hunting equipment such as EMF Readers, Spirit Boxes, Thermometers, and Night Vision Cameras to find clues and gather as much paranormal evidence as you can. Find Cursed Possessions that grant information or abilities in exchange for your sanity.
Full Voice Recognition: The Ghosts are listening! Use your actual voice to interact with the Ghosts through Ouija Boards and EVP Sessions using a Spirit Box.
Locations: Choose from over 10 different haunted locations, each with unique twists, hiding spots, and layouts.
Game Modes: With 5 default difficulties and hand crafted weekly challenges, there are plenty of ways to test your skills.
Teamwork: Dive in head first, get your hands dirty searching for evidence while fighting for your life. If you're not feeling up to the task, play it safe and support your team from the truck by monitoring the investigation with CCTV and motion sensors.
Custom Difficulty: Create your own games to tailor the difficulty to your or your group's needs, with proportional rewards and come up with crazy game modes of your own!
Co-operate: Play alongside your friends with up to 4 players in this co-op horror where teamwork is key to your success.
Play together: Phasmophobia supports all players together, play with your friends with any combination of input types.
- Engine
- Unity
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
- 4
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror, Puzzle
- How Long To Beat
- 36.5 hours (solo) / 28 hours (co-op) / 33 hours (vs.)
- How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
- T For Teen // Blood, Use of Drugs, Violence
