Phasmophobia: The Horror of a Hunt

Phasmophobia:
Phasmophobia: Early Access Ghost Investigating

Phasmophobia: The Horror of a Hunt

Phasmophobia: Ghost Stories

Every group of ghost hunters develops their own style. I joined a group with five hours of experience, and had watched an hour or two of Markiplier playing Phasmophobia. This meant I didn't have to learn the game, I was playing with knowledge earned by others.

Our number one rule; never leave without a picture of the ghost. Exception; everyone died except me. The photo is often the last goal we attempt, after determining the type of ghost and completing the assigned objectives. Insisting on a picture is tempting fate, risking a ghostly hunt. A hunt is the only time a ghost kills. The players know when a hunt begins, because their flashlights flicker. Hunts can be prevented by placing a cross near the ghost's starting location. Placing the crucifix in the correct spots on Professional difficulty is difficult. The cross's radius is small, while the higher difficulty makes it difficult to locate the ghost's location.During the hunt the radio, which the players use to communicate, only produces static. Everyone in the house is in danger. No one is sure how exactly the ghost behaves, producing mounds of speculation. One would assume that it attacks the closest person, but I've seen ghosts dive past one person to kill another. Maybe it prefers the player with the lowest Sanity. Everyone starts with one hundred Sanity. A board in the van displays each member's current value. A ghost only hunts when at least one person has a Sanity under 50, and hunts more the lower the combined Sanity of the players in the house. What are the ghost's senses? How well does it see? Does it have x-ray vision, superhuman hearing, or an extrasensory perception of everyone's general location? In practice, the ghost seems remarkably human. It chases people it sees, but it doesn't do much beyond that. In one game, a dead teammate watched it stand at its spawn location, presumably because myself and the remaining player were in a distant part of the house when the haunt began. We have hidden four of us in a closet in the ghost's room, and it didn't even open the door (admittedly we were very quiet and turned off our flashlights). It's unclear if ghosts open doors. In some instances a ghost seemed to grab a player through the wall. In larger maps it's possible to avoid the hunt entirely. The exact speed of the ghost during a hunt isn't measured, but it seems to be equal to, or slightly slower than, a player's. As long as the player keeps running, ghosts can't catch them. Locations like the school and prison offer unlimited running room. For this reason we prefer small locations, where hiding is a necessity. The downside to the small houses is that it's possible to solve the mystery, complete the objectives, and escape before the ghost hunts. The developer needs to add a fourth difficulty, or improve the hunting skill of the ghosts. The question readers are asking about a horror game: is it frightening? I could say no, but a one minute clip of me fleeing the ghost would reveal the lie. I'm not a fan of horror movies, because they terrify me after the fact. Even relatively innocuous horror movies torture my mind with their twisted reality. Phasmophobia isn't that style of horror. It's probably the poor visual quality, the obvious falseness of it. In spite of that weakness the developer builds a tense, nervous atmosphere. A player's sanity slips away when they stand in the dark, and houses start with the lights off. Entering and exploring, searching for the ghost's home is a nerve-racking affair, even when knowing it can't kill immediately. The most stressful tool is the Spirit Box. At first I avoided using it. I hated the jolt of fear when the ghost responded in its menacing tone. “HERE!” It would reply to my timid inquiries. “DIE!” It would shout, flip flopping my terrified heart. For the Spirit Box to work, the user has to be in the dark (flashlight allowed), and alone. After a number of games in which I was pressured to use it later, I started using it at the start of investigations. I didn't dare use it later, with the ghost likely to hunt. With repeated experience I mastered it, and the shudder I experience when it replies is more exhilaration than fear. With nearly thirty hours I'm still afraid of seeing the ghost, making me a terrible picture taker. The sounds of Phasmophobia are phenomenally conductive to the atmosphere. The ghost giggles creepily like a little boy and then jumps out as a ghastly, gashed man. It hisses and spits at the player. When the player hears the thump, thump of a heart, look for the ghost to take a picture, (or be like me and hide in the nearest closet). When the ghost kills during a hunt, it produces a particular exhalation of breath, which is a great relief and a terror. It's a relief, because once it makes that sound, the hunt ends (the ghost only kills at most once per hunt). It's terrifying, because the sound issues from an otherworldly menace.

The hunt activates the player's flight behavior. The adrenaline, the terror, the desperate attempt to put a door between yourself and death, makes this a memorable time, especially if someone dies. The first death I remember was in Tanglewood, the one floor house. The hunt started, a friend and I were inside, and we ran to the parallel hallway near the front door. I dove into the bathroom and shut the door. When I hide I turn away from the door, and turn off the flashlight. I don't want to see the ghost kill me, and I assume a functioning flashlight makes the player easier to locate. Hearing a hiss, I was out of hiding. The ghost had chosen the other player. A similar circumstance occurred in the smaller of the two farm houses. Three of us were watching the backroom from the kitchen when the haunt began. We fled to the stairs (the front door locks during a hunt, preventing an escape), and stood looking back at the way we had come (we were trying to snap a picture). Then the ghost loomed out of the dark on our right. It had used a shortcut to sneak up on us. We scrambled up the stairs. On the landing I turned right into the master bedroom. Closing the door, I cowered behind a room divider as I heard it approach the room. Then it stopped. A few seconds later, which seemed an eternity, it snuffed the life from a teammate and I fled. Our friend reported that he had turned left at the top of the stairs, and when he reached a door, turned around. He saw the ghost moving toward my door. My friend walked toward the ghost, took a picture and it turned to chase him. Even though he hid in a room, it found him.

Next week, more ghost stories from Phasmophobia, and a conclusion.

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