Spoopy Streaming Sensation

November 4, 2020 6:14 AM

Phasmophobia (Win/VR via Steam Early Access) is the latest Twitch videogame sensation, “a truly terrifying psychological online co-op ghost hunting experience” (PC Gamer), “a nice, cozy kind of horror that’s light on gore but still offers genuine thrills and chills” (The Verge).
posted by adrianhon (9 comments total)

I'm so glad this is offered in both VR and PC. It opens up way more players and both are a good experience. It's a little clumsy, and playing in VR gives me motion sickness...so having a choice is nice.

Dying isn't that scary, but being hunted (or hunting!) is actually pretty spooky. My partner plays in VR, and it was pretty funny to hear him freak out from the other room as he walked into the back of a fan (in-game) which he thought was a ghost kid. It's cheap easy thrills and better at spookiness than most horror films! Recommend.
posted by spbb at 6:18 AM on November 4, 2020

This game has so much potential. The fact that this was developed by one person is pretty astounding, but its instant popularity has proved to be a little hard on the game - lots of server uptime struggle, tons of community-submitted bugs and suggestions.

I've already put about 20 hours into it and it's tons of fun with friends. I did try it in VR but it was unplayable at that time. There was a bright white halo around my whole area of vision that made it impossible to see anything. I would love to try it for a few minutes before I inevitably get motion sick, or scream and throw the headset off in fear, though.

I'm really hoping to see it do well.

p.s. it's spelled Phasmophobia - might want to correct in the tags and post text.
posted by rachaelfaith at 8:01 AM on November 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

Whoops - just fixed the tag and asked the mods to fix the post!
posted by adrianhon at 8:46 AM on November 4, 2020

Mod note: Fixed!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:47 AM on November 4, 2020

See, and yet even though I've watched several videos of entertaining groups of people playing it and that's been okay because the people are entertaining, the game itself looks like utter rubbish. There are almost no mechanics and the gameplay is slow and boring; the only entertaining part of it is the social aspect, where you play with friends and mutually build a mood of spooky fun. It seems to hang a *lot* of its appeal on its use of the local-only chat feature and (buggy, spotty, and unpredictable) voice commands to manufacture a sense of realism. I really hope someone takes these ideas and helps make a game around them someday.
posted by Scattercat at 9:58 AM on November 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

I've played this a fair amount in VR and flat.

My original idea was to have my 8 year old son play in 2d and stay in the truck while I went into the terrifying house.

He was not useful support personnel and I got eaten by a ghost.

Then my wife tried. She went inside with me and had the flashlight. So I spent most of the time in absolute darkness.

Then we started to see ghosty things.

We packed up and left in the van, confident that, yes, there was a ghost there, but they can get fucked if they think we will capture it for 12 dollars.

Super entertaining game. Shit VR teleport locomotion (too short of a distance, and has a weird cooldown). But well worth the ~15 they're charging.
posted by Lord_Pall at 10:02 AM on November 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

I love VR games, and the mixed media VR Vs. Flatscreen approach really appeals to me, but I can't take jumpscares on TV let alone in VR. I'm never going to be able to play this :(
posted by Eleven at 10:27 AM on November 4, 2020

My coworkers are thinking of playing it, and ask me if I want to join in, and I have a feeling I will be That Person who stays in the van and never goes looking for ghosts.

"Kate, Kate, can you see anything?"
"You're all good!"
"Are we really?"
"Oh, sorry, no, I'm not looking at the monitors. Nope. Not gonna."
posted by Katemonkey at 12:54 PM on November 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

I played this with some friends a couple of days ago. We tried diving in without doing the tutorial, which was a huge mistake. Do the tutorial. We then tried the tutorial while chatting with each other. I gave up after the ghost set off the car alarm and there was no way to turn it off. (There was also no way to record the fact that it had set of the car alarm). It's the second game I've ever played where I didn't even finish the tutorial.

It was fun, but frustrating. The controls are crap, the "run" is slower than any walking pace I've ever seen and apparently bags do not exist in the universe, let alone the high tech invention of the camera strap or lanyard. It's early access and it shows. Neat idea, I hope the boost in popularity allows the creator to higher a team and build this into a magnificent game, rather than one that leaves me feeling like a need a video game break to relax and work out my frustrations afterwards.
posted by Hactar at 6:23 PM on November 4, 2020