I truly love Phasmophobia and believe it is worth your time to play it.
If you read nothing else in this review, know that I could not recommend this game enough - especially for its price.
Phasmophobia is a fun, interesting, very atmospheric game made by people who love and appreciate old school horror. It is balanced really nicely for both solo and co-op play with up to 3 addition friends right now. It is balanced really well for both PC/consoles and VR play, I truly enjoy both PC+VR and they really do quality maintenance on the VR updates rolling out frequently so it doesn't get left behind. It's not the most action packed of all the co-op horror games, but I think it has some of the most satisfying investigation.
The lead developer who solely was working on this game until June 2021, then with a hired senior developer and lead artist to help put everything together they have not just said but done things I've always found really promising. Dknighter (lead developer and creator of Phasmophobia) has always been super transparent with how the game is coming together, what at least the major plans for the future are, and what is currently being worked on but was limited without help. After that second developer started helping this dream come together and an artist making custom graphics, they have been cranking out new content like wild fire spreading. It's incredible. They've expanded the team even further since then and it's only been becoming more cohesive.Â
Improving the models in the game while adding new ones, adding new ghost types to get it where they want it to be, adding a couple new maps in the year it's been out as of September 2020. Holiday and special occasion updates. But also, I am loving that they are making each ghost model unique and have its own personality. I love that Kinetic Games is made up of a team dedicated to classic, old school horror vibes and making the game more tense and interesting, with a deserve to never resort to cheap jump scares for the majority of the horror. A huge win for players like me who want a creepy atmosphere and building tension between scares.
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They've been doing great things with accessibility features and seem to always be planning more to make the game accessible to more players.
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They are doing near constant minor fixes with pretty frequent high quality major content releases and updates to keep things fresh.
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They do really well at paying attention to their community and listening to player feedback.
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They are really dedicated to the fascinating investigation side of the game and being forced to interact with the horrible supernatural being trying to murder you rather than you just either getting to blast it away or having to hide from it, which is a really refreshing change from a lot of horror from the last few years especially.
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I feel like Phasmophobia breathed new life, ironically, into horror and co-op but especially horror co-op games as soon as it hit the market. It's incredible and inspirational.
If you want to play Ghostbusters and just blast your way through, this game isn't for you. But if you want the creepy, building tension and pleasing terror as you try to investigate and make it out alive. This game is for you.
I have always told my friends and my community that this game is more for Fatal Frame horror style fans. Creeping around, trying not to die, but investigatory and forced to interact with a few ways to play defense when the time is right. That stealth, stay alive, can't fight back, psychological horror that i want with my investigating.
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Though it is very fun and easy to make silly with the right friends if you are into that too. Never underestimate the value of threatening the ghost or talking smack if you are feeling both silly and stuck.
Update from 2025: Still love it, still think it's a blast if you're looking for this type of thing
