Phasmophobia: Early Access Ghost Investigating

Phasmophobia:
Phasmophobia: Early Access Ghost Investigating 

Phasmophobia: The Horror of a Hunt

Phasmophobia: Ghost Stories

Time Played: 28 Hours

A half decade ago I used to say, “I don't purchase Early Access games". The last three years have proven the foolishness of that proposition. Too many Early Access games release in phenomenal condition to be ignored. They are ready to be played and enjoyed, better than many AAA games. Small development teams, and solo acts, realized they could release a fabulous core game, and then improve it by adding content and polishing the details. In 2019 Awkward Mixture reviewed Deep Rock Galactic, a game that was great then, which has only improved since it's official release in 2020.

This article isn't about DRG (which may earn itself a second review) but about Phasmophobia, a game developed and produced by Kinetic Games, a single person studio. Up to four players explore a house or other building, hunting for a ghost. While Phasmophobia includes public matchmaking, I've only played with friends.

The players are not ghostbusters. They are not there to catch, or eliminate, the ghost, but to determine its type. Phasmophobia includes twelve ghost types. According to the developer each ghost type behaves differently, but aside from one or two distinctions, they are similar in nature. Yes, the Poltergeist is more active, throwing objects around the room, while the Jinn likes to turn on TVs, and ring the phones. Practically, the Jinn and the Wraith are the only two ghosts with significant abilities. Yet, they can be thwarted by abusing their weakness. As a result, ghosts don't display unique behavior, meaning their main difference is in discovery.

Each ghost type displays three particular clues. For example, the Wraith talks on the Spirit Box, leaves fingerprints, and creates freezing temperatures. To find their ghost, the players search the house, looking for the room the ghost resides in. A ghost may move about, and be seen in other rooms, but there is only one room it calls home. This home does not change during the mission. Ghost's provide multiple hints about its location. It displays behavioral cues, like book throwing, or electromagnetic manipulation. It might appear, or make noises. If these don't materialize, the investigators need to employ their tools.

Phasmophobia currently includes seven maps; three small suburban houses, two medium sized farm houses, and a large prison, a high school, and an asylum. The starting location effects which starting tools the explorers need. Each explorer can only carry three items, and one of them had better be a flashlight. For large areas, especially if a team has fewer than four players, a sound device, like the Sound Sensor or the Parabolic Microphone is especially useful. These tools detect noise in a wide area, so while they can't pinpoint the exact room, they help narrow the search. The thermometer is a necessary tool for any search. The ghost cools its home room, keeping it colder than the rest of the building. On a Celsius rating, anything less than 12° is suspect. In fact, the thermometer is so effect, its overpowered. It's one hundred percent reliable; it can't be deceived, and always works.

After divining the home of the ghost, the investigators collect clues. There are six possible pieces of evidence. Does the ghost leave finger prints? Does it drop the temperature to freezing? Does it write in a book the players place in the room? Does it respond to the player if they are asking questions with the Spirit Box? Can a special camera see orbs in the room? Or does the Electro-Magnetic Fields Reader (EMF for short) detect a power level of five? One problem is some of these types of evidence are difficult to obtain. Freezing temperatures, ghost writing, and the Spirit Box work well. But, orbs are difficult to see without perfect placement of the camera, a ghost may not leave fingerprints, or put them in obscure areas. If the players suspect fingerprints, take a picture with the camera, because the picture may find them better than the naked eye. The worst tool is the EMF reader. Trying to provoke a level five reading on the device is finicky. In one game, a ghost hunted us over a dropped EMF reader five times, and it didn't even blink. After receiving a positive on three of these clues, congratulations, the players know the ghost type.

They aren't done. Each house assigns the player three additional objectives. These range from the simple; witness a ghost event, to the nerve racking; stop a hunt with the crucifix, to the tediously impossible; take a picture of dirty water. The last requires a ghost to touch a sink with running water. Sometimes this is an easy objective; if a ghost's home is in a kitchen or bathroom. If a ghost doesn't start near a sink, it's not worth trying to coax it over. Sometimes a sink is in the neighboring room, and yet the ghost refuses to visit. Our favorite objective, and self imposed requirement, is to take a picture of the ghost.

Winning a level awards the players cash and levels. The more evidence, and the more additional objectives completed, the more money. Players also find and take photos of bones, interactions, footprints, Ouija boards, and dead bodies for bonus cash.

Money is spent to buy or repurchase the twenty-two different pieces of equipment. Levels unlock access to higher difficulties and more types of equipment. Everything is available after level 15. The game rewards victory with too much cash and experience. After 27 hours, I've reached level 80, with four pieces of every type of equipment, and $7,017 in reserve. The average cost of each item is $50. Phasmophobia needs slower progression, or none at all. 

The level system locks off certain items, but also two higher difficulties. The player starts as an Amateur ghost hunter, advances to Intermediate, and upgrades to Professional status at level 15. The most significant differences between difficulties is; how much free time before the ghost can hunt, how fast the players lose sanity, how long hunts last, and how much money a player loses when they die. The cap on difficulties, limited by the player's play time, seems unnecessary. It is about five to ten hours.

Another strange limitation is the number of each item available per mission. Certainly, a team of four doesn't need more than four thermometers. But why limit it to three? If the team can afford it, one of each item per person doesn't seem unreasonable. A player loses all the items they brought on the mission if they die. There is no need for an artificial limitation of equipment, when the penalty exists. Cameras are another important item limited to three. The dearth of equipment may be intended to increase the difficulty, but it ends up denying one player something to do. Also, Phasmophobia needs an add all button. With so many items, it's unreasonable to make the players click eight-eight times (roughly, but not exactly four times per every item), to prepare for the mission (the developer recently added an add all for each item, but now just needs one add all button, which adds all of every item).

Next week, the horror of the haunted hunt.

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