Phasmophobia - "Fuck around and find out" - Local Ghost

[Ly Erg]

New horror game set around finding evidence of paranormal activity and ghostly doings while trying to remain sane and alive.

What I like about this game is how well it does the randomisation and still remains frighting and on edge with each new level and playthrough. I feel with the likes of horror games being all random elements may suffer with the issues of pacing and lack the subtlety and build up of anxiousness and fear of games that are heavily scripted or have some random elements but not enough to cause it fall on it's ass in attempt to catch people out. But I think this game struck gold with the idea of using Ghosts and paranormal activity for the randomly generated actions of enemies since Ghosts are the type of bastards that would be chaotic and subtle at the same time. Like doors opening, objects going missing or moving, faint noises, lights flickering etc etc. A build up of what's to come for the actual horror of having something stalk, mess with you and hunt you that you can't see without losing your sanity and rational logical thinking when things start going haywire.

There's a lot of neat small details involved in this game that ties in with the in-game voice chat. So when you ask questions and say the spirit's name you will get unique actions or not depending if the ghost feels like it. Another thing is how the further away from your group you are, the more you have to rely on the radio which can be fucked with by the ghost and if the ghost starts to hunt and try to kill one of you, it will more likely target those who are screaming, flashing their lights at it and saying keywords like RUN. There's a total of over 100 key words you can ask and saying the name of the ghost will piss it off which is what everyone new to the game does and gets more screwed because of it.

This game focuses not only observing the ghosts and surviving but also obtaining evidence to gain money to buy better equipment for more harder difficulty locations and ghosts. Obtaining evidence is capturing things on camera, getting EMF or Temp readings, fingerprints, ghost writing and recording of sounds. With enough evidence, you can try and pin-point what type of ghost you are dealing with which can range from spirit, poltergeist, banshee to demons, onis and all sorts to obtain bonus money.

It's quite addicting with friends as you will have to try and coordinate as much as possible to get as much evidence as you can without dying so you will see experienced player act like Ghost SWAT while amateur players will act like victims in a Horror Movie. You can also solo it too which adds even more fear and challenge.

The game is made by one dev I hear or at the very least, does most of the work so it's still rough around the edges but it's pretty solid for all the effort put into it. I hope they still keep working on it as it's got tons of potential and it fits in well within scary month.

 

[Peasant]

Definitely a FOTM title, but a very enjoyable one.

Despite the simple mechanics and objectives, it works because you're playing a game of chicken with the ghost. You need to chum the waters enough to get the ghost to leave evidence for you, but not so much that you get got. The randomization is deeper than you'd expect at first glance, given that the map layouts don't change and the general process for finding the ghost remains the same once you figure out the routine. It gives you the definite feeling that you can never expect what's going to happen at any given moment, which makes for a great horror experience. Sitting in the ghost's haunt trying to get it to talk to you will never not be tense as all hell.

Also I'm pretty sure the player characters are not professionals of any kind, given that you get paid beer money to risk your necks sniffing out murderous spirits. I think the voice on the radio may be running some sort of scam.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Also I'm pretty sure the player characters are not professionals of any kind, given that you get paid beer money to risk your necks sniffing out murderous spirits. I think the voice on the radio may be running some sort of scam.

That's a pretty good plot hook for a game like this.
If I was in my early 20's and someone paid me and three other dudes 100 bucks each to make sure there aren't any ghosts in the fridge of a suburban home I would take that money, there are no ghosts after all. If ghostly things happen the whole thing is obviously just a setup for a hidden camera show and that probably means a pay raise at the end of it all. Whoops, now everyone is dead and the guy on the radio is nowhere to be found.

 

[CHARizard]

I haven't had this much fun playing a multiplayer game in a long time, the atmosphere is really well done. It does kind of suck that it gets much easier the more you learn about the game, my group can now figure out what kind of ghost it is 90% of the time without it even getting the chance to attack.

 

[FatalTater]

I've been watching some youtubers play it and it seems fun. It certainly makes for either the funniest or the most boring Let's Play videos.

 

[BOONES]

Well shit, didn't expect there to be a phasmophobia thread.

It's honestly a seriously good game with unrivaled potential if they handle it right.

 

[Peasant]

The game has had a major issue with voice chat randomly not working for a while now; there's a beta branch you can opt into on Steam which seems to fix this, among a few other changes.

 

[Anja Din]

Looks fun. Wish more people played it.

 

[Smug Chuckler]

SHOW YOURSELF
GIVE US A SIGN
SHOW YOURSELF
GIVE US A SIGN
SHOW YOURSELF
GIVE US A SIGN

Don't play this if you have a husband/wife, sibling or a roommate. He/she is going to get annoyed....

 

[Ly Erg]

It's dark, you're wandering the rooms looking for any evidence of ghosts. Your mind starts to play tricks on you as well as that anxious feeling that something is watching you. You start calling questions, throwing them left and right to no response on your little radio box you carried about. You start to get more anxious and start to leave the room you entered, only the door you came through to be locked. You start panicking as you try and get the door open only for you to notice that the room temperature is getting colder to the point that once you saw your breath, the lights started to flicker. You turn around with the flickering flashlight you carried in your hand, terrorfied at the prospect that you may not be alone in this room which to that point your first thought was to get out even more. You head back to the door, still struggling to open with every attempt at nudging it out.

And in that moment, a noise came from the tiny radio. One that was heard and will be the last thing heard before the demise of the unfortunate player...

Spoiler

E

 

[Chin of Campbell]

Love the game, has a lot of potential if developed properly. It does crack me up that the houses are made with House Flipper assets, though.

Definitely need to make the ghosts more different from each other and more distinct. Some non-violent ghosts that instead are much harder to coerce into giving evidence and you're working against the clock would be cool too.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Is this a game played with randos or is it required/recommended to organize a group of friends?

 

[Peasant]

Is this a game played with randos or is it required/recommended to organize a group of friends?

Starting out with a group of friends is the most fun, but after I figured out what I was doing I've had a fine time playing with randoms and coaching them through jobs.

The first game I played with friends, we accomplished absolutely nothing and ended up getting shut inside a tiny laundry room with the ghost who kept re-appearing in different spots and spooking us for a few minutes before we left. Was pretty kino, but you don't gain levels and unlock new gear very fast when you don't successfully identify the ghost. As of right now there's only two new jobs to unlock through progression, as well as two higher difficulties which reduce and eliminate the safe period at the beginning of the round. Hopefully the developer is able to crank out new maps soon after he's done with this major bugfixing update.

 

[Marissa Moira]

You can't tell if it's the ghost causing shit to break or if it's just the poorly coded game.

 

[An Ghost]

Reminds me of The Forest. Supposedly the cannibals have advanced reactive AI and patterns and leave markings in places you can interpret. How you react to their curiosity influences how they react to you. Or its just fucking bullshit and you mow em down cause theyre aggressive as fuck regardless.

Rounds with the same type of demon can result in very different experiences. Some rounds we didnt see the ghost but fulfill objectives somehow. Or times when the activity level sky rockets and drops randomly and without consequence. Friends complained about getting attacked immediately and aggressively but when i played with them ghosts were super passive. I genuinely dont understand how crucifixes prevent anything. And i could look it up, but i am actually enjoying the game a lot and that would kill the fun. Or maybe its all bullshit. I dunno.

The game shines in its atmosphere in both suburbia and creepier buildings despite being a cheap ass unity asset flip. I heard the game is made by one guy but handsim is $2 and looks exactly the same. The audio is oppressive from the house and the tools. Even knowing its just a vidya, nothing is spookier than playing bait talking to a ghost who likes people alone, trying to get its photo. More tense than any CS awp standoff.

Rating: youtuber bait of the week/10. Steep at $13 and more enjoyable with friends.

 

[FatalTater]

I have heard that now, if you die in th game, your ghost can mess with the other players.
Phasmophobia just got a lot more interesting to me.

 

[Mooger Meng]

I have heard that now, if you die in th game, your ghost can mess with the other players.
Phasmophobia just got a lot more interesting to me.

In a limited capacity, yeah. Shit my buddies found out with a bit of fiddling:
-Dead players can't interact with or manipulate any of the team's equipment. No answering the spirit box, no writing in the book, no EMF readings, nothing. They also can't screw with the lights.
-Dead players can interact with just about any other props. Beer cans, shoes, knives, teddy bears, phones; whatever random shit that's kicking around, they can grab it. This includes the voodoo doll, but not the Ouija board.
--Dead players only have one "slot" to hold things.
--Objects held by a dead player are functionally removed from the map until put down - they just fucking vanish. Consequently, when they are dropped, they appear out of thin air.
----Nothing a player ghost throws makes any noise (at the moment). Go ahead, drop that bloody knife on the desk with the fucker in the van. You know you wanna.

At the moment, it's a bit of a novelty - something for dead people to do while they wait - but with sufficiently creative players, I can easily see this being a way to mess with the rest of the team, or assist in some small manner by answering simple questions via hurling designated items.