Phasmophobia is getting a big update once again, this time adding a fan-requested mode and more. Additionally, the notes briefly mention the next update that will bring a major change for Phasmophobia Players.
Phasmophobia ‘s journey has been interesting from day one. Kinetic Games, the developer and publisher of the game, consisted of just one person. Phasmophobia gained a lot of popularity during Halloween 2020 when Twitch streamers and YouTubers started playing it with their friends. It was well received by critics and players alike and still enjoys a large and loyal following with 96% positive reviews on Steam. Since the early days of Phasmophobia lately, the game has undergone some major changes with the studio growing to a team of 4.
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Players began creating their own Phasmophobia challenge modesonce they mastered most locations and difficulties, Kinetic Games decided to officially add the feature to the game. Once the Tempest update goes live, fans will be able to play 26 challenges with one challenge rotating per week. Challenge-specific items will be provided at no cost to players, and while winning a challenge will mean big cash and XP rewards, death or failure won’t cause a loss. Additionally, a brand new default difficulty named Insanity has also been added for those who feel Nightmare isn’t hard enough. There’s also a major overhaul with adjusted difficulty, as well as store updates and various other minor changes to textures, shaders and animations.
With the list of changes in the Tempest update (v0.8.1.0), came the warning that the next major update to Phasmophobia will be Progression Part 1, which will introduce the new leveling system to the game. Not all fans are excited about this change for one important reason. Player levels, money and equipment will be deleted and set to 0. Kinetic Games argued that this is necessary because this new system cannot be translated to the old one and would not be able to offer a fair equivalent to players. But based on their current level, fans will receive a unique badge to show how far they’ve progressed before the reset.
Big changes are happening everywhere Phasmophobia but it remains to be seen how they will all be received by the fans.
Phasmophobia patch notes
Custom difficulty
Custom difficulty reward values have been revised. This will help balance the game closer to the default difficulties and make progression fairer for those who don’t want to minify their custom games.
- The maximum possible reward value is now 15x
- Several options have had their rewards reduced
- Apocalypse Challenges requirements have been adjusted:
- Bronze: 6x+
- Silver: 10x+
- Gold: 15x
- Added rules to reduce rewards when two options are set to certain values, thus canceling each other out but still giving you a reward. Here are some examples:
- 0 sanity start with 25% health pills or higher
- Faster ghosts but play unlimited sprint
- Broken fuse box but lights: On
Activating one of these combinations will change the custom difficulty options panel to a yellow warning icon. You can hover over this icon to learn more about how it affects or is affected by other settings.
Several custom options have been adjusted:
- “Evidence Given” will now have a soft cap on the reward multiplier. Rewards added above these multipliers will only add 50% of their values to the total reward.
- 3 Evidence: 4x
- 2 Evidence: 5x
- “Grace Period” 6s removed
- “Sprint Duration” and “Sprint Recharge” have been removed and will be by default:
- Duration: 3 sec
- Cooldown: 5s
- “Sprint” options have changed to:
New Challenges
Paranoia
For the best investigators, a new default difficulty has been added: Paranoia.
More information can be found in the game on the difficulty selection screen.
Challenge mode
Added a new weekly rotation difficulty. Each week a different challenge will be available offering unique modes ranging from Intermediate to Insanity and beyond.
- Added 26 challenges
- A specific challenge load will be provided automatically, for free
- Completing the challenge 3 times on the designated map will give a lot of money and bonus XP
- Each challenge will be available twice a year
- You won’t lose anything if you fail or die
Cursed possessions
The staff at Sunny Meadows weren’t just experimenting on humans, they were seriously trying to discover something unnatural:
Monkey leg
A severed leg that grants a wish to those who ask for it. Beware, the desire may not be worth the consequences:
- Wishes can be found scattered around Sunny Meadows Mental Institution and will be added to your Journal when found. These are not required to use the foot and are just a permanent note to help you remember.
The number of wishes you have will correspond to the difficulty or reward multiplier for that contract:
- 0x – 1.9x Rewards: 5 wishes
- 2x – 2.9x Rewards: 4 wishes
- 3x Rewards or higher: 3 wishes
Note: After 2 weeks, these patch notes will be updated with the details of each wish
Store update
The shop computer has had some UI improvements
- Shop and Storage has been recreated, functioning like an online shopping cart
- Added an “all gear” loadout.
- You can now select “auto-add” to your upload to add it as soon as you join a lobby
Young
- Strange symbols have been spotted in the warehouse, what could they mean? Look for an answer!
- Crucifix uses will now have new textures, effects and sounds when used
- All UV shaders have been updated! UV effects will now be much more accurate and will work when other light is emitted on top of the UV light. Additionally, UV effects will now fade over time, instead of disappearing instantly
- The Tower Tarot Card will now additionally double all ghost activity for 20 decades
- Weather particle lighting has been improved and now works with skylight, helping them look more realistic (no more black snow!)
- All windows will now have new raindrop effects on them if it’s raining and additional sounds on all maps similar to Tanglewood
- Several leafy items will now be affected by the stormy weather outside
- You will now receive an in-game message when a new game update is available for download
- Broken Fuse Box sparks now bounce off nearby objects instead of clipping them
Changes
- Slightly reduced the range and resolution of many ambient lights. This should reduce the chance of your shadows becoming overly pixelated when you have a lot of lights on in one location, and reduce the chance of an object reaching the “maximum lighting” limit (eg leading to black floors or DOTS not to shed light)
- The time between hunts will now be the same if the ghost is using a cross or if it is hunting (20 for Demon, 25 for other ghost types)
- The ghost room will no longer be visible in the Haunted Mirror when using it at 0% sanity
- Ghost bullets can no longer go through walls in a different room
- Fog quality settings have been changed for better visual clarity in all settings
- Low – Downsampling to 2, no shadows
- Medium – No downsampling, no shadows
- High – No downsampling, capture shadows
- The blur has been removed
- Renamed Daily and Weekly Challenges to Daily and Weekly Tasks to avoid confusion with the new challenge mode difficulty
- Many icons have been improved
- Improved and fixed the display of light sources on computer screens in prison
- Improved the visuals of the collectible lockers in the warehouse lobby
- Lighting a Summoning Circle candle without reason will now immediately extinguish it. Note: Lighting the 5th candle without logic will trigger an immediate hunt
- Saying “goodbye” to the Ouija Board no longer counts towards challenges
- Renamed the Middle School bathrooms to make it clearer where they are
- Failing to join a room with a password now gives a more descriptive error
- Night vision camera effect will now adjust brightness when entering and exiting foggy areas
Corrections
- Ghosts can no longer interact with windows on the floor below them, in both Farmhouse locations
- Voice recognition will now work for all players if other players load slowly
- Several safe spots at the prison, the Maple Lodge campsite, and the school were removed
- Many shaders and materials will now render correctly
- The voodoo doll can no longer stop the hunt
- Using the Voodoo Doll, Tarot Cards, Music Box and Summoning Circle will now count towards the “use Cursed Possessions” task
- Items will no longer teleport to the SM Courtyard when thrown at certain locations
- He made some holes in the floor of the Sunny Meadows Courtyard
- Removed an invisible wall upstairs in Edgefield
- Improved anisotropic textures for radiators, carpets, outdoor terrain, SM floors
- Ghosts can now kill you on the blue beds in the house maps
- Ghosts can now detect active electronic equipment if grabbed while active
- Voice recognition will no longer work if you have the “text” voice recognition option enabled
- Apocalypse stickers will now appear in Singleplayer instead of Multiplayer
- A book in the Sunny Meadows Courtyard is no longer just a shadow
- Fixed several shadow rendering issues in Sunny Meadows and Tanglewood
- Thaye will now have the correct interaction rate before aging
- Window hits now count as interaction for stats
- Tasks with “Asylum” will now display “Sunny Meadows”
- You can no longer sprint or move while in the death chamber
- Setting a default for a custom difficulty and changing a cursed possession will no longer apply that change to the actual difficulty preset, instead just to the custom game you’re editing
- Staying on DOTS light will no longer stop sanity drain
- You can now see your hands on your screen when virtual reality and smooth camera are enabled
- Ghost orbs are no longer visible with a camera
- The ball in the Ridgeview locker upstairs will no longer break when the hiding spot is blocked
- Ghost orbs in outdoor “rooms” in Camp Woodwind will no longer be too high off the ground
- Camcorders will now receive the ghost glitch effects
- “Sky Light” will now turn on and off precisely with your settings
- Lighter flame is now considered for Onryo hunting ability when extinguished
- An Onryo will now have a higher chance of extinguishing a flame the more players are dead, instead of a lower chance
- The hunt will now end if all players are out
- Haunted Mirror will now drain at least 20 sane per use instead of 27
Phasmophobia is available on PC.
