Phasmophobia: The Horror Video Game That’s Terrifying the Masses

Dark, atmospheric, and truly terrifying, Phasmophobia is the horror video game that has everyone jumping out of their desk chairs. From navigating the dark corridors of a haunted asylum to summoning restless spirits in a bathroom with your friends, Phasmophobia embodies the best of what horror video games have to offer. Here we take a look at the story of its sudden success, the current state of gameplay, and some tips for making your ghost hunt a little less bumpy.  

A Star is Born

Indie game publisher, Kinetic Games, released the early access version of the game on Steam in September 2020. Run by just one developer, Dknighter, Phasmophobia was initially intended to be a bit of a smaller debut venture. However, the wild success of the game in its first few weeks online made him scrap his modest plans for a more ambitious launch in 2021. 

According to an interview with IGN, Dknighter says, “I was planning for the server capacity hitting a maximum of 500 players on launch day … as well as only aiming to make enough money to keep making more games. Now the game has over 2 million sales, with a player peak of around [112,000k] … due to the game’s popularity, everyone's expectations are increased so I am going to have to reconsider my plans for the game’s future.” 

When asked why he thought the game rose to such sudden popularity, Dknighter says, “I think everyone is always on the lookout for multiplayer games based around having fun with your friends rather than competing against other players, whether it comes from a known development team or not.”

Gameplay

Phasmophobia is an online co-op you can play in groups of up to four people. While four players are recommended for the larger maps, two or three-player groups are fine.  

Players choose their map and have the option to buy and add ghost hunting equipment to their team repository at the start of the game. The eight maps include three different houses, two different farmhouses, a high school, and an asylum — a library of locations set to grow over time. Kinetic Games teased the development of a new map on their Twitter feed recently, indicating that a Prison map is next in line for production. 

You are briefed by a whiteboard inside command central once you load into the map. It’s here you learn what your optional objectives are and a bit more about the ghost. Players have either five minutes, two minutes, or zero minutes of hunting time before things start kicking off. The amount of buffer time you have depends on whether you chose a map with amateur, intermediate, or professional difficulty. 

Moving from room to room to determine which is the “ghost room” is the first priority. Once the ghostly lair is found, you set up equipment and start the process of collecting evidence. If you guess your ghost type correctly, you are rewarded with both points and money at the end. 

There are twelve ghosts in early access, and there will be more once the game is officially launched. Because each ghost has unique characteristics, the experience you have with them changes in every game. You can still walk around the map with your teammates albeit without the ability to use equipment or be seen by your fellow hunters if you die mid-hunt. Unfortunately, you lose all of your purchased equipment if you do. So you will have to re-purchase whatever you owned before. 

Overall, Phasmophobia is an absolute blast and highly replayable. In-game voice chat allows you to both communicate and scream right alongside your fellow ghost hunters as you make your way through the maps. Graphics are high-quality and detailed, and the use of ominous sound fills the atmosphere with a sense of dread as soon as you open the front door. 

Phasmophobia Tips and Tricks

We’ve put in almost 80 combined hours on Phasmophobia and have collected some tips to help you navigate the game with ease. 

• Find the breaker box: Be sure to note where the breaker box is on the map in the truck before leaving. At some point, your ghost will cut the power and it’s helpful to know where the breaker box is before you’re rooting around in the dark. 

• Start with the thermometer: All ghosts cause a drop in temperature, so the thermometer is the best tool to use when determining where the ghost room is.

• How to use the crucifix: The crucifix is one of your greatest protections against aggressive ghosts. Put the crucifix down on the ground in the ghost room before the ghost enters hunting mode. Holding the crucifix does nothing. However, the crucifix must be placed within a certain distance from where the ghost spawns. If it spawns further away, the crucifix may not work. So it’s not always the most reliable. 

• Bring strong flashlights to larger maps: Strong flashlights are essential for the high school and asylum. Hallways are long, rooms are huge, and a strong flashlight helps you to better see what could be lurking in the corners. 

• Dead players should sit in the van: If you die in Phasmophobia, you can still assist in the hunt in small ways. We recommend heading to the van to watch for ghost orbs on the cameras and warn your fellow hunters when the activity starts to spike. This frees up any alive player who may have been sitting in the van previously to head back into the building.  

If you, like us, are looking for a game night with a healthy dose of spookiness, Phasmophobia is the horror video game for you. Be sure to visit Phasmophobia’s Trello board if you’re curious as to what new content and features Kinetic Games has planned to release next. 

Happy hunting!