T w e n t y S i d e d

Some years ago, Phasmophobia blew up on Twitch. It was everywhere. It seemed like everyone wanted to run into a haunted house, wander around not really knowing what to do, then inevitably get murdered by a restless soul. Eventually, people figured out the mechanics and patterns to correctly identify the ghost with relative accuracy. With this familiarity the initial thrill wore off. The trend passed. Like so many fad games that came before it, Phasmophobia died.

Or did it?

I would argue otherwise. For those unaware, the entire goal of Phasmophobia is to determine the type of spooky specter residing in a property that you are sent to investigate. Think something like Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures if they weren’t drowned in ridiculous drama and fabricated encounters. Your team is looking for signs to identify which type of entity is haunting the location. Then you can make money from your ill-advised romp by documenting the interactions that are had. One can assume that afterward a psychic is sent in to fight the ghosts off with Tai Chi, or whatever, but we aren’t concerned with that. Our team is only interested in surviving and recording our encounters to make money and keep our business afloat.

To a lot of people, I think the appeal of the game is relatively obvious on its face. The problem is that when the game was first “released” it was very much in development and was very lacking in features. In just a few sessions you could run through anything and everything there was to do. There just wasn’t enough content. This lack of gameplay lead to a massive bleed of customer interest and active players.

Since the initial positive attention and following hemorrhage of active players, the devs have added and changed many aspects of the games. They seemed to know that they under-delivered in the short time since their game’s initial explosion into popular consciousness and in response kept their noses to the grindstone and pumped out content. There’s more maps, more/improved tools to gather evidence, and a significantly more advanced evidence collection system. It’s not just about being scared and getting a lucky guess at which creepy fella is stalking you.

The game is now more a full mystery/horror instead of just a jumpscare waiting room. You can approach each mission as a puzzle to solve. Then there’s a fun challenge to gather the required proof of spookies to justify your job. The very core of the game is the same, but everything around it has been improved in functionality, style, and overall entertainment factor. If you had no interest in the original release of the game, then you likely will have no interest in the current iteration either. I would urge you, however, to give the game another look to send off the Halloween season. There’s more meat to the game now. More fun to be had. Check it out. But bring a friend to randomly scare by jumping out from behind corners and doors. And maybe a psychic to do Tai Chi as you leave.

Ethan Rodgers