Hey Ghost Hunters, we've got some news for you, and it's exciting...
Firstly we want to thank our incredibly passionate community for being patient with us while we work on the console update. With last year's estimated release date ultimately being delayed, we shared the frustration with console players and had to make sure that when we announced a new release date, it was one that we could meet.
We are collaborating with Unity to work on the console release, as well as general performance optimisations for both console and PC, this will ensure that the console update runs optimally and to the high standards that we set for the game. Working with them means that we can work alongside them on new content for all platforms, allowing faster development of new updates.
Future updates for the game will be released on all platforms simultaneously to ensure that cross-play is always available.
We're thrilled to announce that the console update will be released this year, during our in-game Halloween Event. Once launched, all players will have access to cross-play, allowing you to play the newest version of the game with everyone, including those using VR on any platform.
Below are some answers to the most frequently asked questions we've noted from our community about the console update.
Will consoles support voice recognition?
From day one, the consoles will support voice chat. You will be able to chat with your friends, and the ghost will be able to hear you during a hunt. However, the ghost, Spirit Box, Ouija Board and Monkey Paw will not support voice recognition at release. We are working on a solution for this, and will update you as soon as anything changes. In the meantime, we have a very easy-to-use preset text pop-up solution in place. No typing required. An example can be seen below.
How much is it going to cost?
We will be increasing the price of Phasmophobia on all platforms later this year to $19.99, due to the amount of content and playtime added since the start of early access we feel this is a fair increase.
What will the age rating be?
Phasmophobia will be rated as "16+/teen", however, this will vary in some regions.
Will it be available on Xbox Game Pass?
Currently we have no plans to be on Xbox Game Pass.
What update will console release with?
All platforms will be on the current major version, 0.10 at the console release. New content such as the farmhouse reworks will release afterwards.
If you have any further questions, please head to our Developer QnA channel in our Discord server where we have previously given answers. Feel free to ask any unanswered questions and we will be happy to do another FAQ in the future.
We'll see you in-game this Halloween... Happy Huntin'!
Due to the size of this update, we have given it the version number of v0.10, even though the Roadmap originally planned different content for that version number. The following updates planned in the Roadmap will instead have increased version numbers, but the content and order of updates remain the same.
Point Hope was recently refurbished by a young family seeking something unique to call home. You'll be welcomed by a modern extension, complete with a hallway, closets and a downstairs bathroom, before entering into the Lighthouse's main Living Room. Decorated with nautical knickknacks, you'll be faced with spiral staircases and round rooms, a first for ghost hunters.
This new location features 10 floors, 12 rooms, and a unique layout which will challenge players in new ways. You'll have to use different techniques for some of those pesky ghost abilities while playing on lower-evidence game modes.
Unlocks at level 15
Several progression and equipment items have been adjusted, based on community feedback:
Player levelling and rewards
The required EXP to level from 1-100 has been reduced by around 10%, making levelling faster
Players can now level up to 9999 for each prestige
The required experience needed to level up between 999 and 9999 will increase every level
Sunny Meadows Restricted is now categorized as a medium location
Increased rewards for correctly identifying the ghost in medium and large locations
Medium: from $125 to $150
Large: from $150 to $200
DOTS
Tier I’s light range has been increased
Tier III's scanning effect can now be paused by interacting with it while it is rotating
EMF
Tier I’s needle will no longer flicker near or past the 5 value during events and hunts, to stop confusion with evidence
Tier III’s EMF5 reading now plays a unique sound
Firelight
Increased the visible light intensity and range for both Tier I and II
Tier I duration increased from 3mins to 5mins
Tier II duration increased from 5mins to 10mins
Firelights and Igniters will now be extinguished accurately in heavy rain. For example, they will no longer be extinguished under house porches and inside small tents
Head Gear
A customizable keybinding has been added to the Controls page for turning on and off Head Gear
Turning Head Gear I on and off will now play different sounds to help know which state the equipment is in
While within range of a ghost event or hunting ghost:
Tier III will now have visual interference
All Tiers will now play a new sound
Parabolic Microphone
Tier I’s red light will now flicker when a sound is detected
Tier III can now receive sounds 1 floor above or below the player using it, with new UI to show which floor the sound is coming from
You now have to hold Parabolic Microphones to turn them on or off
Thermometer
Holding down the USE button while holding a Thermometer II or III will now continuously update, instead of having to restart after each reading
Tier I now has randomization to make it consistent with the other Tiers
Tier III Hold time has been reduced to 2.5s from 3s
Tier III randomization has been reduced to make it more accurate
Tripods and Video Cameras
Ghosts will now throw Video Cameras more consistently
Tripod I knockdown chance increased from 20%, to 30%
Tripod II knockdown chance increased from 10%, to 20%
Sanity Medication
Tier I restoration time has decreased to 20s, from 30s
Tier II restoration time has decreased to 10s, from 20s
Tier III will now instantly refill your sprint endurance in addition to keeping it full for 10s
Sound Sensors
Mute buttons have been added to each Sound sensor’s Truck UI
Spirit Box
Small environment lights such as lamps must now also be turned off to receive a response
You now must hold the Spirit box to use it with text-based voice recognition
UV Lights
Tier I and II have been swapped for better progression during levelling
We’ve drastically improved the performance of several areas of the game, which will result in fewer stutters, higher FPS, and quicker loading times, especially on low-end machines. The number of fixes and optimisations would be too many to list, but the following have received the biggest adjustments:
Photo and video cameras
Shadows
The weather and sky effects
UI
Physics
Audio
Reflections
Textures and shaders are now streamed to the GPU to significantly reduce VRAM and RAM usage
Tent door’s cloth system has been completely overhauled to increase performance
Lowered the temperature of Training to make the Freezing Temperatures section much faster to progress
Reduced the amount of equipment to 1 in each room
You now have to get EMF 5 to get past the EMF room
Props will now get thrown more frequently in the EMF room
Replaced the glowstick with the UV torch (as per the Tier changes above)
In the Ghost Orb section, players will now need to be more accurate with the video camera to avoid accidentally completing the objective without seeing the Ghost Orb
New ID Card badges can now be unlocked:
Lighthouse Keeper: Correctly identify the ghost on Point Hope 50 times on any difficulty
Apocalypse bronze: Correctly identify the ghost, take a ghost photo and complete all objectives on Sunny Meadows with a difficulty multiplier of 6 or higher
Apocalypse silver: Correctly identify the ghost, take a ghost photo and complete all objectives on Sunny Meadows with a difficulty multiplier of 10 or higher
Apocalypse gold: Correctly identify the ghost, take a ghost photo and complete all objectives on Sunny Meadows with a difficulty multiplier of 15
Note: If you have already completed any of the Apocalypse challenges, you will need to complete a single game of any kind to receive your new ID card rewards.
Players can now carry an Igniter in addition to 3 other items Note: Non-VR players can only carry one Igniter at a time, similar to flashlights
Igniters now have their own slot in the VR belt (When placing a tier 1 igniter in this slot, you won't be able to remove it again, until all matches have been drawn)
Unlocking a new reward that is not tied to levelling up will now show a popup on the mission summary screen
Ghost Writing Books now play new sounds when closed
Added Kate and Catherine to possible ghost first names
Ghosts can now leave single fingerprints on all small lamps and TV remotes in all locations
Equipment
You can no longer swap inventory slots while taking a photo
Removed flashlights from Hide and Seek Extreme as they were disabled from settings
"Deja Vu" weekly now has UV T1 instead of T2 to keep it a flashlight
Glow in the dark weekly now has T2 instead of T1 to keep it a glowstick
Asking the Ouija Board bone location questions will now drain 20% sanity, down from 50%, due to bone rewards not being included in the reward multiplier
Lighting the Summoning Circle candle will now instantly end the setup phase
Ghosts
Non-Ghost Writing ghosts now close the book after throwing it
Ghosts can no longer interact with already knocked-down paintings
Shades can no longer blow out fire sources or write in Ghost Writing books if there are any players in the same room, to keep their strength consistent
Improved the ghost's ability to interact with closed doors
Improved Banshee AI targeting when they stalk a player
“I wish to see the ghost” will now limit your vision after the ghost event instead of before, to allow you to see the ghost
Increased the sanity drain on one of the ghost events to match other events
Environment
"Paranormal Paparazzi" and "Hide and Seek: Hide" weekly challenges now take place in Point Hope
Drastically improved the Sunrise visuals
Turning on several light switches in a room, but not all, will now drain sanity at a reduced rate, instead of the full ‘sanity drain speed’
Props that don't move when hit with another prop will no longer play an additional impact sound
Adjusted all weather’s distant fog color for better blending with the horizon
Removed Point Hope teasers from all maps and lobby
Optimised assets across all maps
Lowered resolution for light cookies (flashlight light shapes etc) but increased resolution for sky light shadows
Moved the green bowl in Edgefield living room to help with the lamp interaction and new fingerprints
The Tanglewood utility room door can now be closed correctly by the ghost
Medium tent windows now have correct collision on both sides
Audio
Adjusted audio effects to help identify if sounds are above or below you
Sounds that are one floor above are bass-boosted and muffled
Sounds that are one floor below will be more muffled and quiet
Sounds that are two floors above you or below will have more extreme effects and volume reduction
The heartbeat sound will no longer be altered by reverb or other audio effects
Audio levels for the ambient room tone and Ouija Board have been remastered to bring them in line with other sounds
Reduced the volume for the writing sound for Ghost Writing Book III
UI
Difficulty, Money and Prestige level-up popups have received new images
Improved color accuracy of several UI components
Increased the width of the scrollbars in the Shop to make it easier for VR players
Several ID card titles have been renamed and shortened
Changed "Interaction amount" to "Activity level" in custom settings to better reflect what it does
Player
Player movement will no longer be affected by held equipment
Stamina recovery will correctly now start even if you are still holding down the sprint button but not moving
There is no longer a visual glitch when rapidly equipping and unequipping the Head Gear as one of the player models
You can now change your sprint mode while in a game, in VR
Fixed several areas where VR teleport movement could not teleport to
Changing your sprint mode to "hold" from "toggle" on PC, while sprint is toggled on, will no longer keep you sprinting, without pressing the sprint button
Removed sprinting FOV increase due to a graphical issue
Ghosts
Hanging Paintings thrown by the ghost will no longer fall through the floor
The ghost and bone can no longer get stuck in several locations
Yurei can now use their ability on doors that are open at the start of the game
Demon and Banshee attempting to use their ability, but failing, will no longer add to the "abilities used" stat
Ghosts will no longer keep throwing the same object over and over, and will instead choose more varied items within it’s interaction range
"Hide and seek extreme" now correctly has 3 evidence instead of only 2
Ghost event player detection will no longer include dead players if they didn't move after dying
Equipment
Motion Sensor II and III detection sounds can now be heard consistently
Parabolic Microphone II now displays the correct volume values
You can no longer get readings on the Parabolic microphone when in the truck
DOTS I and UV Light II's light will no longer stop emitting when placed in some areas
Changing the Sound Sensor size in the truck now only changes the area of effect UI instead of the equipment UI
The Parabolic microphone will no longer pick up sounds when in the truck
EMF reader I will now point the needle closer to the EMF value, instead of including the EMF values above and below it.
You can no longer take multiple photos of the same EMF interaction by using your inventory to refresh the EMF spot
Head Gear II will no longer be detected by the ghost when on if flashlights are disabled in custom settings
An active Parabolic Microphone will no longer muffle your audio when picked up, while holding another item
All Sound Sensor Tiers and Firelight Tier II are now more stable when placed in VR
You can no longer light other people's Incense by physically moving a fire source into it
VR players can now consistently place a Video Camera on a Tripod that is still attached to the Truck wall
The Ouija board will no longer break when saying goodbye with 0 sanity
Crucifix III will now be fully used for all players after it prevents a Cursed Hunt
Extinguished matches will no longer light other objects
You no longer need to swap hands between each Tarot Card draw in VR
Grabbing/swapping props or equipment in VR will no longer set the wrong hand position and rotation
Igniters can no longer be used if another player fully used up the fuel
Tripod III placement highlight is now visible when first placed
UI for text voice recognition will no longer get stuck if another player grabs the Ouija Board while you are using it
All Motion and Sound sensor map icons are now accurately sized on all maps
Environment
The player and ghost will now correctly be detected when moving between different rooms and floors, this will make evidence gathering much more consistent
Sunny Meadows reverb sound effects will no longer turn off while moving around in certain rooms
Maple Lodge Cabin window fingerprints will be visible again
Removed several locations where the ghost could get out of bounds in Sunny Meadows
Removed a spot where the ghost could get stuck behind the generator in Camp Woodwind
The camping chair next to the lovers' bench on Woodwind is no longer white
All overhead tarps on Maple Campsite now have rain sounds
Reduced visibility of geometry seams where you can see the skybox in Sunny Meadows
Keys collected will now have the correct name in the Journal
Window rain will no longer make things black when viewed from certain angles
All Brownstone High School windows and doors now have the correct fingerprint material
You can no longer place equipment in the gap under the cabin
Lights will no longer turn on if you turn them off during a flicker
Added skybox blockers to multiple areas to stop tiny gaps in geometry that show the sky:
Tanglewood
Edgefield
Ridgeview
Willow
Sound
Impact sounds will no longer play multiple times at once
UI
Skipping the animation when you level up more than once will no longer skip the previous levels' unlock popups
Challenge map names will now be correct
You can no longer complete the ghost photo objective when there is no space for photos in the journal
Known Issues
Deogen pathing can be inconsistent during hunts on Point Hope
Small items can occasionally fall through walls and floors in Point Hope
Our Twitter followers and users in the Discord may have noticed that we have been expanding the company this year. So far we've hired an additional 2 Artists, an Email Support, a Sound Designer and a QA Lead. Additionally, we are actively interviewing for several other roles, with new employees joining us throughout the year.
We are committed to expanding our team at a manageable pace, taking extra precautions while we continue working from home.
Our new office will soon be ready and we're looking for talented and passionate people to join us in our journey. If you're interested in joining our team and can work in the UK, you can find a list of our currently available positions on our website.
We appreciate your patience and understanding regarding the delay of Phasmophobia for consoles. Our team is still working to meet the high standards we've set for the game. While we understand that delays can be disappointing, we believe that the wait will be worth it. Our goal is to ensure that the console release delivers the best possible experience at release.
We will share more information on the development and plans for the Console within the next few weeks.
Initially, the "Point Hope" and "Adjusting the Ascension" updates were planned as separate releases earlier this year. However, we decided to address significant game optimizations and combine them with the new content. This approach ensures a much smoother experience for you when the new update is released!
We're excited to announce that Phasmophobia's "Eventide" Update will launch next Tuesday, June 25th. This update will include the brand-new location: Point Hope, the Ascension adjustments, and a host of optimizations, changes, and fixes. Our Official Partners will be streaming the update on Monday the 24th!
I wish for something real...
We're currently selling a limited-time plushie of the Cursed Possession: The Monkey Paw. It's a high-quality plushie made by the folks at Makeship; it's incredibly soft, has a felt tag and even has fur on the back of the hand!
This is a one-time run and won't be sold again, so don't miss out! Find more information and purchase one for yourself here:
We thought we'd update you with what's currently happening in development, and what's coming!
Any information and images are Work In Progress (WIP) and may change drastically before releasing
If all goes well, the highly requested Shop Update is planned to be released sometime next week!
It features a brand new design for the Shop and Equipment pages, with simplicity in mind. And a new Loadout page for getting into your games as quickly as possible.
We've taken in loads of feedback from the community and our beta team to make sure this is the best shop it can be, for all players, each page even has a short tutorial to help you out if you get lost!
For controller players, you'll be able to use buttons on your controller to quickly buy, sell and do other functions without having to move your cursor around the whole screen.
Ghost Huntin' Distribution Shop
Equipment Manager
Quick Loadouts
You may notice some new features in the loadout screen too; players using a keyboard will be able to rename their loadouts, and you can adjust the quantity and tiers of all items at once with the new buttons located at the bottom of the screen!
Alongside the new shop comes the ability to change player colours (for the sticky notes on the main menu/contract board, at the top of the shop and on the sanity screen), as well as customisation for your cursor during gameplay. You'll be able to pick which icon you want, the colour, size, transparency level and how it changes while you're highlighting something interactive. The new highlight options are also available for VR players! If you like how the cursor is currently in Live, you can easily recreate that too!
Point Hope construction continues, and now that the final few areas are being populated with new assets, we'll soon be able to set it up for gameplay and get testing.**
Here's a look at the nearly completed Games Room, featuring loads of new assets; a pool table, fishing rod, large armchairs, a chess board*, and a perfect looping spot provided by a large central pillar.
Zec has been hard at work continuing to white-box and create concept art for the farmhouse reworks. Today we're showing you just how run down Grafton is in the new version.
As you can see the shape of the building has been changed slightly, making the layout more dynamic and interesting. The walls are falling apart, so much so that weather from the outside might make its way inside during gameplay
One of the upstairs rooms is so run down that the wall has started to cave in, creating a new doorway for players. Items are scattered along the floor, and the bed has been partly dismantled. Maybe someone was here looking for something, and maybe they're still here...
*Yes, you can actually play chess now...if you know the rules of course.
**This isn't a quick step but we will keep you posted here and on Trello of how testing is going!
That's it for Development Preview #17. We'll catch you with some more teasers soon!
If you experience any issues or want to give feedback, please join the official Phasmophobia Discord: https://discord.gg/phasmophobia