Written by Matthew Escalante, Staff Writer/Photographer/Editing
Illustration by Summer Gray, Illustrator/ Cartoonist/Animator
It’s cold, your breath is visible in front of your face. The room you are in is nearly pitch black besides the small space you occupy. The wallpaper around you is faded and torn. The floor creaks in pain under your weight. A radio buzzes faintly through the silence. Your flashlight begins to fade, and your heartbeat quickens. Only when two rotted hands appear, do you realize. You are not alone…
“Phasmophobia” is an indie co-op horror game developed by Kinetic Games, released on Sept. 18, 2020. The game revolves around you and three friends gathering information about a spirit at a designated location. All while a haunting spirit stalks around the site. Players can buy various equipment to help gather evidence, protect themselves, and locate the spirits themselves.
So what makes this game so special compared to other games within the genre?
First off let’s talk about the mechanics of the game which makes the game that much scarier.
Phasmophobia supports VR, making the experience more intense and interactive than other horror games, but can also run without VR (a simple yet unique addition).
The game also includes an idea I haven’t heard of before, microphone tracking. The ghost can hear the player constantly, every word and every breath, and will track the player based on their volume. The ghost can even respond to certain questions and audio queues. An example of this is calling a ghost’s designated name, which will irritate the spirit and may cause it to attack.
On the topic of spirits, each one is nicely developed. They all have different attributes and personalities which may influence how you need to play. One spirit may be very aggressive, making it so players must be constantly on their guard, while others may be timid in nature forcing you to provoke a reaction. Spirits can interact with everything a player can interact with, may it be writing in a book or turning off the lights. Spirits haunt a specific room in every location, which will cause the room to have certain attributes to help it stick out, but be mindful of the ghost which is more active in the haunted room.
Equipment is a lifeline players must use to their advantage in order to gather evidence and avoid being killed. Some items such as ones mentioned before help gather evidence through writing, question answering, fingerprints and more. While other items are designed to help the player protect themselves, such items include the crucifix and smudge sticks. Equipment can be bought before every mission to aid in the investigation. Money to purchase said equipment is acquired by finishing missions and gathering evidence. Though dying during a mission results in the loss of the equipment you had on your character or on the location.
Our last aspect is the fact the game is co-op, something I mentioned earlier. Co-op isn’t very common in horror games. This is because having a single player game amplifies the feeling of isolation. Though Phasmophobia works multiplayer to its advantage. Players can only communicate with others when they are in close proximity or over radio. Both of these options have downsides.By talking to others you alert the ghost to your presence, so only talking when necessary is best. The radio can also cut off, resulting in some players becoming isolated from the rest of the team.
The game as of now is very young, but I can see the potential of such a unique game, as long as the developers decide to stick by it and take advantage of the growing playerbase.