Phasmophobia is a multiplayer horror experience where you and your friends become paranormal investigators and identify ghosts in a series of haunted locations. This is version 0.8 of the game, and it's available on Steam. Atmosphere The goal of the game is to identify ghosts by using the tools provided to pin down what specific ghost is in the house. Getting it right earns you money for more expensive tools and unlocking more locations, but thankfully leaving empty handed isn't punishing, it's just disappointing. The first time you enter a location it's not immediately apparent what's going on or the danger you're in. The early levels are dark but they just seem like average houses, you can turn the lights on and treat it like a normal home but this doesn't last. There's a mild sense of foreboding the very first time but after encountering the ghost the atmosphere changes immediately. There's the ongoing feeling that you're doing something you shouldn't be and antagonising the ghost to let it trigger the tools builds dread very quickly. The environments you enter use a very low rumble to instil the feeling that there's a presence in the building. It feels haunted, and it's effective at not only making the van and outside of the building feel safe, but makes the interior feel incredibly stressful or downright hostile. There were plenty of times where the idea of going back into the location was so unnerving that it was difficult to find the courage to re-enter. This goes further when the ghost disables the lights, which sit in the dark instead. The game's level of immersion can rise and fall with the way certain things are presented, with seams in the development sometimes being visible. But the realism of the way the ghosts are presented is never in question. It feels real, and the multiplayer elements I find usually make games like this feel less impactful because it lacks atmosphere with other people around you. But whether you're playing this alone or with friends, the game's use of atmosphere makes it so that there's a sense that all of you are at the mercy of the game is interacting with the ghosts, using the tools to discover details about them and identify them often seems to only antagonise the ghosts and make things worse, but it's something you have to do. By far the most unnerving of all the tools that I used was the spirit box, which can use your actual microphone to activate and identify a presence. Oh yep, there's a hello, there's definitely a voice in that room. While it's a little disappointing that it doesn't react to what you're saying specifically, when you talk to a ghost and it replies, it's deeply unsettling. The other tools like the dots which project a series of dots across the area can jump scare the player if they witness a ghost moving through the field since the ghost briefly becomes visible. Even things like using the night vision camera to see small ghost orbs induces a sense of wonder while still being creepy. The atmosphere is so good and the ghosts are presented so believably that even looking at the numbers on the activity gauge can sometimes just be unsettling, like something you don't understand is angry with you. The number of scripted events is overwhelming, whether it's objects moving on their own, electronics activating randomly, lights switching on and off, or doors closing, the ghost's influence is undeniable, and they all feel so organic and realistic that it never once felt cheap in over 20 hours of playing. The game has chase sequences called hunts where the ghost can murder the player if it catches them, which makes every single time the ghost reveals itself to the player to be inherently terrifying because it's unclear if the ghost is trying to kill you or just scare you. There's a level of frustration where this is the ghost closest to front door so you can't flee, and in smaller environments it's nearly impossible to escape without dying or using special tools which don't seem reliable either. As mentioned earlier, it's disappointing to die very early before uncovering what ghost you are trying to identify and sometimes the deaths seem unavoidable. The game obviously has a great deal of jump scares but none of them ever felt cheap. The ghosts are presented in such an organic and realistic way that you can enter the same house and encounter the same type of ghost over and over and still not know what to expect. That's two Harry Masons. Sound Design The game's soundtrack only really consists of the dark ambient music played very low in the mix, which creates a sense of dread. It's effective, but there's nothing much to say about it. The sound effects are very realistic for items being thrown about. The directional audio makes doors opening and things impacting the floor being very easy to pinpoint by sound alone. The ghost's sound effects are really impressive, with the sounds of humming and singing filling your ears when the ghost interacts with you, as well as the more in-your-face scenarios. The spirit box can be a little hard to understand, but the shorter sentences are unmistakable and very creepy. Things like the parabolic microphone are unnerving, even if the sound effect is a bit generic, but it's more about finding something than what it is that you hear. There's voice acting for the man on the intercom who talks about your contracts, and the line delivery is a little unenthusiastic, but it's such a small part of the game that it doesn't really matter. Overall, the sound design doesn't amount to a great deal of the experience, but it's realistic, and that's all it needed to be. That's three hair races. Gore Gore. The game's gore consists of some pentagrams written in blood, and that's about it. Considering the game is about ghosts, there's not a great deal of gore that should be in the game, and from the levels I explored, there wasn't anything out of place or uncharacteristic for the scenarios you end up in. That's for Harry Masons. Story Phasmophobia being a multiplayer experience doesn't have much of a story, besides seemingly randomly assigned backstory to the locations that the intercom guy talks about as you gear up. Whilst not necessarily part of the story, the journal has a lot of interesting things about the ghosts themselves and there's still stuff to read in there. Generally the game is completely fine without having a story, but it would have been nice to have a potentially over-arcing story to the ghost hunting, or even some world building of some variety, but as the game stands it lacks a story of any kind, making the final score 4 out of 5 Harry Mason's. Phasmophobia is quite surprising as the only multiplayer experience I've had so far that delivered on the horror instead of using horror themes on top of a traditional multiplayer game. Its unique mechanics make simple things like accomplishing your goals feel incredibly difficult and its presentation of ghosts is done very well. The game is apparently heading for its next update of 2.0 and it looks like it'll be interesting to try it out again to see what's changed. Again I'd like to remind you the whole thing is down to my opinion in horror games and if you don't share this opinion then that's cool, I get it. I'd like to point out that whilst I heard the front door close I did not give up immediately and if you don't share this opinion, then that's cool. I get it. I'd like to point out that whilst I heard the front door close, I did not give up immediately and advise you don't either. There will be more horror reviews in the pipeline, and thanks for watching. Always go check out Bumps in the middle of the night. Peace. you you