Horror games don’t really scare me however I still enjoy playing these type of games as they will give me a lot of adrenaline rushes and some small heart attacks and also jump scares. I also feel the thrill while playing horror games with my friends as some of them will react differently, scream their lungs out and this is why these kind of game are so fun to play. Actually there are a lot of horror games but I chose this game to give a review because this is my first raw play through. At first I refused to buy this game as it is only early access, but with my friend shypurplezpanda’ persuasion, I finally bought this game and I don’t regret buying it.
Phasmophobia is a paranormal game where you become some sort of detective or ghostbuster in order to identify and figure out the ghost or spirit that haunted the house. This game is a co-op game which you can play it alone or with your friends. If you are playing this game by yourself, you need to do the investigation alone and need more time to set up the place and identify which part of the house is haunted. It is quite thrill to do the investigation all by yourself as sometimes when you called out the ghost’s name it will hunt and require you to find a place to hide. If you cannot find one, you will die in no time! This game also not requires too much activities, as at first you need to figure out which part of the house is haunted, setting up the equipment, find the evidence, identify the ghost and you can leave. There is a various type of houses that you can choose before the game started which is divided into three categories ; small, medium and large and it is also divided into three difficulties ; amateur, medium and professional. The different between these difficulties are the time to setup the place so for amateur (5 minutes) medium (2 minutes) and professional (0 minute). For professional, you will have no time to set up and the ghost can hunt you the moment you stepped in to the house.
To begin, you will spawn in a mini van where all your equipment stored that somehow acts like your HQ. You are required to read all the objectives that shown on your whiteboard that will give you extra money at the end of the mission. The equipment for this game included :
Starter Equipment
- Flashlight & Strong Flashlight ( help you see through the dark especially when the ghost shuts the breaker)
- EMF (help you identify the haunted rooms and if it reaches level 5 it can be an evidence)
- Thermometer (also help you identify the haunted rooms and if the reading is below 0 it will be an evidence)
- UV Light (help you in finding the ghost’s fingerprint)
- Spirit Box (help you in talking to the ghost)
- Ghost Writing Box (an evidence if the ghost write in it)
- Video Camera (help you in finding a ghost orb also act as an evidence)
- Photo Camera (help you in capturing ghost or evidence or interaction)
Van Equipment
- Objective Board (shows the objectives, name of the ghost and ghost’s reaction whether for everyone or alone)
- Site Map
- Site Activity Monitor (level of the ghost)
- Sanity Monitor (sanity level)
- Sound Monitor (sound level)
- Camera System (help in finding ghost orb)
Onsite Equipment
- Ouija Board (can interact with the ghost)
- Voodoo Dolls (capturing it can can be an evidence)
- Bone (capturing it can can be an evidence)
Purchasable Equipment
- Candle (acts like flashlight but dimmer)
- Salt (evidence for ghost presence)
- Crucifix (prevent the ghost from hunting)
- Smudge Sticks (smudge the haunted room, sometimes can prevent the ghost from hunting)
- Lighter (to burn the smudge sticks)
- Glowstick ( acts like UV light)
- Head Mounted Camera (just a camera on your head)
- Sound Sensor (detect the ghost’s sounds)
- Tripod (stand for video camera)
- Motion Sensor (detect the motion of the ghost)
- Infrared Light Sensor (detect movements)
- Parabolic Microphone (detect sounds through walls)
- Sanity Pills (increase sanity level)
Phasmophobia’s genius is that this is a game of restraint and subtlety.
What I dislike
The player characters are limited. You cannot move fast even you hit the shift button (to run), it just feel the same. You can carry only three items including the flashlights and make it only two spots for other equipment. You are required to go back into the house and van for multiple times just because to set up the place. Sometimes you need to wait a quite long time for the objective to spawn such as dirty sink and sometimes you will feel too fed up and ended up to leave. Crucifix objective also sometimes got bugs and it just like hit or miss. For me, maps like medium and large are not acceptable as you and your 3 teammates need to discover the ghost in hundreds of rooms with 3 different levels which make it quite hard to find. If you are lucky enough, the ghost will be in the first and second room that you explored but if you are not lucky, you will never find one as I have experienced before, we ended up in guessing the ghost without any evidence! In this new update, our strong flashlights just got dimmer than before and it feels like you are using the flashlight. Imagine if you are playing using the flashlight, how dark your vision is!
Something to improve
To be honest, this game really needs a lot of improvement but it is understandable as this game is still in early access stage. First of all, I really hope the developer put our name on top of our head as it really hard to identify our teammates because they usually use the same characters and can get me really confused. Next is more small maps as it easier and does not waste our time just like medium and large map did. Other than that, they should change the ghost characteristic and use Ai instead of bot because sometimes we can predict the ghost easily. Furthermore, adding more slots is quite a great idea as we do not need to go back to our van for multiple times. As the slots are increase, try to increase the ghost evidence too and make it more challenging.
Phasmophobia’s ghosts could kill you, but they’ll just creep you and your squad out so be prepared!
Maybe you temporarily lose track of the team, then hear an unmistakable breath passing close by one ear.