Phasmophobia is finally coming to consoles, and a new group of gamers will finally have the chance to try the beloved co-op ghost-hunting game just in time for Halloween. In Phasmophobia, players must take on a contract as paranormal investigators, locate the ghost haunting the home or other abandoned facility, and find evidence it leaves behind to determine what kind of ghost it is. They’re slowly losing Sanity (Phasmophobia’s version of HP), making it more likely the ghost will try to hunt them before they can discover its identity.
Especially following its Ascension update, Phasmophobia has grown to be an incredibly deep, complex PvE experience that isn’t always friendly to newcomers. While it may be possible to use Phasmophobia’s cross-play feature to join a veteran player who’s been enjoying the game since its release in 2020 and knows all the mechanics and secrets, many new players might be going in without help. Here are ten essential tips every new Phasmophobia player should know before starting their first hunt.
10 Play The Tutorial
Learn The Basics
Phasmophobia is a complex game that can be confusing at first for beginners. The tutorial is packed full of useful information that can help new players learn by doing, as seen in HunterZinfected‘s video. While some game tutorials can be skipped, it is best to play through the Phasmophobia tutorial to get a feel for the game and learn the controls.
9 Find The Ghost Room
The Room Will Have Most Evidence
The most important thing for players to do at the start of the match in Phasmophobia is to locate the ghost’s room. This is where the ghost will spend the most time and where it is likely to touch the most objects and give evidence. It will also often start a hunt from this room or nearby, so this is where protective equipment like Crucifixes should go. Several pieces of equipment can help players find the ghost room in Phasmophobia. These are:
- EMF Readers
- Thermometers
- Video Cameras (with Night Vision turned on)
Especially when playing with a squad, every team member should enter holding a different piece of equipment that can help deduce where the ghost room is.
Remember, on higher difficulties, the ghost is more likely to change rooms during the match.
The ghost room will always be significantly colder than the rest of the map, allowing players to see their breath. Just be sure the breaker is turned on because if it is snowing, breath will be visible throughout the map until the electricity is switched on.
Ghost activity, like thrown objects or touched doors and light switches, will always yield an EMF reading. Via Night Vision with a Video Camera, players can sometimes see Ghost Orbs. Ghost Orbs are potential evidence that can be used to guess the ghost type, and they always appear in the ghost’s room.
Once the ghost room is identified, players can set down a Crucifix to protect themselves and gather evidence. As a general rule, drop as much equipment as possible from the first loadout once the ghost room is found, and return to the truck to bring in more.
8 Stay In The Light
Protect Your Sanity
In Phasmophobia, players’ and teams’ sanity percentage dictates how the ghost behaves, and sanity is partially tied to lights. It is best to stay in the light as much as possible. Flashlights do not protect against the sanity drain, and firelight only somewhat protects against the sanity drain. Most ghosts will start hunting as team sanity drops to around 50%, with a few notable exceptions. Keep the breaker on to keep it safe, and turn on lights as the team explores the map.
Be careful, however. Turning on too many lights can blow a fuse and leave the team in total darkness until the breaker is turned back on. Additionally, some ghosts like to appear and pop lightbulbs, rendering them useless for the rest of the hunt. For best results, only turn on lights along the route to the ghost’s room and turn off all others.
7 Master One Map At a Time
Learn Your Surroundings
When starting with Phasmophobia, it’s a good idea to start with one map and master it before moving on to other options. For beginners, 6 Tanglewood Drive tends to be an easy place to start. They stick with one map when first learning to play, which will lower the chances of players getting lost on maps with more rooms. It will allow them to get comfortable using equipment, locating and memorizing hiding places, finding the bone and the Cursed Possession, and finding and using evidence. Once this first map feels comfortable, try a house like 13 Willow Street with two floors but only 11 rooms to get a feel for how multi-floor maps work.
6 Take Pictures
Gather Good Evidence
Money and XP are intrinsically linked in Phasmophobia, and the more money players earn per contract, the more XP they earn toward leveling up and unlocking new maps and better gear. One of the best ways to earn extra money in Phasmophobia is by taking photos. Photo cameras are not part of the starter equipment everyone gets in their loadout, and they can be somewhat expensive, but they are worth bringing to every hunt for some easy bonus XP. There are many things to photograph for rewards in Phasmophobia. These include:
- The Bone and Cursed Possession
- Interactions (e.g., doors that have been touched, thrown objects, blown-out candles)
- Disturbed Salt
- Dead Bodies of fallen teammates
- UV handprints, footprints, and fingerprints
- Ghost Writing
- Burned Crucifixes
- Dirty Water
- The Ghost itself (during hunts, ghost events, or via the DOTS Projector)
To get the highest quality picture, make sure to be up close to the subject. Up to two bad pictures can be voted out per match as long as all teammates vote to remove them.
To count, photos of Interactions must be taken within a few seconds of the Interaction occurring. If the photo does not say ”
Interaction”
underneath it, it does not count, and the team should vote to remove it.
5 Listen Carefully
Keep Your Ears Open
Sound is a powerful tool in Phasmophobia. Ghosts make noise when touching doors and throwing objects, alerting players to their location. But, more importantly, during hunts, ghosts’ footsteps can often help players determine what kind of specter they’re dealing with without needing to have all the evidence.
Different ghosts hunt at different speeds or change speeds during a hunt depending on whether they spot a player. While reading up on each ghost can help beginners learn hunt behaviors, experience is the best teacher. Find a hiding spot and listen closely during hunts to learn more about each ghost type.
4 Turn Off Electronics During Hunts
Ghosts Won’t Be Able To Track You
When a ghost hunts in Phasmophobia, it can find players in one of three ways: line of sight to their character model’s head and shoulders, player voices, and electronic equipment. While hiding, it is still possible for the ghost to find a player if they have any electronics turned on.
Equipment will be designated as “electronic” in the in-game shop, but this includes everything except Crucifixes, Incense/Smudge Sticks, Lighters/Matches, Salt, and Sanity Meds. Once in a safe hiding spot, cycle through your inventory and turn off all electronic equipment until the hunt is over to ensure the ghost isn’t drawn to your location.
Related
Phasmophobia Is Finally Coming To Consoles (With Both Good News & Bad)
The indie ghost-hunting horror game Phasmophobia is arriving on consoles just in time for Halloween with both good and bad news for fans.
3 Avoid Saying Its Name
It Angers The Ghost
When starting a new contract in Phasmophobia, the ghost’s name will appear both in the truck and the journal. In general, saying a ghost’s first name in the Spirit Box or just aloud in the building is enough to anger it and potentially cause it to hunt. It is a good idea to avoid saying a ghost’s name unless the goal is to trigger a hunt.
2 Play On Higher Difficulties
Challenge Yourself
It may seem counterintuitive, but one way to get better at Phasmophobia is to play on more complex difficulties sooner. The more difficult the contract, the more active the ghost will be at the start, and the more information players can get right away. Easier difficulties give players a grace period to set up before the ghost can initiate a hunt, and it takes a while for ghosts to become active in these modes as sanity drains more slowly.
Top Phasmophobia players prefer to get hunts right away, as that’s a great way to find the ghost and potentially identify it from its hunting behavior rather than its evidence.
Going into a match on harder difficulty, making peace with potentially dying to a ghost hunt, and just doing the best possible job can make the game and its ghosts less intimidating and teach players a lot about the game’s mechanics. It can also make many of the jumpscares in Phasmophobia a little less terrifying over time.
1 Have Fun
Learn As You Go
Phasmophobia is a challenging but incredibly rewarding game best experienced among friends, especially during Halloween. It is likely that, as a beginner, it will take time to master all the tricks veterans use to achieve Perfect Investigation bonuses and massive reward multipliers. Part of the learning curve involves getting scared, dying, and experimenting to learn what playstyle feels right. The most important thing new players can do is hop into a match and have fun.
Video Credit: HunterZinfected/YouTube
- Released
- September 18, 2020
- Publisher(s)
- Kinetic Games
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
