Phasmophobia is getting a big update once again, this time adding a mode fans have been asking for and plenty more. On top of that, the notes briefly mention the next update that will bring about a major change for Phasmophobia players.
The journey of Phasmophobia has been intriguing from day one. Kinetic Games, the developer and publisher of the game, consisted only of a single person. Phasmophobia gained major popularity during Halloween 2020 when Twitch streamers and YouTubers started playing it with their friends. It was well-received by critics and gamers alike and still enjoys a large and loyal following with 96% positive reviews on Steam. From the early days of Phasmophobia to recent times, the game has gone through some major changes with the studio growing to a 4-person team.
Players started to create their own challenge modes in Phasmophobia once they mastered most locations and difficulties, so Kinetic Games decided to add the feature officially to the game. Once the Tempest update is live fans will be able to play 26 challenges on a rotation of one challenge a week. Challenge-specific items will be provided at no cost to players, and while winning a challenge will mean large rewards with money and XP, death or failure will cause no loss. On top of that, a brand-new default difficulty has been added as well, named Insanity, for those who find Nightmare not challenging enough. There's also a major overhaul with custom difficulty, as well as shop updates and various other minor changes to textures, shaders, and animations. Not to mention the strange new symbols that were spotted in the warehouse.
With the list of changes in the Tempest (v0.8.1.0) update, came the warning that the next major update in Phasmophobia will be Progression Part 1, which will introduce the new leveling system to the game. Not all fans are excited about this change for one major reason. Player levels, money, and equipment will all be wiped and set to 0. Kinetic Games reasoned this is necessary because this new system cannot be translated into the old one, and it wouldn't be able to provide a fair equivalent to players. But based on their current level, fans will be given a unique badge to show how far they've come before the reset.
Big changes are happening all around Phasmophobia, but it remains to be seen how they will all be received by fans.
Phasmophobia Update Patch Notes
Custom Difficulty
Custom difficulty’s reward values have been overhauled. This should help balance the game closer to the default difficulties and make progression fairer for those who don’t want to min-max their custom games.
- The maximum reward value possible is now 15x
- Several options have had their rewards reduced
- The Apocalypse Challenges’ requirements have been adjusted:
- Bronze: 6x+
- Silver: 10x+
- Gold: 15x
- Rules have been added to reduce rewards when two options are set to specific values, thus canceling each other out but still giving you a reward. Here are some examples:
- 0 starting sanity with sanity pills 25% or higher
- Faster ghosts but player unlimited sprint
- Broken Fuse Box but Flashlights: On
Triggering one of these combinations will change the custom difficulties option panel to a yellow warning icon. You can hover your cursor over this icon to find out more information on how it is affecting or being affected by other settings.
Several custom options have been adjusted:
- “Evidence Given” will now soft cap the reward multiplier. Rewards added above these multipliers will only add 50% of their values to the total reward;
- 3 Evidence: 4x
- 2 Evidence: 5x
- “Grace Period” 6s has been removed
- “Sprint Duration” and “Sprint Recharge” have been removed and will default to:
- Duration: 3s
- Recharge: 5s
- “Sprint” options have been changed to:
- Off
- On
- Infinite
New Difficulties
Insanity
For the best investigators, a new default difficulty has been added: Insanity.
More information can be found in-game on the difficulty selection screen.
Challenge mode
A new weekly rotational difficulty has been added. Each week a different challenge will be available offering unique modes ranging from Intermediate to Insanity and beyond.
- 26 challenges have been added
- A challenge-specific loadout will be provided automatically, for free
- Completing the challenge 3 times on the specified map will grant a large money and XP bonus
- Each challenge will be available twice a year
- You will lose nothing if you fail or die
Cursed Possesions
Sunny Meadows’ staff weren’t just experimenting on people, they were seriously trying to unearth something unnatural:
Monkey Paw
A severed paw that grants a wish for those who ask it. Be warned, the wish may not be worth the consequences:
- Wishes can be found scattered inside Sunny Meadows Mental Institution and will be added to your Journal when found. These are not required to use the paw and are just a permanent note to help you remember.
The number of wishes you have will correspond to the difficulty or reward multiplier for that contract:
- 0x – 1.9x Rewards: 5 wishes
- 2x – 2.9x Rewards: 4 wishes
- 3x Rewards or higher: 3 wishes
Note: After 2 weeks, these patch notes will be updated with the details of every wish
Shop Update
The shop computer has had some UI improvements
- Shop and Storage has been recreated, acting like an online shopping basket
- Added an “all equipment” loadout
- You can now tick “auto-add” to your loadout, to add it as soon as you join a lobby
New
- Strange symbols have been spotted in the warehouse, what could they mean? Get searching for an answer!
- Crucifix uses will now have new textures, effects and sounds when used
- Updated all UV shaders! UV effects will now be much more accurate and work when shining another light over the UV light. Additionally, UV effects will now fade out over time, instead of disappearing instantly
- “The Tower” Tarot Card will now additionally double all ghost activity for 20s
- Weather particles lighting have been improved and now work with the sky light, helping them look more realistic (no more ashy black snow!)
- All windows will now have new raindrop effects on them if it's raining, and additional sounds in all maps similar to Tanglewood’s
- Several foliage objects will now be affected by windy weather outside
- You will now receive an in-game message when a new game update is available to download
- A Broken Fuse Box’s sparks now bounce on nearby objects instead of clipping through them
Changes
- Reduced the range and resolution of several environmental lights slightly. This should decrease the chance of your shadows becoming overly pixelated when having lots of lights turned on in a location, and decreasing the chance of an object hitting the “maximum lights” limit (e.g. resulting in black floors or DOTS casting no light)
- The time between hunts will now be the same if the ghost uses a crucifix or if it hunts (20s for Demon, 25s for other ghost types)
- The ghost's room will no longer be visible on the Haunted Mirror when you use it at 0% sanity
- Ghost orbs can no longer go through walls into a different room
- Fog quality settings have been changed for better visual clarity across all settings
- Low – Downsampling at 2, no shadows
- Medium – No downsampling, no shadows
- High – No downsampling, receive shadows
- Blur has been removed
- Renamed Daily and Weekly Challenges to Daily and Weekly Tasks, to avoid confusion with the new Challenge Mode difficulty
- Several icons have been improved
- Improved and fixed the visuals of light sources on the PC monitors in Prison
- Improved the visuals of the collectible cabinets in the warehouse lobby
- Lighting a Summoning Circle candle with no sanity will now extinguish it instantly. Note: Lighting the 5th candle with no sanity will cause an instant hunt
- Saying "goodbye" on the Ouija Board no longer counts toward challenges
- Renamed the High School bathrooms to make it clearer where they are
- Failing to join a room with a password now gives a more descriptive error
- The night vision camera effect will now adjust brightness when entering and exiting foggy areas
Fixes
- Ghosts can no longer interact with windows on the floor below them, in both Farmhouse locations
- Voice recognition will now work for all players if other players loaded in slowly
- Removed several safe spots in Prison, Maple Lodge Campsite, and School
- Several shaders and materials will now render correctly
- The Voodoo Doll can no longer stop hunts
- Using the Voodoo Doll, Tarot Cards, Music Box and the Summoning Circle will now count towards the “use Cursed Possessions” task
- Items will no longer teleport in the SM Courtyard when thrown in specific spots
- Patched up some holes in the Sunny Meadows Courtyard floor
- Removed an invisible wall upstairs in Edgefield
- Improved Anisotropic textures for radiators, rugs, outside ground, SM flooring
- Ghosts can now kill you on the blue beds in house maps
- Ghosts can now detect active electronic equipment if they were grabbed when active
- Voice recognition will no longer work if you have the ‘text’ voice recognition option enabled
- The Apocalypse stickers will now show in Singleplayer instead of Multiplayer
- A book in the Sunny Meadows Courtyard is no longer only a shadow
- Removed several shadow rendering issues in Sunny Meadows and Tanglewood
- Thaye will now have the correct interaction rate before aging
- Window knocks now count as an interaction for stats
- Tasks featuring “Asylum” will now display “Sunny Meadows”
- You can no longer sprint or move while in the death room
- Setting a preset for a custom difficulty and changing a cursed possession, will no longer apply that change to the actual preset difficulty, instead of just the Custom game you are editing
- Standing in DOTS light will no longer stop sanity drain
- You can now see your hands on your monitor when in VR and smooth camera is enabled
- Ghost orbs can no longer be seen with a photo camera
- The ball in the upstairs Ridgeview closet will no longer glitch when the hiding spot is blocked
- Ghost orbs in the outside "rooms" in Camp Woodwind will no longer be very high above the ground
- Video cameras will now receive the ghost glitch effects
- The “Sky Light” will now turn on and off accurately with your settings
- Lighter flame is now being considered for the Onryo hunt ability when blown out
- An Onryo will now have a higher chance to blow out a flame, the more players that are dead, instead of a lower chance
- Hunts will now end if all players are outside
- The haunted mirror will now drain a minimum of 20 sanity per use instead of 27
Phasmophobia is available on PC.