Phasmophobia

Written by Elliot Hilderbrand on 10/28/2024 for PC   PS5  

I am at a loss for words. With Phasmophobia at almost 5,000 positive reviews and over 580,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam, I am at a loss for words. When I see review scores like that, I have to stop and think. First off, I think that I am in for a treat. How could I not want to review the console version of a game that is so loved by so many people? But now, I am convinced I am the only sane one here. The rest of you have slowly gone insane.

A couple of the Gaming Nexus writers got together to give Phasmophobia a shot. In our first session together, we had one member of our party playing on PC, while two of us were on PS5, and the fourth was playing on VR. You can skip down after my review to see what Eric thought about the VR experience of Phasmophobia. As someone who was playing with him, it is safe to say he was, at the very least, frustrated at times. John was on PC and couldn’t manage to either get into any game we set up or for us to get into a game he set up, so he bounced out before we even began to play on the first night. So our group of four became a group of three quickly. It turns out it was something small (which won't impact the release version of Phasmophobia) preventing him from being able to crossplay, but it was beyond our control on the first night to fix.

It also didn’t help that Eric on VR couldn’t complete the tutorial because it was too buggy for him, and Joe, on PlayStation 5,  didn’t even try the tutorial on the first night. I had completed the tutorial beforehand, and I'm glad I did. I will admit that we could have been more prepared. Taking the time and learning the basics of the game through the tutorial was useful. Learning what to look for, and seeing how hauntings would play out gave me a leg up on my friends. In the three scenarios we played I managed to stay alive in all three, and one of them died every time. I knew where and how to hide, and found myself taking time to turn on a light and gain back some sanity, which helped me to be more prepared. Anytime I came upon a locker I kept the door open, just in case I needed to run back to it and hide from a ghost. Joe, who was hesitant to play because he’s not into being scared, had next to zero idea what was actually going on, or what he needed to do. We ended up giving him equipment that we thought would be the easiest to use. In one run he took the radio, and left it on nearly the entire time until he somehow dropped it.

I was surprised by how even with finishing the tutorial and knowing what to look for, I was having almost zero positive results. It didn’t matter which tool I took into the house with me, I only found one instrument to be effective, the thermometer. Any other tool I attempted to use was useless. I’m not sure if I just happened to not have the right tools on me, if one of my team members just wasn’t using the correct tool, or something else. 

So I admit, the first night together was not the best. It didn’t help that we couldn’t put a full four-person group together, it also didn’t help that only one of us managed to get through the tutorial before playing the game. We also had all three of us go into the house, no one stayed with the truck to monitor or check the team’s sanity levels. We also were using the in game chat, and at the start we did not have walkie-talkies, so voice chat only worked with line of sight of the other players.

I attempted one solo match on my first night, to much of the same fate as playing with my friends. I took the equipment I liked the most and found that it didn’t help me. After about ten minutes of not having any ghost sightings, I decided to call it a night, deflated by my experience. I did not understand how my first experience with Phasmophobia was so bad. The only real fun that came from the first night was making fun of ourselves and the terrible situation we found ourselves in. I admit I had fun, but it was mostly because of the company I was keeping. I like playing games with these guys; the atmosphere is always light, and the jokes are endless. I don’t think I was getting much enjoyment from Phasmophobia the game. 

I became adamant that I must be in the wrong about my feelings with Phasmophobia. This has to be a fun game. I endeavored to learn why this game has become beloved by the masses. My first stop was Reddit. If anyone was going to agree with me that Phasmophobia is terrible, it would be those people. And if anyone could convince me I'm wrong, it's the folks on Reddit. My takeaway from that research is that Phasmophobia is a game you need to learn to play. You need to study the signs of the haunting; the more you play, the more you will understand what is going on. I tried again to play solo the second night, but came away with similar results. I thought I had a better understanding, but still wasn’t having success in finishing a haunting. I did have more luck with other tools, like the D.O.T.S. Projector, in locating ghost activity. 

I also spoke with a work colleague who has played Phasmophobia for some time. I spoke of my frustration with the game, and he was surprised. He had asked questions about equipment that I was unfamiliar with, like the camera, and walkie talkie. Turns out those are items I will unlock as I played more Phasmophobia, but at the time I had not gotten there. I eventually unlock the ability to purchase the camera. But once I do I’m given no indication how to load the camera into a session, or how to work the loadouts. I might have missed a screen explaining how that works, but it would have been a one off screen, never seen again while I played.

In general, the UI in this game is kind of a trainwreck. There must be something that got lost in translation between PC and console, but the menu system is a sprawling nightmare, the journal with all of the ghost-hunting information is difficult to navigate, and the shop where you buy upgrades is a complete lost cause. The game has you interacting with objects in the house with a tiny cursor, which is next to impossible when you are in a panicked retreat from an evil spirit. The entire experience feels like you are playing blindfolded with oven mitts on your hands, which just can't be what the developers were trying to accomplish. 

The second night of playing with friends yielded a lot of the same results that the first night did. We did manage to get John on PC to join Eric and myself, but did not have the results that we were hoping for. Three guys who were taking the game seriously were still not able to successfully find out who was haunting these homes. I had a couple of deaths, as did the rest of the party. We once again went three hunters in, no truck presence. This time I found myself taking time to really study each room, using all the tools carefully. We had a couple of jump scares that I found to be well placed. I also died a handful of times, finding the experience to be interesting and spooky, but still a let down.

I came the to the conclusion that Phasmophobia is a game that takes patience and a willingness to learn in order to fully enjoy. You need to play game after game, learn the minutia before truly understanding what is happening around you. A game you need to study to enjoy is not something that I am looking for. I didn’t enjoy homework back when I was in school, and that hasn’t changed. I feel like I understand why people enjoy Phasmophobia, but I also understand why that is not for me. I may be in the minority, but I do not enjoy Phasmophobia enough to engage in that sort of time commitment.

Phasmophobia in PS VR2 (Eric chimes in)

Playing Phasmophobia in the PS VR2 is a very different experience. I played through half of the tutorial in flat mode on my TV and was wildly unimpressed with the janky controls and fumble-y nature of the game. When I slapped on the VR headset, I was still wildly unimpressed with the janky controls and the fumble-y nature of the game, BUT Phasmophobia was much scarier, even in the tutorial. Seeing those lumpy spirits just kinda hanging in the room there, revealed by the dot matrix tool but occupying the same physical space as me was frightening.

I ran through the first level by myself, but didn’t really understand what I was supposed to be doing. This is a game that is definitely community-driven; it does a lousy job of telling you how to play. I just kinda wandered around, nothing happened, I got bored and decided to wait to play with friends. And that’s where Phasmophobia really came to life for me.

Playing Phasmophobia in VR with friends is hysterical fun. The feeling of wandering through these foreign spaces, which – while not cutting edge by any means – are rendered well enough to suspend disbelief, was remarkable. The feeling of “What is going to be around the next corner, or hiding in the basement?” lends a real creepiness to the experience, even while you are goofing around with friends.

After playing the game the first time by myself, I sent a message to the gang that said something like “2 janky 2 B scary”, but that wasn’t quite true. Because when the ghost comes hurtling down the stairs and makes a beeline for your face, and everyone starts screaming at the same time, the only way to describe that experience is “scary”. In fact, it was clear that I was much more frightened than my friends playing the “flat” version. I was the one lurking by the front door, waiting to dash out at the first sign of trouble. Of course, I was also the one unable to open the door because the controls completely suck ass.

The jank factor here is very real. Don’t expect any sort of modern VR mechanics here. This is strictly a first-gen “I dropped a thing and it’s kinda stuck in the floor and I can’t pick it up and I can’t bend over because I’m stuck on the geometry” sort of experience. I could barely even move across thresholds between rooms until I figured out that I had to sort of hug the corner. Mechanically speaking, Phasmophobia on PS VR2 is a total mess.

But still…that creep factor is very real, and the punishment for getting killed by a ghost is downright unnerving in VR. That situation is going to haunt my dreams for a few weeks. I think the bottom line for me is that you should play in VR if you can, but definitely play with others no matter what.