With Halloween fast approaching, there is no better time to dive into horror video games to enjoy this final week of October. Embrace the final days of the spooky season and gather your friends to step into the darkness.
Because life’s no fun without a good scare!
Phasmophobia the paranormal investigation simulator
Phasmophobia is a multiplayer ghost-hunting video game. Blending horror and cooperation, players become paranormal investigators. The main goal of the game is to identify the type of ghost haunting the location, using different tools and evidence while surviving the entity’s encounters.
Gameplay and mechanics
👥 Players: 1-4
💻 Available on PC (Steam, also available with VR support)
The players choose a location, a mode and gear up before investigating. These locations can be homes, prisons, a school, a lighthouse and asylums. Phasmophobia offers the players an immersive atmosphere where team coordination is the key, not only to succeed, but to stay alive.
Investigation tools are essential to identify the type of ghost. As different entities 一demon, revenant, oni, poltergeist, etc.一 have different behaviours and will give the players different pieces of evidence.
The play starts inside the van, where the investigators (players) get their mission objectives and ,maybe, some extra information about the case. From inside the Van, the players are able to see the ghost activity and the map of the location. They can also check the cameras from the pc inside the van.
Each player is only allowed to carry 3 items from the van at once. One active item and two more in the inventory slots. But there are some exceptions:
- A head-mounted flashlight does not take up a slot.
- The key of the location does not take up a slot either.
- For VR Players, they can use the belt and shoulder as inventory slots.
The randomised ghost behaviour and locations makes phasmophobia extremely replayable. The game is also updated frequently, adding new challenges, maps, tools and ghost types.
Phasmophobia also launches events during halloween, christmas and easter.
And if this wasn’t enough, players have also added their own fan-made challenges. Keeping the game alive and running for years.
These are some of the most played challenges, both fan-made and in-game:
Gear challenges 🎃
Random Items
For this fan-made challenge we recommend the use of two spinning wheels. One for the number of items the team can take and a second one for the items themselves.
For this challenge the team must survive and identify the ghost type only with the equipment they get from both spinning wheels. It is not allowed to take estra equipment.
For the first wheel, we recommend the minimum equipment to be one item per player. So, if there are four players, the minimum would be 4 items. For the maximum Items, it is also interesting to enter a number that does not exceed the item limit per player.
The second wheel must include all usable investigation tools and support gear. Spin the wheel as many times as the number determined by the first wheel. Those will be the only items the team may use for the mission.
No Flashlights
Players can use every piece of equipment, except flashlights. Players enter the location in the dark and must complete the mission and all the objectives without using any flashlights. They are permitted to use candles, a lighter and incense sticks. As these items could be one of the mission’s objectives.
To take this challenge one step further, players can also ban the use of the location’s lights, without turning on the location’s fuses and switches.
No Evidence Mode
No evidence mode is one of the most challenging modes in phasmophobia, whether set as an official game mode, available in the difficulty settings, or as a fan-made challenge, like in earlier versions of the game.
The objective of this challenge is to identify the ghost type without collecting any “traditional” evidence (emf, spirit box etc.). Players disable or ignore all primary evidence tools and rely solely on ghost interactions and behaviour. Players can star the mission using evidence items to find the ghost room.
For this challenge we recommend learning about every ghost ability first, or have a cheat sheet on hand to help identify subtle differences between ghost types.
| Spirit | Will wait 180s after being incensed before attempting to hunt again. |
| Wraith | Will not touch or interact with salt. |
| Phantom | Will not appear in ghost photos. Player will lose 0.5% of sanity while in heartbeat range of the ghost. |
| Poltergeist | During hunts, will throw items with increased force. Can throw multiple objects at once. |
| Banshee | Prefers singing during ghost events. 33% chance to give up to 20 unique screams through the parabolic microphone, sound recorder. |
| Jinn | Cannot directly turn off the fuse box. Will speed up during a hunt with the fuse box on. |
| Mare | Won’t hunt until 40% average sanity when the light switch in the room is on, 60% average sanity if the switch is off. |
| Revenant | Will be slow during a hunt until it detects a player. |
| Shade | Can appear as a shadow ghost model on the summoning circle, music box, and monkey paw events. |
| Yurei | Only ghost that can intteract with an exit door outside of a hunt. |
| Oni | Drains 20% sanity during hunts. Blinks more frecuently during hunts. |
| Yokai | More active when talking near it. Can hunt up to 80% sanity when talking in the same room. |
| Hantu | Faster in colder temperatures. Does not speed up in line-of-sight. |
| Goryo | DOTS only appear on video camera and will not show if the player is in the same room. |
| Myling | Footsteps and vocals cannot be heard more than 12m away during hunts. Makes sounds through the parabolic microphone and sound recorder. |
| Onryo | Flames act like crucifixes. Will blow a candle if it tries to hunt. Can hunt at any sanity. |
| The Twins | Can do 2 interactions at the same time. Triggers motion sensors, steps on salt an spirit box responses only happen in the ghost location. |
| Raiju | Electronic disturbance at a 15m range during hunts and events. Increased speed near active electronic equipment. |
| Obake | Special 6 finger prints. has a 25% chance not to leave ultraviolet evidence. |
| The mimic | Will always show ghost orbs. Mimics a different ghost every 30-120s. |
| Moroi | Incense blindness duration during hunts is increased fom 5s to 7s. |
| Deogen | Very fast hunt speed, but it slows down as it nears the player. |
| Thaye | Age response on Ouja board increases as the ghost ages. Will attempt to age every 1-2 minutes. |
| Demon | Can hunt 60s after being smudged. Can hunt 20s after previous hunt has ended. |
Team dynamic challenges 🎃
Hide and seek
Play hide and seek with your team inside the mission’s location. This is a popular fan-made challenge, and also a game mechanic if you find the ouija board. This challenge tests the survival skills of the player rather than the game mechanics.
Fan-made variant:
- Load into a location with minimal gear and one flashlight per player.
- You can also take a random evidence tool, if the players want to.
- All players except one enter the location, while one of the players stays in the van.
- Start a one minute timer before going to the location to seek for your friends.
Ouija Variant:
- If the team finds the Ouija board in the location.
- One player talks to the Ouija board and says: “I want to play hide and seek”.
- The Ouija board will immediately start counting down.
- Players must survive until the hunt ends.
Sardines
The sardines challenge is a fun fan-made challenge that changes the usual hide and seek game. Instead of everyone hiding from one seeker, one player hides and the rest of the team searches for them.
When a seeker finds the hiding player, they join them in the hiding. The objective of this fan-made game is to have fun while testing the players stealth, teamwork and nerves.
Lockdown mode
This challenge is a tense and thrilling game during which the players trap themselves inside the haunted location. Once the investigation begins, no one is allowed to leave until the ghost has been correctly identified, or everyone dies trying.
For this challenge medium and large maps are more intense. Going back to the van for sanity check, new gear or safety is not allowed.
BLINDFOLD
This challenge is one of the most chaotic, hilarious and team-work heavy. Perfect for two to four players. During this challenge, one or more players are physically blindfolded and rely only on their team mates’ voices for navigation, investigation and survival.
While the blindfolded players go into the location, the guiding players stay in the van, checking the cameras and the map’s location to guide the players. Players have to work together to identify the ghost type, complete mission objectives and hide during the hunts.
Communication challenges 🎃
Language challenge
A funny communication fan-made mode that turns teamwork into total chaos. Each player must speak a different language, or even not to speak. The objective is to identify the ghost type with very strict communication restrictions.
Varian 1: The tower of babel experiment
Each player must speak a different language. During the communication process, translations are not allowed. Only those players who know other languages will understand their team mates. However, these players are not allowed to jump from one language to another.
Variant 2: Limited words
Each player has a limited amount of words to “spend” during the mission. If or when they run out of words, they cannot speak anymore. In some cases,Players can use sounds when they runs out of words.
Only singing communication
Just imagine The Conjuring, but musical.
A fan-made challenge to ease the tension and have a good time. Players can only communicate through song, no normal talking allowed. Every instruction, indication, reaction or scream must be sung or rhythmically chanted.
- It is recomended to use short, clear melodies.
- Karaoke mode: players can sing already existing songs.
- Embrace the musical theatre mode of singing every move.
- Duets are not only permitted, but encouraged.
Only rhymed communication
In which players embrace their inner-poet.
This challenge is a fan-favourite in the phasmophobia community. Players can only speak in rhymes during this challenge. Every clue, command must rhyme with the previous line. This means that, not only players must rhyme their own sentences. Their sentences must rhyme with other player’s sentences.
For this challenge, small maps work better as players can hear each other clearly.
Unleash your creativity in Phasmophobia
If any of these modes and challenges piqued your curiosity, we’ve just proved the incredible replayability of phasmophobia. Whether it is the chaos of blindfold or the language challenge, or the hilarity of only singing, these games transform phasmophobia into an unpredictable experience.
Find players and take your ghost-hunting to the next level with phasmophobia. Pick a challenge and see who survives the longest!
Game on!👻