What changed in Phasmophobia in 2023

You will no longer get Point Hope as a weekly challenge map.

Years with an extra week will no longer break the weekly challenge on the last week of the year.

Fixed localisation issues with the Holiday event in some languages.

Motion Sensor II now toggles shapes correctly.

Some walls no longer teleport items back to the truck incorrectly.

Removed tree rendering issues next to the white tent in Maple Lodge Campsite.

Updated the textures, audio, and effects for the Summoning Circle.

Sounds that loop should now always be audible from the start, and are more reliable.

Lowered the volume of DOTS Projector III.

Flashlight III Upgrade now costs $3000 (up from $2500).

Removed the fog leak in Sunny Meadows male day room.

Potential fix for crucifixes not preventing hunts.

Nightmare difficulty now unlocks at level 30 instead of level 29.

Salt II is now consumable, as listed in the shop.

An error message will now show if you fail to connect to Unity Gaming Services.

The Custom difficulty icon in the server list now displays correctly.

You can no longer throw/place equipment through the Tanglewood glass sliding doors.

The Parabolic Microphone objective will no longer be completed if you are not holding it.

The Holiday 2023 event is now active and will last around 3 weeks.

Pressing the ‘Special’ key binding while holding a Flashlight will no longer play the toggle sound.

Lowered the 'far' Spirit Box response’s minimum distance to 2m, from 4m.

Potential fix for DOTS ghosts being invisible during hunts.

UV Flashlights can no longer charge fingerprints/footprints while Flashlights are set to disabled in the Difficulty settings.

Motion Sensor mini-map icons now turn green when a ghost walks through it.

Removed fog from the Truck in all locations.

The Ghost-writing book is now throwable by the ghost if the ghost does not give ghost-writing evidence.

Dead players will now receive the Investigation bonuses if earned in that contract.

Film grain and chromatic aberration for night vision now respect user settings.

Several interaction photos will now work consistently.

The ghost can no longer detect any type of Flashlight during hunts while Flashlights are disabled in the Difficulty settings.

Igniter III will now permanently extinguish after 10 minutes, as listed in the shop.

Moved the fingerprint up on the Maple light pole near the Toilet block.

The Maple Campsite Chem toilet will now behave similarly to house closets and lockers when hiding.

Brightness will now default to 1 for new players instead of 0.

The totem pole in Maple Lodge Campsite will now block the ghost's view during hunts.

Both campfires in Maple Lodge will now have a max hearing range of 5m and are the same volume.

Fixed fog leaks in Ridgeview bathroom, Willow garage, laundry, bathroom and bedroom, Sunny Meadows entry, courtyard hallway, and Woodwind toilet block.

Improvements made across the whole game.

Slightly reduced translucency to stop them from glowing so much when a DOTS is placed inside.

Moved the orange bottle up one shelf to stop it clipping with the Maple Ouija Board spawn.

Moved the Maple music box spawn up slightly to stop it clipping inside of the log.

Check out the Achievements section on Steam to see how to earn them. More achievements will be added in future updates.

Moved the Maple Campsite’s Ouija Board spawn to the right slightly to stop it from clipping.

Ambient Occlusion will no longer be turned on in VR.

The End User License Agreement has been updated.

Firelight T2 now correctly lasts 5 minutes instead of 3 minutes.

Lighters can no longer light some candles, firelights, and the campfire when not lit.

Placing equipment on the wall in some areas of Sunny Meadows will no longer teleport the equipment back to the truck.

Many performance improvements, especially in multiplayer and in the truck.

You can no longer light objects using 'Interact' (default: Mouse 1).

You can now take a photo of the haunted mirror on Ridgeview while it is on the wall.

Complete layout revamp with a new reception building, two campsite areas, new assets, more hiding spots, and improved performance.

New AA option in the journal provides higher quality than FXAA and SMAA.

New rain sounds added in both campsites when inside tents, toilet block, or under draped tarp.

Several fingerprints are no longer visible when you don’t have UV evidence.

If you die in foggy weather, future games in foggy weather now show the fog correctly.

The Monkey Paw now has the correct textures again.

Crucifix T2 should now consistently give both 'interaction' and 'burned crucifix' photos.

Bone photos will now work more reliably.

In Training, you can now open/close the truck doors in VR.

Summoning circle photos will no longer take priority over other photos as often.

Video cam no longer breaks if swapped into inventory when CCTV is on the last camera.

Several icons have been replaced across the main menu and contract selection screens.

The Camp Woodwind entrance gate will no longer say 'Maple Lodge campsite'.

Instructions for the spooky ID-card badge and trophy can be found in-game. The event lasts around 2 weeks.

The haunted mirror will no longer be detected on the parabolic microphone or sound sensors if not being held or used.

CCTV monitor now only turns on when standing nearby and displays a screensaver when disabled.

Both maps are temporarily unlocked at level 1 to allow new players to complete the Halloween event.

Maple Lodge Campsite has a completely new layout featuring a new reception building, more hiding spots, and new decorative assets.

Players can create a potion in their cauldron at the reworked Maple Lodge Campsite, with rewards including a new ID card badge and trophy.

The game is being optimized across all maps for a seamless experience on consoles, addressing performance issues from the original Maple Lodge Campsite.

The campsite and lobby have been decorated with new spooky decorations for the Halloween season.

Changed the rendering path back to Forward from Forward+ due to graphical issues.

Players can no longer exploit custom difficulty multipliers by not applying it.

The VR journal is now bright when grabbed to fix a UI bug.

The cost of UV Light T1 is now correctly $35 to match the other tiers.

Player cards and scrollable areas will now look correct in the journal in VR.

This does not affect teleport grab.

With the effect enabled.

Sanity is no longer based on light around you and will stop draining if the main room light is on.

Will drain at 80% of the sanity drain rate if the room light is on.

You can now light incense T3 consistently in VR

You can now light firelight T3 consistently in VR

Turkish font is now readable

Salt lines no longer collide with players, which allowed players to get trapped, and access unintended places

The left-hand VR orientation for emf reader T3 is now correct

The VR Journal can now be easily grabbed when on your shoulder

The VR journal now works in Training

Motion sensor T3 can now be placed in VR

You can now rebind the interact button on gamepad

The spirit box and UV flashlight will no longer prevent you from being able to strafe in VR while it is on your belt

The shop TV no longer turns on and off for all players when a VR player focuses on it

The cursed hunt will now end correctly if prevented by a crucifix T3

Doors will no longer get stuck while held when using a gamepad.

Placing a crucifix will no longer sometimes push it through the floor, but photos will be temporarily worse.

When looking through the room divider in the downstairs Grafton bedroom, objects will no longer disappear.

Ignitor tier 3 now correctly lasts 10 minutes instead of 5 minutes.

The shop funds visual no longer defaults to $999,999,999 if your save file fails to load the value.

Haunted Mirror can now have its photo taken whilst upside down.

Dead body photos now work after the ragdoll animation has completed.

Pressing the east button (Xbox - B) while the journal is open will no longer drop the item you are holding.

EMF reader T2 is now 2m range as stated in the shop description.

Gamepad players can now press the south (Xbox - A) button to quick access the main menu board.

Firelight T3 is no longer labelled consumable in the Shop.

You can no longer put the glowstick into your inventory during the “shake” animation.

You are no longer counted as being inside the truck if you push the spirit box into the truck wall from outside.

You can now press the east button (Xbox - B) to exit the spirit box text voice recognition without dropping the item.

The ghost will no longer have a high chance to fail to show DOTS if there is a room above you or the ghost.

The music box will now correctly do the ghost event when within 5 meters of the ghost.

Interact and Primary Use controls have now been swapped for gamepad to allow for easier gameplay.

Photo cameras are no longer taking photos in portrait mode (regression since 0.9.0.4).

Three star ghost photos are now easier to take.

UV light tier 1 and 3 will no longer roll forever when dropped

Cursed item noises will now appear on the parabolic microphone

Lowered texture resolution of several textures to lower RAM usage

Moved the guitar in the blue room in Tanglewood so you can take EMF photos if the ghost uses it

Helps with motion sickness when using high FOV and navigating in the dark.

Taking photos of dead bodies should now be easier

3 star photos are now easier to get instead of 2 star

Will now work consistently.

Added new sounds for radios in houses and campsites

Video Cameras now work in multiplayer

Increased the range for a 3 star ghost photo

Forcing the game to close without clicking the quit button should no longer revert you to an old save.

Cursed item photos are now more reliable

Firelights 1 and 2’s light sources are now brighter than igniters

You will no longer lose your items when dropped into a salt line

CCTV monitor will no longer break when swapping between cameras on tier 1 tripods

You can now take fingerprint photos on the Willow glass doors

A commemorative plaque has been added to the Lobby allowing you to see your Legacy Badge

You can now take a photo of a fingerprint, in the same location as a previous fingerprint, which already had its photo taken

Toggling a light on and off in a room will now update reflections correctly.

Legacy badge can currently only be seen in multiplayer by another player on your character, with future updates planned for new character models.

This weeks challenges will now be correctly generated

Save files will now be backed up more often.

Non hosts will no longer crash when a player leaves the game.

If you have a corrupt save file you will no longer get stuck on initializing and will now revert to your cloud backup.

Players should no longer have a low legacy level on their legacy badge when playing this update for the first time.

DOTS T1 is now placeable on most surfaces like Firelights.

Removed the 1s delay on the Incense hunt effects.

Challenge mode will no longer be different cursed item for each player.

Significantly improved performance of saving and loading from the save file.

Reduced the volume of the car alarm.

Anti-virus software should no longer stop you from having read/write access to the save file.

Main menu performance has been improved.

T2 Motion sensors no longer turn off when toggling the modes.

Added instructions to the shop descriptions of Head Gear, explaining how to turn them on or off.

Challenge mode will no longer be different weather for each player.

Igniter T3 is no longer consumable.

Equipment list text will no longer overlap the item icons.

Potential fix for the Incense T1 glowing.

Motion sensor T2 now swaps between a single line, double line and off.

Crucifix T3 Range is now correctly 5m.

Temporarily removed the VR social screen mode due to severe performance issues.

Incense will no longer use its ghost effects when you are not near the ghost.

The legacy badge will no longer clip into one of the female model’s arms.

The “Next” button on the Legacy Badge screen will now scale correctly when translated.

Potential fix for not being able to exit a map if a player crashed while loading.

Ghost sound effects now have the correct volume distance falloff.

The wall telephones found in the farmhouses will now let you take interaction photos.

You can now get past the splash screen if you fail to connect to the unity servers.

After a game in challenge mode, you will no longer be set as a hacker.

Crucifixes have received several scale fixes, improving consistency.

Corrupt save files will now revert to the cloud backup.

Flashlights now cost $30.

One Matchstick is no longer glowing.

Fixed a bug where if you haven’t played for a long time, you would be wiped to prestige 0.

Glowsticks will now be the correct brightness when dimmed.

The Incense hunt effect duration will no longer sometimes set to 0 seconds.

Each equipment item now has 3 tiers, increasing the Equipment count from 22 to 60.

Reduced the chance for a ghost to interact with a door and fixed various ghost behavior issues.

A new levelling system has been added, with new rates of progression, new unlocks, and a prestige system.

Fixed a common crash when initializing VR and other stability issues.

Rebaked lighting in all locations, main menu, and training.

The Training mission has been replaced with a brand-new experience set in a custom-built warehouse.

Issues with desynced voice chat and poor audio quality are significantly improved.

Added gamepad UI button controls for the Journal and main menu screen.

Added a help button above the equipment list to explain new icons.

Several rewards have had their values adjusted to feel more rewarding and encourage the completion of objectives.

You can now set a loadout to Auto-Buy, refilling missing items after missions.

Some items are now consumable, requiring repurchase after use during contracts.

A new photo camera system added that considers distance and view angle for evidence quality.

Upgraded the Unity engine for many performance improvements.

Players can now block other players, keeping them permanently muted until unblocked.

The in-game voice system has been replaced with Photon Voice, improving audio quality.

New equipment and a new levelling system will be available.

An old camcorder that is small and slightly damaged but functional.

New upgrade system to help players find Ghost Orbs more easily.

New video cameras with three tiers and tripods to support ghost hunting.

Parasonic video camera with HD video capability but still prone to ghost interference.

Sturdy metal tripod designed to withstand paranormal effects and keep cameras stable.

High-quality movie-grade video camera with clearer video feed and reduced ghost interference.

Newer tripod with a motorized attachment for remote camera rotation.

Ghosts will throw video cameras during contracts, increasing the challenge for players.

Basic tripod that is not very sturdy but better than leaving a camera on the ground.

The Parabolic Microphone has three tiers with unique features, including sound amplification and visual sound location.

Players can now customize their ID cards with two badge slots and a new edit button in the lobby.

ID cards now show the platform, prestige as a Roman numeral, and a colored experience bar matching the theme.

An auto-refill button will be added to the loadout screen for convenience.

Consumables used during a contract must be rebought when returning to the lobby.

Players can continue leveling past 100 or opt to prestige for rewards.

Experience and money values are now tied; earning $100 also grants 100xp.

The amount of money and experience earned has significantly increased compared to the live version.

Salt can now gather footprints as evidence if the ghost is not interactive.

New tiers of salt provide different functionalities, enhancing gameplay strategies.

Reporting and player bans will work across all platforms.

The game will launch on consoles with the Progression 2.0 update.

Added the ability to block other players from the journal, which will mute them indefinitely until you unblock them.

All platforms will feature optional crossplay, and players can see which platforms their teammates are playing on by the icon displayed on their ID card.

Phasmophobia will enter Early Access for consoles on Xbox Series X | S, PlayStation 5, and PlayStationVR2 this August.

Three tiers of UV lights introduced: Glowstick, UV Flashlight, and UV Light Pro, each with varying brightness and charge times.

Fingerprints have been renamed to Ultraviolet to enhance immersion and interaction in open areas.

Ghosts will now show Footprints only if they have Ultraviolet Evidence when stepping into Salt Piles.

Shining a UV light on Fingerprints or Footprints will charge the print, making it visible for a short period after putting the light away.

The Slow And Steady weekly challenge will now have the correct hunt settings.

All players will start fresh at level 1 (prestige 1) with limited money and Tier I starter items.

The cost of bringing equipment into contracts remains the same across tiers, e.g., EMF readers cost $45 regardless of Tier.

Players will now be able to upgrade their ghost-hunting items through a new system.

Introduction of three tiers of EMF Readers with varying capabilities and features.

Players must manage their money wisely to afford upgrades, impacting gameplay strategy.

Players can unlock the ability to purchase different Equipment Upgrades at certain levels.

Freezing Temperatures evidence has been completely overhauled, including new Cold Breath particle effects and gameplay mechanics.

Room temperatures are now synced across players, ensuring consistent readings of Cold Breath and temperature checks.

The Thermometer will now be provided as starter equipment in every contract.

Three new Thermometer tiers introduced, each with different functionalities and speeds for checking temperatures.

Progression 2.0 will introduce new Equipment Tiers, increasing total equipment from twenty to sixty, along with a new leveling system.

Players must now hold the Use button to scan for temperatures with Tier II Thermometer, improving responsiveness.

Players will receive a badge reflecting their pre-wipe level, with customization options based on progress.

New tiers of D.O.T.S. equipment introduced, enhancing ghost detection capabilities.

The D.O.T.S. Projector has been rebuilt for improved functionality and engagement, with new mechanics for ghost visibility.

Ghosts can enter a 'D.O.T.S. state' when wandering, becoming temporarily visible with infrared light.

Players' levels will be reset to zero but pushed to Prestige 1, unlocking all difficulties and maps.

This week's weekly challenge will now provide the correct reward and loadout, resetting at the appropriate time without extension.

Players can now complete the Easter event even if they do not have any other badges. Affected players will receive the badge and trophy upon completion.

Participate in the Easter event by collecting hidden Easter eggs across various locations.

Earn a special ID Badge and Trophy for participating in the Easter event.

The weekly challenges will now reset on Sunday instead of Saturday.

Arabic player names are now displayed right to left.

Fixed a crash after leaving a game when using Vosk voice recognition.

Randomizing a custom difficulty will now always give a random cursed possession.

Tripods no longer speed up Raiju after you detach a video camera.

The speed running difficulty challenge will now give all 7 cursed possessions instead of 6.

Fixed a memory leak caused by having unicode characters with a broken sanity monitor.

Improved statistics page text sizing on languages with long text.

Ghosts will now open and close the doors in the correct direction.

Yurei will now only count the ability used when it successfully uses its ability.

The Sanity Survival weekly difficulty challenge now has the Nightmare hunt duration and no candles.

Lowered the volume of the guitar sound.

Yurei will no longer lower your sanity if they used their ability without closing a door.

Potential fix for hunts starting when all players are outside.

Several doors in all maps are now linked to multiple rooms for ghost events and monkey paw wishes.

The Sunny Meadows male day room TV will now turn on.

The ghost can no longer walk through the Maple campsite large tents.

If you didn’t play for a long time your level and progress will no longer be wiped.

Sunny meadows TV sound can no longer be heard across the map.

Fixed a bug that was causing players to not be able to select a difficulty.

You can now click the left shop buttons on 4:3 aspect resolutions.

The Monkey Paw tags can now be grabbed by multiple players in the same game.

Willow windows now have the new UV shader.

The ghost will now always fully show when it starts moving during the start of a hunt.

Sound sensors, motion sensors and DOTS will no longer be detectable by the ghost when held after being placed.

The host can now be revived with the monkey paw revive wish.

Monkey paw tags now update live in the journal when grabbed.

Improved accuracy of the ghost crucifix hunt detection.

Improved some translations in the shop.

Fixed a rare bug where you couldn’t change difficulty.

Potential fix for 'Loadout can't be added until flipping back and forth between loadout 1 and 2'.

Potential fix for keyboard EMF photo not working in Ridgeview.

Voice recognition will now work correctly for non-hosts.

The see ghost negative effect will now end after the ghost event if you have a friendly ghost.

The revive stat will now only count when you are revived, instead of when anyone is revived.

The next time you open the game, your last difficulty will reset once, in order to fix many issues some users were having if they continued to play with the settings they had pre-0.8.1.0.

The loading screen tips are now translated correctly, if the language was changed in the same instance of the menu.

No more null references for 'UpdateAddButtons' in all logs.

The ghost in the dead room will now match the ghost model if it was male.

Custom difficulty’s reward values have been adjusted to balance the game closer to default difficulties.

A severed paw that grants wishes with various effects and consequences.

Voice recognition now works for all players even if others load in slowly.

Shop and Storage have been recreated to act like an online shopping basket.

A new default difficulty has been added for the best investigators.

A new weekly rotational difficulty with unique modes ranging from Intermediate to Insanity.

Weather particles' lighting has been improved for realism.

Several shadow rendering issues have been resolved.

Evidence Given now soft caps the reward multiplier.

Ghosts can no longer interact with windows on the floor below them in Farmhouse locations.

Daily and Weekly Challenges are now referred to as Daily and Weekly Tasks.

Hunts will now end if all players are outside.

Crucifix uses now have new textures, effects, and sounds.

Requirements for Bronze, Silver, and Gold challenges have been modified.

UV effects are now more accurate and fade out over time.

Players will receive a message when a new game update is available to download.

A new rotational difficulty mode featuring unique challenges each week, with rewards for completion and no risk of losing equipment.

New 'Auto add' button for loadouts that automatically adds selected items to the lobby upon joining a game.

Introduction of an 'All Equipment' loadout slot available to all players.

A new official difficulty level that adds challenges to gameplay by reducing evidence and making it tougher to identify paranormal entities.

A complete reset of the leveling system to accommodate new progression mechanics, including prestige options and badge rewards.

Revamped shop interface to function like an online shopping cart, allowing for quicker adjustments to loadouts and equipment.

Reduction of the maximum reward multiplier from 24x to around 15x, aligning custom game rewards closer to default difficulty rewards.

Sanity drain multiplier now shows the percentage.

VR sprint modes now display correctly in the journal UI.

Changing the cursed possession quantity after setting Apocalypse II or III will no longer corrupt your save.

Video cameras will no longer display white 'flickers' of light sometimes.

You can now place equipment in training.

In Custom Difficulty, choosing 'Random' Cursed Possession will no longer sometimes result in less Cursed Possessions than you should have when choosing multiple Cursed Possessions.

VR Movement type setting buttons will now display correctly.

The hoop easter egg now works in the new lobby.

'Locked' is now translated on the map/contract board.

Improved VR performance when playing with other VR players.

Coolers in Tanglewood will now give fingerprints.

There is now an apocalypse skull sticker on the Sunny Meadows polaroid.

Placing the music box is now consistent with all other placeable equipment.

Difficulty apocalypse skull stickers are now only visible when in single player mode.

Voodoo doll no longer breaks physics when a VR player grabs it after a PC player has dropped it.

Props and equipment no longer keep the VR highlight circle on when they are no longer grabbable (e.g. taking sanity pills).

The microphone input visual is now only visible in multiplayer.

The holiday event is now over and decorations have been removed.

Reduced the brightness of the lights in the Main Menu collection cabinets.

The ghost can now walk through the courtyard doors in Sunny Meadows.

You can now place crucifixes in VR, so you can see the range indicator.

School’s paper clips will now have the correct material, and not be clipping with the desk they are on.

You can now change speaker modes between Mono, Stereo, Quad, Surround, 5.1 and 7.1 in the audio settings.

You can no longer walk along the floor trim of the Courtyard to get pushed under the map.

BHaptics will no longer keep playing if they were active when you were dead.

The truck’s map buttons will no longer render on top of transparent objects such as candle flames.

You can no longer get stuck in the blue tent on Camp Woodwind behind the sleeping mats.

BHaptics room haptics will now stop when leaving the room, for example: a room with an active car alarm.

You can no longer complete the apocalypse challenge in multiplayer mode while solo or after other players leave.

Cloth on beds will no longer be black on one side.

You can no longer add locked items to a lobby when using loadouts.

Cookies no longer count as multiple cookies when 2 or more people collect them at the same time.

Some journal buttons’ clickable areas are no longer overlapping, making them easier to click.

Jumping to the ghost page in the journal, then navigating back, will no longer swap to negative journal page numbers.

Moroi hunt speed will now change if you lose sanity during the hunt.

The Tanglewood outside light and woodwind tree fairy lights will no longer keep flashing after a hunt has ended.

Several improvements have been made to the ghost’s walkable area.

You can no longer throw items through the exterior window walls.

You can now take a photo of the black keyboard interaction and fingerprints.

Rugs in Grafton Farmhouse will no longer have a grey texture under them.

The thermometer will now show the correct temperature if you look into a different room and do not move your mouse.

Moved a bin that was clipping inside a wall in School.

Swapping out equipment with Q whilst placing equipment will no longer lock your movement.

Increased the size of colliders for hedges in the Courtyard so objects will no longer get lost inside them.

Added an invisible wall in West Foul Linen to stop players getting stuck.

Fog will no longer render through the beige privacy screens.

You can no longer activate the ouija board while the spirit box is turned on.

You can no longer get stuck in SM restricted (female wing only), between the bed and the blocking bookshelves.

Rain will now work again on all maps.

Sanity drain accuracy improved when in light and dark areas.

Blue privacy screens will no longer have weird gaps in them.

You will now be able to move if you die when holding an activated spirit box with text voice recognition.

Coal now has new sounds when dropped or thrown.

Removed duplicated beds, wardrobes, and other props when the hiding spot is blocked.

The fountain water shader will no longer have visual artifacts.

Removed several areas of leaking fog in Ridgeview, Tanglewood, Edgefield, Bleasdale, Grafton, School, Prison, and Sunny Meadows.

You will no longer get colour banding when FidelityFX is turned off.

New colliders added for newspapers, food baskets, cheese wheels, apples, and potatoes.

Beds now have the correct colliders so objects will no longer get lost inside them.

The Female Day Room will no longer have floating books if the hiding spot is blocked.

The ghost can no longer walk-through sinks or freezers in the Kitchen.

You can now click back and 'goodbye' without waiting for the delay while using text voice recognition.

Several fingerprints are now back in the correct place on doors.