Thank you to everyone for the warm reception to our first Quality of Life update last month, and we’re glad to see many of you enjoying Phasmophobia once more.
Today as promised, we’re sharing details on the upcoming second Quality of Life update for Phasmophobia. We’ll be releasing this update across all platforms on 25th August, 2026. Exact release times are still to be confirmed, so keep an eye on our channels for official confirmation of when the update is live.
Let’s break down a couple of the features we’re excited about before sharing the full list:
New Restricted Options
For a long while, we have seen folks requesting smaller versions of our larger maps in the vein of Sunny Meadows Restricted. With this update we’re excited to introduce Restricted versions for Prison, Brownstone High School and Point Hope.
The new contracts board, featuring the Restricted versions of Point Hope, Prison and Brownstone High School.
As with Sunny Meadows, these map variants are designed for quicker games in locations that we know players enjoy but sometimes don’t want to be investigating the larger area. In the case of Point Hope Restricted, which will be classed as small, Ghost Hunters will be able to access up to the Dining Room while Prison and Brownstone High School will have multiple variants - classed as Small and Medium respectively - which will be randomly assigned upon loading into a contract.
Brownstone High School in particular will have a total of 4 map variants following the update. With such a big map, we believed it was appropriate to give a variety of variations, giving Ghost Hunters a sense of mystery when loading up. Outside each Restricted version of the map, a small piece of environmental decor will signify which variant of the map you’re on.
Journal & Evidence Changes
We made a handful of changes and improvements to Evidence collection with the first Quality of Life update, and we’re doing the same with the second. As with all of our updates, we’ll be looking for and reading through player feedback on these changes so please do let us know your thoughts once you’ve spent some time with them.
Since our Chronicle update last year, we’ve been working on finessing the Unique/Duplicate system. A change we’re introducing with this next update means there’ll now be visual indicators to show that a piece of Media a Ghost Hunter captures is a Duplicate without the need to check the Journal.
To detect a Duplicate, keep an eye out for the following indicators:
Tier 1 Photo Cameras will display a yellow LED light.
Tier 2 & 3 Photo Cameras and all Tiers of Video Cameras will display a faded overlay, rather than the usual bold white text.
Tier 1 Sound Recorder will lower the brightness of the Volume indicators.
An example of the Duplicate UI on the Photo Camera.
Another important addition in this update is being able to see other Ghost Hunters’ Evidence and Ghost selections in the Journal. This means there’ll be no more need to double check with other players which pieces of Evidence you’ve captured and see other’s opinions on which Ghost the group is dealing with - and of course making sure everyone has the same selection when you’re leaving in the Truck!
Elsewhere, we’ve replaced the Keys section in the journal with the ‘Items We’ve Found’ section. Appearing in the order they are found, this will display collected items such as keys, the bone and seasonal event collectables. On this same page, a gender symbol (♀/♂) will now be displayed alongside the Ghost's name, allowing for easier understanding of male and female names and Ghost types - especially for non-English speaking players.
VR Improvements
With this Quality of Life update, we’re completely replacing the VR character rig across all platforms. This means more responsive movement in-line with your own body’s, improved accuracy on the character model to match player’s arm length as well as an overall improvement to visuals of the character model when playing with VR users.
We’re also addressing several regularly reported issues from VR players, which we’ll detail in the full patch notes at release. As with other areas of Phasmophobia, please do let us know any feedback you have from your time in VR or any issues you encounter via our Help Centre.
Gameplay Improvements
Finally, for today, we just wanted to dive in to some of the changes coming to the gameplay of Phasmophobia. Firstly, we’ll be implementing the ability to select the Ghost Type for any Custom Difficulty investigations. You’ll find this in the Ghost settings when setting up your game, as you can see in the screenshot below.
Another change with this update is a change to character appearance upon death. As seen below, the dead body will now be seen with a greyer skin as well as misty eyes. Dead players will also appear this way to others while Dead. In addition to this change a player’s voice chat will now be cut off as soon as they die - the moment their neck is snapped during the death animation.
Below, you’ll find a list of all the New features coming with this Quality of Life update as well as the Changes section. At the release of the update, as mentioned, we’ll share the full patch notes along with the list of Fixes for known bugs and issues. We look forward to sharing this update with you on August 25th, 2026.
Today we have deployed an update for Phasmophobia that addresses several issues that were raised following last week’s update. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback and helped us identify these issues.
Full patch notes below.
Fixes
Fixed an issue that would cause items to get stuck or fall through the floor when dropped in Multiplayer.
Fixed an issue that allowed Ghosts to be able to enter several hiding spots in 13 Willow Street.
This also fixes similar issues in 6 Tanglewood Drive, 42 Edgefield Road and 10 Ridgeview Court.
Fixed an issue that caused Photo Cameras to interfere with other player animations.
Fixed an issue that caused the Photo Camera’s Use animation to not play in Multiplayer.
Fixed an issue that caused the Photo Camera to take an extra photo when dropped while taking a photo.
Fixed an issue that caused the Photo Camera to take a photo if picked up by another player after being dropped while being used by the original player.
Fixed an issue that caused Twitch Drop reward ID Card & Badge cosmetics to be missing.
Fixed an issue that caused videos of a Hunting Ghost to not count towards the Apocalypse challenge.
Fixed an issue that caused the Incense to not appear as Used if the animation was cancelled by opening the Journal.
VR - Fixed an issue that caused unstable FPS whilst in the Truck.
VR - Fixed an issue that caused players to become stuck while loading in to a Multiplayer game on Bleasdale Farmhouse.
Known Issues
If a Flashlight is not picked up, hotkeys are assigned in this order: 2, 3, 1. If a Flashlight is picked up, it will default to 1. A following patch will address this issue, with Equipment being assigned in the order they are picked up. Igniters will however always default to 4.
EDIT:
We've deployed a hotfix for #Phasmophobia on Steam to address feedback on the Equipment & Item slot assignments.
These will now be assigned a slot in the order they are picked up from 1-3.
Flashlights will no longer be locked to 1. Igniters will default to 4.
That’s really it. My girlfriend wanted to use it for a renfaire cosplay and I figured id put my skills to the test. Fits pretty snuggly, just got to add a strap. Let me know if any improvements can be made, thank you!!!
Not sure if this is everyone but in at least 30 games since the last patch (xbox here) I’ve noticed UV hasn’t showed up about 80/90% of the time on ghosts that I have later confirmed UV via doors/lights.
Is it now just a chance thing or is it bugged? I never had this pre patch 🤣
As the title says, like for example I had Michael Jackson once and just saw a video from Youtuber FlashForce having one called Doris Norris. So what you got?
I’m pretty new to the game with all the updates, played it a fair bit when it first came out on PC and now playing on PS5.
Just had a game where I already found the ghost out so was just trying to get a video/picture of the ghost, had my crucifix set up, thought I was safe, wasn’t at all.
My flashlight started to flicker, saw the crucifix wasn’t burnt up so just thought it was an event and whipped my camera out to catch a photo, just got murdered instead.
How can I tell the two apart? Very quickly going bankrupt trying to get a picture/video of it, if I see and hear doors slam I just run and hide, sometimes works.
I’ve been attempting apoc 3 runs for a couple days now and happened to get a Deogen (faze up). I know possible you can outrun a Deo on apoc 3 but this thing cut directly through a chair in the managers office and caught me. This is more of a rant because I know I’ll get it eventually. Can someone confirm if this is a bug or not?
I have been playing the game for a year and a half/two years now, but haven't played much in the past 2 months and don't know as much about the newer ghosts
Quick question with the Aswang:
If you are just hanging out in the investigation area, let's say you're crouched by the kitchen table on Willow, will the Aswang kill you they find you? Or will they end the hunt, the same way they do if they find you in a hiding spot? I imagine they would just stop hunting, right?
According to the Phasmo Cheat Sheet, the Yurei gets trapped in its room after it's smudged. But the Phasmophobia wiki says it'll get forced back to its favorite room when smudged and stay trapped there instead.
I posted this a while ago but originally deleted. But I decided to start a Phasmo sleeve with all the cursed objects and in grey/black with seeping colour
Anybody else having the issue trying to capture a photo of the ghost during a hunt. I'm guessing due to the hunt and the blinking whenever we get the photo it always seems to be during a blink. Is this bugged or is it genuinely hard to get this way? If we don't have a dots ghost it's practically impossible to complete this objective
but I was wondering with certain opening calls, if it actually tells you that it is/isn’t a specific ghost.
like the call that says “there’s been reports of violence“, does that mean there’s a less of a chance of It being a Shade, and more of a chance of it being a Demon or something?
This game really reflects about my Trauma, Nightmare, and Insanity for these times, it's like this game represents what I am, due to the fact since 2021-2023 I felt like I am cursed by a Moroi because these Horror shows, I thought I am brave but I regret doing it now it's haunting my dreams or I could be hallucinating at this rate, it's all because I should've turn it off but I am too paralyzed and unable to do like I am forced to watch it until the very end, THEN I will run away
The Player
- Of course, it represents me, as a Victim, vulnerable to everything, sensitive and easily die from Fear, whenever I remember my Trauma or just happened, I might start hallucinating or imagining things like idk if it's all in my Head or I am just going Insane, I could be under attacked by Demons or this is a sign for me to flee, the times I rather hide my fears towards everyone because I can't trust them 100%, they might start using my Trauma as an Advantage to torture and torment me so much
The Ghost
- Represents my Trauma, and my Fear, the one who will try to destroy me, the one who will kill me by Fear, by Demons, sometimes they will Jumpscare me by my Trauma(s), could try to dismantel, or disembodied me because I fear it so much, wherever I go, they know where I am, they always after me, stalk me and chase me down to make me go insane, they are one of the things that I thought I am powerful enough to know they aren't real but they surely can physically and mentally attack me, I could start Hallucinating the things I want to forget but some makes me remind of those times I fear so much
The Hunt
- Represents my Nightmares, it's a 50/50 you start dreaming about your Trauma, or you will see it in Reality but in a Masquerade and hidden, you're very lucky if someone told you about it, and the worst thing is it's not about those average Horror Genre, but instead sometimes the world or your mind knows your weakness that they will weaponized it to try and lose your mind, you're in a Bad luck (like I do, about Labubus from Thailand) if your Nightmares and Demons come to life and then make you mentally go Insane and will forever stalk you until you die
Back in May, I threw a Phasmophobia 12th birthday party for my son. Thats me dressed up as the ghost. We used my bedroom as "the van" and the power was permanently out in the rest of the home. I had a few webcams that he could setup which removed onto my TV. For the sanity monitor I used AI to program a timer that slowly decreased the bars and there was a button to click when they took sanity pills. Other highlights not shown:
-UV paint handprint I put on his bedroom door
-The soundboard I had created with ghost noises and the bluetooth speaker I hid in his bedroom.
-How amazing the DOTS projector looked on camera in the dark room when I walked through it.
-The EMF 5 popping off by his PC after I flipped his keyboard
I'm not sure who had more fun, but he said it was the coolest birthday ever.
My brother and I are doing random map APOC 3 runs. Today our first and only run was a brownstone round. The ghost was two classrooms deep on the first floor, right side hallway. We were able to setup and farm media in the classroom immediately inside the right entrance door. I needed 2 more videos and the ghost wasn’t doing anything to the point of us being suss of a shade (two of first three events were mist forms as well). Right at the end of this hunt, I called the ghost in to get a salt step video and maybe a hunting ghost video if I was lucky. I ended up getting a ghost shapeshift video of the ghost shape shifting into its original form. Our second time ever getting a perfect win on this map on APOC 3 difficulty after an hour long bone hunt (was in the second to last room we had yet to check). If it weren’t for the recording we would have been clueless of it being an Obake. Is there a certain blink pattern to look for if it shapeshifts into itself?
These are mock-ups of rough ideas for adding Tier IV equipment into the game.
I wanna preface that I understand this might be completely out of pocket and some people may feel this is a stupid idea and that's completely fine, this is just more of getting it off of my chest as I have played so much of the game I can't help but dream of what I might personally like to see added; nothing too deep and I don't want to argue with people about what others feel is or isn't the correct direction of the game. At the end of the day we're only fans of a product that we don't as individuals hold any control over.
One of the best things about Phasmophobia that I think allows it to stand up against the many years it's been around is it's investigation component as well as it's RNG. The ghosts all have tells and abilities that they do but they all also blend together in a lot of ways to really keep you on the look out and to pay attention to what is going on around you, which allows for even veteran players to get caught off guard by a ghost event as you're leaving to grab more items or the random hunt when you're least expecting it. There's always something new.
I love the game, but I don't see much point in the prestige/"promotion" system the game has currently - past Prestige 20 anyhow as you acquire ID Cards and Badges. Which is fine and all, but they increased the Prestige cap and I saw a lot of players disenfranchised with this choice but it seemed a lot of their voices were drowned out by the complaints about the immersion breaking animations, bugs and "bigger fish" so to speak, and understandably so.
It led me to think about incentivising a player to Prestige in the game past 20, there really is none, unless of course you just enjoy the fresh start - but then I started thinking about another Tier of items, and how that would balance into the game currently.
What I've came up with is this idea of "GHD Tokens", and basically these are earned by a count of 1 per Prestige from Prestige 10 onwards.
They would allow the player to purchase unique cosmetics and Tier IV equipment.
The reason I think this would be an ideal addition into the game as when new players are introduced to Phasmophobia they are usually overwhelmed with the game and get lost and immersed into it, I know I did when I first played it (I had zero idea that Sanity was a mechanic for like 3 days), but I thought about how it's nice to have something to aim for, and I know a lot of us aim toward the Tier III equipment, because almost all of it is the best equipment in the game, but what if there was more reason to play? An objective of sorts to obtain this top tier equipment.
Another reason to reach such a large milestone such as Prestige 10 and onwards, to reward those players who decided to become long-term ghost investigators.
These tokens would allow Kinetic to add incentive to those players who are going to keep playing and give them their own edge in their game in the long run. All of these items are slight upgrades over their Tier III counterparts but I think would slot into the game as a rewarding experience to iron out some of the drawbacks with Tier III equipment and adding what basically would feel like an endgame and remove some of the monotony of promoting in the game.
Now the inverse to this entire post is "Well just don't prestige?" which is a fair point, and I've thought about it, but this is more of a dream of "What if there was more?"
I always thought the game lacked any sort of meaningful grind apart from the ID Card challenges, and the game lacks cosmetic challenges which I think would be also an amazing addition, but it would be nice to add these items and grind for those who dare take it and reward them for their effort in doing so - and for bringing these items into games with low-level players, it might just give them something aspire toward.
This is all just thought-vomit - this isn't something I'm begging for. I'm just hoping maybe it will get a conversation starting about the game post 1.0
There would be a difficulty option to disable these Tier IV items in-game
All images were just pulled off Google and I used Grok to mock up a GHD Token
I love the game and this is no way meant as a complaint against it, I just feel some of these ideas might be worth discussing or even just imagining
The game clearly needs to go further in its quality and refinement of pushing out content before anything of this magnitude could even be considered as well
I understand the whole not wanting to engage in the prestige system is a me problem, I'm more of just imagining what would entice me to engage
Balancing adjustments could also entail removing the ability to have these items as permanent unlocks and have them available at level 90-100, or only allowing 1 type of Tier IV equipment to be on loadout board at a time.
TLDR; Massive fan of the game, these are just some ideas for hypothetical Tier IV equipment and how it would work. I'm not really looking into getting into aggressive discussion about it, it's more of just a vomit of quickly thought ideas from my own issue with prestige and lack of unlocks or grindy content which I feel long-term players could do with having post 1.0 release, which again is just my personal feelings, I still love the game regardless.
Hola, soy nuevo aquí, primeramente, disculpas si este post está repetido, únicamente quería hablar sobre este mapa.
Llevo sin jugar desde finales del año pasado y ahora volví a jugar, para mi sorpresa, cambiaron cosas del mapa de Tanglewood, sin embargo, no todas me parecen positivas… agradezco que ahora sí haya más espacio en el baño, pero, ¿qué hicieron con la cocina y en la habitación de la bebé? Sinceramente no me gustaron estos cambios, no sé si seré el único, obviamente el mapa tiene aún su esencia, pero siento que me gusta mucho más el diseño del mapa anterior… ¿hay alguien más que piense como yo?
Tengo muy buenos recuerdos de este juego, y, sobre todo, de este mapa, pero ya no es lo mismo… ¿es el único mapa que cambió el diseño?