With Phasmophobia providing a rather unique take in the horror genre with its approach to ghost-hunting, it makes sense for newcomers and horror savants to feel a bit weirded out by the fact that it’s them that has to hunt for the Ghosts and not the other way around. Thanks to various equipment and a “head start” when it comes to looking for clues, each Phasmophobia match becomes a logic puzzle that needs players to think on their feet as to what the Ghost might be inside various locations.
However, it’s when the Ghost becomes active enough that things can get extremely dangerous. In the wrong circumstances, a Ghost may engage in a Hunt that can have it chase players throughout the haunted location, killing them as soon as they touch them. With the game needing players to figure out the nature of the Ghost without getting killed by it, just what are mistakes players need to avoid in order to be more successful in their ghost-hunting missions?
10 Panicking With Controls
Due to its nature as a VR horror game, Phasmophobia has multiple tactile controls designed to simulate interactions with certain real world elements. This is why some objects are picked up manually when crouching, or why there are certain button presses to stick certain items on walls, tables, or floors. Outside Hunts, players can easily just shuffle with inputs should they “forget” which button does which.
However, this mistake is fatal in Hunts when items in question are designed to specifically repel ghosts. For instance, the Crucifix works even when dropped (G-Key) and not pressed, but electronics need to be “applied” manually to work (Right Mouse). Right-clicking the Smudge Stick with the Lighter in the inventory will make it burn, even outside Hunts. It’s these minute differences in input that can spell the difference between survival and death, so players need to stay sharp regarding them.
9 Skipping A Routine
Despite Phasmophobia being more or less a free-for-all puzzle game where players “solve” for the ghost type in their own methods, not establishing a routine early on can cost players the lives of their characters in this paranormal experience. At its core, players should develop a ghost-hunting routine early on in order to gather more clues efficiently and not waste time, especially on high difficulties where the preparation time is practically nonexistent. Having a routine may also avoid unnecessary panic for the team, as they know exactly what they’re supposed to do. Here’s a usual routine:
- Designated equipment: Each player should have a designated “role” and bring unique items to maximize the number of equipment brought in the location.
- Keep a Camera: Each player should ideally have a Camera with them. That way, they can take photos as soon as weird activity happens - such as detecting an EMF spike, seeing Cursed Items, or witnessing ghost events. Cameras should be kept for the remainder of the match for this purpose.
- Ghost locators: The people usually holding the EMF Reader or the Thermometer (separately!) are ideally the explorers, particularly when turning on the breaker. Said people should also monitor and mark the rooms with the lowest temperatures or highest EMF readings.
- Ghost detectors: It’s after identifying these ghost-reactive rooms that players with detection equipment like the DOTS Projector and the Motion Sensor come in and secure the area.
- Item spotters: While the second batch of players set up the ghost detection equipment, the locator group should then search for in-house items. These include Cursed Items and the Bone, which are also worth points when taken pictures of.
8 Relying On The Fuse Box
One of the first objectives a team of Phasmophobia players across any difficulty may want to do in the horror game is to locate the breaker or fuse box as soon as possible. This is quite easy, as the breaker or fuse box is often indicated in the Site Map inside the truck. Upon activation, the breaker will release electricity into the location, allowing players to turn on lights to get better visibility.
However, turning on the breaker is a double-edged sword. Some ghost events, and especially Hunts, will have the ghost intentionally break the light bulbs in an area or turn off the breaker completely, forcing the team to reopen it. This is tricky, as staying in darkness and especially in the ghost’s proximity will lower the team’s sanity. Not to mention, repeated opening and closing of lights can provoke the ghost to Hunt. It’s recommended for players to memorize or have an inkling on the map layout and use secondary light sources such as Flashlights, the Glowstick, the Candle, and even the DOTS Projector when reclaiming control of the breaker or else risk a Hunt due to lowered sanity.
7 Forgetting Hiding Spots
The Hunt is one of the scariest aspects of the game, as this is the equivalent of a horror game villain chasing players until they kill them. Surprisingly enough, while players can’t fight a ghost in Phasmophobia, they can hide from it efficiently through hiding spots.
These aren’t areas players can notice right away when they enter a house, especially since these spots often blend well with the environment. However, before players search for the ghost, they should look for small enclosed corners in every room they enter. These often come in the form of box clusters that are close to a corner that leave space for players to enter, or empty closets that players can close. In Hunts, going to these spots will likely make it much harder for ghosts to spot players.
6 Leaving The Closet Door Alone
While it’s mentioned that the closet can become an efficient hiding spot during chases in the horror game Phasmophobia, players might notice that the ghost can still force the door open and drag players to their doom. This is because there’s another component involved in closet defense, and that is never letting go of the door once inside the closet.
During Hunts, players inside closets need to be wary if the ghost is close to their area and hold the closet door tight throughout the endeavor. That way, they can pull the door close on the off-chance that the ghost makes an attempt to break the door open. This applies to tents in the campsite as well, which can be tricky to close due to the flimsy animation of the cloth and the zippers.
5 Forgetting About Average Sanity
Players know that Hunts are about to happen when any one player’s Sanity falls below 25-percent. And even then, certain Ghosts like the Demon, Thaye, and Deogen can trigger Hunts when Sanity reaches the higher 60 mark. In order to prolong survival as much as possible, players need to monitor their Average Sanity as well, as getting this to sub-25 or across all players can still trigger a Hunt.
This especially discourages teams from having only one (1) active member, or having a few members left behind. A lone member with extremely low Sanity can drag everyone’s Average Sanity with them, meaning even high-Sanity teammates can enter the area and still trigger Hunts. Likewise, a teammate left alone in the truck being left to fend for themselves can also trigger a Hunt, with escape being more difficult as the ghost will look exclusively for them.
4 Abusing The Cursed Items
Aside from the equipment players can use in the horror game, Phasmophobia maps also feature a wide variety of Cursed Items that reflect supernatural tools in horror flicks. Players won’t easily spot them unless they see them, and they provide some new ways to play around the map depending on which ones spawn. Players who don’t study how each of these items work commit the fatal mistake of overusing them, prompting the item to break and force a Cursed Hunts. Here are some ways Cursed Items can trigger Cursed Hunts:
- Ouija Board: Not saying “Goodbye” after asking a question.
- Tarot Cards: Drawing the Death Card usually guarantees character death.
- Cursed Mirror: Using it around three (3) times.
- Voodoo Doll: Pulling the pin on its head.
- Summoning Circle: Lighting all the candles.
3 Forgetting Ghost Giveaways
Time is of the essence in any Phasmophobia game, especially since Sanity Pills inevitably run out, leaving players vulnerable to Hunts while they’re still stuck trying to figure out the ghost type they’re hunting. This battle of attrition is always against the player, as simply losing Sanity leaves them susceptible to deadly Hunts.
To avoid this, players should stay sharp of “ghost giveaways” or characteristics that only certain ghosts exhibit.
Much of these giveaways are hinted at in the ghost type’s description in the Journal. For instance, a rating of 200.0 and persistent singing via the Parabolic Microphone is almost always a dead ringer for the Banshee. Likewise, seeing footprints on salt but no ultraviolet footprint residue may be a Wraith giveaway.
2 Relying On Ghost Orbs
One of the most popular, supernatural phenomenon in real life, are associated with Ghost Orbs. These take the form of fuzzy globes of various sizes that float on pictures and footage that are not supposed to have them. In Phasmophobia, Ghost Orbs are one of the clues players can spot in order to identify the Phasmophobia Ghost they are dealing with in a particular location. However, relying on Ghost Orbs as a “set clue” can lead players to the Mimic’s trap.
In the game, the Mimic is a type of ghost that can copy another ghost’s characteristics - from their behavior and even the clues they provide. However, the only giveaway Mimics have is that they share the Ghost Orb clue with some other ghosts. On the off-chance that players observe three (3) more clues aside from the Ghost Orb, chances are they’re dealing with the Mimic. Not having advanced knowledge of this clue can lead players to another war of attrition with the ghost, with the players losing Sanity before being able to identify the ghost correctly while leaving it open to Hunt.
1 Ignoring Activity Levels
Except in Nightmare Difficulty, the truck that Phasmophobia players use to get to the horror game’s haunted location has a monitor that tracks Activity Levels in the area. Once the game’s prep timer has expired, the ghost can give away the intensity of its activities through this chart. Serving as a graph that shows activity levels per second, a 10 persisting over a few seconds would indicate a live Hunt, and lower levels simply identify whether the ghost is moving or not.
Players who haphazardly only look for 10s in the Activity Level screen have a huge chance of missing out on the Twins. This ghost type is characterized by two (2) ghosts that are active in two (2) different locations, which can be tricky to spot in higher difficulties where ghosts actively chance Ghost Rooms. To detect the Twins, players simply need to observe Activity Levels - a Hunt in progress (continuous 10-mark) followed by a non-10 activity spike means there are two (2) active presences in the location, possibly indicating the Twins. This allows players to be more proactive in finding the designated Ghost Rooms and steering clear from them to prolong their survival.
The “Apocalypse” Major Update of Phasmophobia was released last September 27, 2022.