Phasmophobia | v0.10 Update Live

[Dragon Lord]

So I've been watching a lot of streamers (mainly a vTuber named Momo) play a game called Phasmophobia lately. Holy hell is this game spooky as fuck. You play as a team of four and your objective is to go into a haunted building and look for clues. The clues you're searching for are used to determine what type of a ghost you're dealing with (there's like 9 different types of ghosts in the game). Each ghost has a unique ability, for example: There's one ghost that moves faster the further away it's target is from it. There's one type of ghost that reduces the player's sanity faster than others (when your sanity hits 0 and if you're in the house, the ghost will go into hunt mode immediately and go straight for you).

So you have to go in the house, set up a bunch of different stuff to try and find the clues. These things include: Setting up a camera to try and see ghost orbs, setting a book in the ghost's room to try and get it to write in it, using a thermometer to see if there's freezing temperatures, using a spirit box to try and get the ghost to talk to you, using an EMF detector to see what level of ghost you're dealing with, among a couple of other things. The ghost does become hostile and will kill players. You know this is about to happen because the lights in the house will become to flash on and off, your flashlights will blink on and off, and the ghost will lock all the exit doors in the building. This is the sign that the ghost is on the hunt and is looking for the players. If you're outside in the truck, you can tell this is happening by looking at the ghost activity monitor, and if you see it spike up to level 10, then anyone inside the building is in extreme danger. It's also cool that the communications between players is disabled when the ghost is on the hunt, unless you're with each other. There's proximity chat and then there's a walkie talkie chat, and when the ghost gets enraged, your walkie talkie chat is cut off, so being by yourself during the hunt means you are in extreme danger.

It's a really cool game to watch, though I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to get myself to play it because supernatural stuff gets to me really badly. Like, I absolutely love it, but man do I get inside my own head far too much and just freak myself out constantly after watching it. But I can't stop watching people play the game because it's so entertaining. The spooky factor has died down a little bit since I started watching it, but there's still one thing in the game that makes my skin crawl every time I see it: One of the ghost models in the game is a child ghost, and no matter how many times I see it, it is fucking unsettling each time. The child ghost is the only ghost model that's currently animated, and it runs towards you with its arms out-stretched and it's god damn creepy. Or if you're really unlucky, you'll get the child ghost that fucking crawls on all fours after you. I didn't see that one until Momo tried the game out in VR and I would have been like, "NOPENOPENOPENOTHAPPENING" and thrown my VR headset against the wall, haha.

But yeah, if you're a fan of being spooped, go watch a streamer or YouTuber play some Phasmophobia. It's a hell of a time.

[Moonface]

I just played that game @Dragon Lord and my response is fuck that noise. My friend got killed in a bathroom and the rest of us just bailed and left them there. @ShiraNoMai is playing a round in a moment in my place since we're swapping out as the fourth player.

[Dragon Lord]

I absolutely love watching the game. The creepy factor has gone down a lot, except for when there's a child ghost. No matter how many times I see that little fucker, I'm never going to not find it unsettling and creepy as all fuuuuuck.

I still don't know if I could ever bring myself to play it myself, but man am I addicted to watching streamers play it. Especially newbies who are going in for the first time. It's hilarious seeing their reactions when you already know a lot about the game. Though it is kind of annoying watching them say the ghost's name every time they try to talk to it and I just want to be like, "NO, THE GAME ONLY REGISTERS YOU SAYING THE NAME AND IT ENDS UP PISSING THE GHOST OFF, JUST ASK IT THE QUESTION WITHOUT SAYING ITS NAME!!!", but of course I don't want to ruin the learning experience for them either. Though that's mainly the game's fault for not really telling the player that the game will only pick up the name being said if you say "____, are you here?" or whatever.

It's really fun watching experienced players playing it on Professional, because on that difficulty, you don't get the grace period when going into the house before the ghost starts getting pissed off. It starts getting mad that you're in the house/building the moment you enter it on Professional, so you need to get it, find the room ASAP, set up and get the hell out before you die. Watching people who have been playing on professional for a while is awesome just because you get to watch them go in, get the shit done in minutes, and be done. Although it can still be hard even for them, because it can be very difficult to register the EMF level on that difficulty. You have to wait until there's a higher level of ghost activity and you need to be right on top of the ghost basically. So if the ghost you're hunting is an EMF5 ghost, you might never find out because you just can't get in the right spot to have the EMF Reader pick up level 5.

Have you experienced the joys of the ghost screaming in your ear yet? Or saying "hey" in a really creepy voice? Or the good ol' Grudge girl croak? Those are the only things that still creep me out aside from the child ghost.

[Mr EliteL]

I've been meaning to check this out but haven't yet, well watching at least anyway.

[ShiraNoMai]

Phamsmophobia is pretty fun. I played more without Moony since he had to go to bed, and we got stuck on the school level for over an hour because the ghost wouldn't appear and when it did, it locked us out of the school and we couldn't find a stupid key to get out... eventually the ghost unlocked it (after it killed my friend) and we ran tf out of there. Didn't even care if we got any points then, over an hour in that level was enough torture for us.

[Dragon Lord]

Phamsmophobia is pretty fun. I played more without Moony since he had to go to bed, and we got stuck on the school level for over an hour because the ghost wouldn't appear and when it did, it locked us out of the school and we couldn't find a stupid key to get out...

That's because there is no key to unlock it. When the ghost shuts the door, it means it is on the hunt and it's aiming to find and kill someone that is still inside the building (seeing all of the lights + your flashlight blinking on and off constantly is a sign that the ghost is on the hunt), and you will not be able to open the door until the ghost has either killed someone, or has stopped hunting due to not being able to find someone. When you see your lights blinking like this, it is crucial to hide (preferably in a room), stay quiet and turn off your flashlight and any equipment you have on you (thermometer, spirit box, UV Flashlight, etc.). Talking to your friends during the hunt can tip the ghost off to your location, so very important not to say anything during this time. Turn your flashlight on and off every few seconds to see if it's still blinking -- if it is, turn if off immediately and just stay put. Make sure you also shut the door to the room you're hiding in, as it can help stop the ghost from discovering your location. This is much easier in big maps like the High School and Asylum, where you have a lot more room to move, and many more rooms to hide in. Compared to the smaller house levels where the ghost can pretty much just see where you went and follow you easily due to the much smaller space making it harder to avoid the ghost. It's also important to keep in mind that anyone outside the building/in the van cannot communicate with people inside during the hunt. The walkie-talkie communications are disabled during it. If you're in the van, you can tell that the ghost is on the hunt by looking at the activity monitor and seeing it's up to level 10 or not. 

The school can be a pain for new players (not as much as the Asylum though). The best way to find the ghost is to ask it to "show you a sign", which will have a chance to get the ghost to ring one of the phones in the classrooms. The ghost can also do this just because it feels like it, and it's the easiest way to find the ghost in the school. If it rings a phone in a classroom, that room is 100% the ghost's room. You should also pay attention for the sound of running water, because if you hear it, that means the ghost is in one of the bathrooms and all you have to do is figure out which one it is. 

Another huge tip for new players is to always have someone (or two people) with thermometers go in first. The easiest way to find the ghost without relying on it doing something like ringing the phones or turning on water is to find a room that is below 10 C on the thermometer. Any room below 10C is the ghost's room. A lot of newbies think you need to find freezing temps for it to be the room, but freezing temps is only for the clue for what type of ghost it is. The location of the ghost will always be cold (10C or below), but not always freezing (0C or below). 

As much as people (especially new players) don't like to do it, the best way to tackle the school is to split up into groups of 2 and either have each group take one side of the school, or have one group handle the upstairs while the other two stay downstairs. 

And yes, I have watched a lot of Phasmophobia, haha. I may not have played it myself, but I have watched it enough to be able to hand out advise to help people learn what to do. So perhaps if you care to try the game out again at some point, some of this information could help you out a little bit. 

Oh, on last piece of big advice I can give you is this: When you're asking the ghost a question, either one the spirit box or in general, like asking it to show you a sign or make a noise, do NOT say its name prior to your question. If you do that, the game only registers it as the player saying the name, which in turn makes the ghost angry and pushes it closer to being aggressive and going on the hunt. You just want to say the question/keyword by itself. Only say the ghost's name when you're trying to get it to appear for a picture/ghost activity objective.

[Moonface]

...do NOT say its name prior to your question. If you do that, the game only registers it as the player saying the name, which in turn makes the ghost angry and pushes it closer to being aggressive and going on the hunt. You just want to say the question/keyword by itself. Only say the ghost's name when you're trying to get it to appear for a picture/ghost activity objective.

So can you say the name at the end of your question or does that still piss it off?

[Dragon Lord]

I'm actually not sure what would happen in that case. Either the game would register the question first, so the saying of the name wouldn't register, or saying the name would override the question. I'm not sure if the game prioritizes the name of the ghost over anything else or not.

It would also depend on if you asked it a valid question or not. There's a set list of questions that work, so asking it something like, "Hey, what's your favorite pizza topping Thomas Thomas?" (yes, that's actually one of the names you can get in the game lmao), would probably only register you saying the name of the ghost.

I'm going to say that if you're playing the game and don't want to unintentionally piss the ghost off too early, just play on the safe side and don't say the name unless you're trying to force it to go on the hunt.

[ShiraNoMai]

Don't worry, Moony says he'll wanna piss off the ghost for fun, but is an absolute baby when it suddenly makes a noise at him

Thanks for those tips, though. It also turned out our Discord call we were in last time made it impossible for the ghost to understand us talking to it, so we used the in-game voice chat and it worked immediately. Pretty freaky, though. I asked "Why are you here?" once and it just simply said "Death."

[Dragon Lord]

Haha, yeah the ghost can be pretty aggressive on that Spirit Box. I was watching a group play and one of them asked, "Will you be my friend?" and the ghost went "Death... Attack... Kill" all in a row. The guy was just like, "...Understandable. Have a nice day." and nope'd out of the house while the rest of them laughed their asses off.

And yeah, you have to use in-game chat and only in-game chat when playing it, otherwise the game is going to have a lot of trouble picking up and what you're trying to say. But that makes it all the better, because using the in-game chats makes playing it a lot more fun and creepy, because then if you're in the house alone when it starts to hunt, you can't communicate over global chat, where as if you're using Discord, you can still talk to your other party members. Also remember to only use the proximity chat when talking to the ghost. If you're talking on global chat (the walkie-talkie), the ghost won't be able to hear you talking.

Also come on Moon, I want you to go into that house next time and be like, "Hey Lisa Thomas, you're a stupid bitch. You suck. Kill me or no balls."

Also fun fact: It is believed (or perhaps confirmed at this point), that the game does register swear words and the ghost will actually get mad if you use them. So if you go into the house and be like, "Hey Lisa Thomas, you're a big pussy ass bitch.", that could potentially get you hunted immediately if you're playing on professional, haha.

[Moonface]

Last session I played I did go to the house and start saying the ghosts name for shits and giggles, but didn't realise I needed the Spirit Box to be heard. I admit I would not go in further than the front door to do it though.

[Dragon Lord]

You don't need the Spirit Box to be heard by the ghost. You only need the Spirit Box to see if the ghost answers any of your questions for one of the evidence requirements. The ghost will hear everything you guys say when you're talking in proximity chat within the house/building. Which is why no matter where you are in a map like the asylum, saying the ghost's name repeatedly will trigger a hunt very quickly.

[Moonface]

Which is why no matter where you are in a map like the asylum, saying the ghost's name repeatedly will trigger a hunt very quickly.

Ugh, the asylum was the last map I played on in my previous session I mentioned, and I hate how big that map is. It doesn't help that the setting alone is spooky; at least the houses are just normal houses (except maybe the wooden farmhouse, that one's a little creepy) so you can at least relax a little bit.

[Dragon Lord]

Yeah the Asylum even gives experienced players a lot of trouble. You don't have that grace period on Professional, and with how big the asylum is, finding the ghost's room or area before it starts hunting (which can be immediately if it's a Demon) is an extremely difficult challenge. Especially with how fast Sanity drops when you're in the dark, and the Asylum is very dark.

The only way to be efficient in the Asylum is to split up and have each person take a path. Two people go downstairs with one handling the east side and the other the west side, while the other two split upstairs, with one going east and the other west. Everyone in your group needs to have the guts to do this, otherwise there's no way you can cover that much ground and find the ghost (unless you get lucky and find it in the first minute or two) before your sanity drops to 0 and the ghost starts hunting every 20-30 seconds. Playing on Amateur or Intermediate isn't too bad, since you have the 5/2 minute grace period respectively, but you also don't get nearly as big of a reward as you do on Professional Asylum. As they say, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.

[Moonface]

@Dragon Lord: Do you know if the ghost will ever kill a player before the timer expires if you try to annoy it? Or are you always free to do anything you want to until the time is up? I always play thinking I'm under some degree of threat the second I enter the building of the level I'm playing.