Demonologist vs Phasmophobia

[Dr.God]

Which game is better/scarier?

[Killjoy]

Honestly, both games are good in their own right and its easy to ask which one is better and scarier. Personally, I think at the moment both games are great and have their purpose. That being said, Phasmophobia is the better game right now but only since it's been out longer and has had much more development time. There's several maps, items, and ghost models to choose from. Although there arent jump scares in Phasmo, the game can still spook you with a surprise ghost event or a certain model of ghost that crawls and walks backwards with her back bent over to look at you with her spooky face. Another thing is the hiding mechanics and its moreso due to design: In phasmo, you can crouch behind things, dash behind a wall, stuff yourself in a locker or closet, and the ghost (most of the time) won't find you that easy. You can also "defend" yourself with the smelly sticks (smudge sticks but I call them smelly sticks) and the crucifixes help prevent hunts from happening for a little bit. Lastly they have the challenge and custom modes to help prevent the game from getting stale AND the challenge can give you a free $3000 with no loss to your inventory.

Demonologist, on the other hand, has the huge potential to be the better game. Yes, the scares are very scary at first but you do eventually get used to them. Some of them still get me pretty bad, and others I walk past or don't notice. The ghost models are very well done but they all have the same running animation that makes them look like they are on the last legs of a 5K marathon. You can't really hide in any map other than Hospital but it seems the devs have nerfed hunts for ghosts (at least from what I can tell lately) as they cant find you as easily. But also, you can out run nearly every ghost if you have the running and the loop down for the chase. Crucifixes in this game you must hold in your active slot but they guarantee you live but with only two in the game it can be a bit frustrating. Items all work pretty well minus the ESG and Canvas (which are kinda like this game's version of D.O.T.S. and Ghost Writing), those two items arent still 100% function after the most recent patch although they work better than before. Spirit Box is also kinda finicky at times, but can still get you what you need to complete the hunt and proceed to the bonus objectives for that extra money. Which brings me to my last gripe: Although now they have made it better for solo players to earn money, items are VERY expensive. Early on I died too much I had to only survive with the starter items and just when I finally got enough money for everything, I died and lost it ALL. That was not a fun night.

There are many more things I could go into, I play both of these games depending on my mood. Lately it's been more Phasmo because there's only so many times I can run the same three maps over and over before I want to play something else. But I still really like Demonologist and can't wait to keep playing it

[Tanyon]

I have about 50 hours in both games and I think Demonologist blows Phasmo away with the exception of content.. if they could churn out 3 or 4 more maps ASAP that would be awesome.. right now I think I've played these three maps like 25x each.. kinda boring..

[Thaznar]

Demonologist is by far a better game when it comes to engaging the player. It's much more dynamic than Phasmo and has extra objectives that are random which can influence the difficulty of every map. Also the game's graphics are way better. I hope devs will add more maps soon as well as steam achievements.

[Digi]

Demonologist Relies completely on jump scares. The scripted events take away from the atmosphere making the game feel like your going through one of those halloween haunted houses. I am greatly under the impression that a majority of the pull that people feel towards Demonologist is just because the game "looks" better with the increased levels of detail in the map's design. I can confidently say Phasmo nailed the concept of less is more. Where demonologist put way less effort in creating atmosphere and relies heavily on cheap jump scares and predictable scripted events.

ALSO as boring and old as Phasmo's death animations are, they atleast make a little bit of sense. In Demonologist Ill literally run from a ghost down a hall then when it gets me im magically teleported to some random painting in some random room where i see one of like a handful of boring jump scares.

[MacEelse [BE]]

Both have their good points. Demonologist has the better graphics imho. But i fear for the way they are 'hard scripting' things in the maps in demonologist.
And of course phasmophobia has certainly one big advantage over demonologist (for now): VR. I just love to play phasmo in vr, it changes the feel completely, and being able to let vr and non vr players enjoy the game together is even better.
I am very curious what direction demonologist will go. It is new, and will be worked on.

[ALEX THE GHOST]

I prefer demonologist! but!!! but !!! if the game doesn't correct the voice error, launch new maps, new things, it tends to disappear! which will be a shame because it's the best horror I've played

[Ember]

Originally posted by MacEelse BE:

Both have their good points. Demonologist has the better graphics imho. But i fear for the way they are 'hard scripting' things in the maps in demonologist.
And of course phasmophobia has certainly one big advantage over demonologist (for now): VR. I just love to play phasmo in vr, it changes the feel completely, and being able to let vr and non vr players enjoy the game together is even better.
I am very curious what direction demonologist will go. It is new, and will be worked on.

TBH, VR is a weird one for Phas, as while the minority of players use it, it took them ages and multiple "Major updates" which only really provided VR benefit, leaving the other players without anything,

I would not mind them adding VR into demonologist after most of the planned content is added, but if they were to do it too early then the lack of content would make most of the players quit (more so than currently)

[MacEelse [BE]]

Originally posted by Ember:

Originally posted by MacEelse BE:

Both have their good points. Demonologist has the better graphics imho. But i fear for the way they are 'hard scripting' things in the maps in demonologist.
And of course phasmophobia has certainly one big advantage over demonologist (for now): VR. I just love to play phasmo in vr, it changes the feel completely, and being able to let vr and non vr players enjoy the game together is even better.
I am very curious what direction demonologist will go. It is new, and will be worked on.

TBH, VR is a weird one for Phas, as while the minority of players use it, it took them ages and multiple "Major updates" which only really provided VR benefit, leaving the other players without anything,

I would not mind them adding VR into demonologist after most of the planned content is added, but if they were to do it too early then the lack of content would make most of the players quit (more so than currently)

I agree. VR should not be a priority for demonologist. But as a player of some vr games myself, and phasmo, i can honestly say it is a MAYOR difference. To the point where i started playing phasmo in VR, and just had to switch to screen because really it got the better of me in 'spookyness' in VR. Of course i didn't have so much VR xp back then and everything was more overwhelming and scary.

The thing i am mostly 'concerned' about in demonologist is actually the hard scripting in the maps. Those scares like 'magna' are fun, but only for just once. It wears off very quick. For now i have put the game aside due to the mic problem, and well, it doesn,'t feel as 'interactive' as phasmo atm.

The 'consistency' in the game visual assets is also something i don't really like now. I mean, you see a person walking by at the end of a hallway, or a child, while i feel that should be the ghost model.
You see a woman behind a manequin, and later you are chased by a ghoul. I think this is really the hard coding of the scares within the map, instead of using like a bone mesh and putting the corresponding ghost figuge on it. I understand why they would do that, but i think it will make the map creation long, and the gameplay more boring quickly.
Also, the ghosts that you see sliding is not so good looking to me, you know, where the ghost steps go faster or slower then the ground speed.

Although i am sure it will all change over time, and i will not refund, i just feel underwhelmed now. The base is certainly there, but there is much work to be done. Looking forward to what direction this game goes. And of course i hope it will have VR at one point, but as you said, that should not be a priority.

[TheMetalCorpser]

Down to personal preference honestly. You might even like both.

Demonologist relies on scripted jump scares for its horror. There's no real hiding locations so you gotta outrun, loop, or hide behind stuff and hope for the best during hunts. It certainly feels like a haunted house experience. Looks graphically nicer but the ghost models are just ridiculous. They look like things from Evil Dead. For example, in regards to the hospital map, it constantly would sound the alarms or do Freddy blood from the walls. Just got annoying at that point.

Phasmo relies on atmosphere for its horror. There's hiding, more interacting with the ghost, etc. Phasmo was made to feel like dumbos stumbling into a location to find ghosts but leaving once they do since they aren't equipped to deal with them in any way. The models for ghosts in Phasmo look dated in some ways but they're more on the "realistic" side over Demon's ghosts that just look silly.

Phasmo has no exorcisms stage unlike Demon but I'd say it's not the big of a deal to not have it. Cause in Demon it's the same exact thing each time on each map. And all exorcisms don't interact with the ghost at all except the hospital as that requires shooting the ghost with a salt gun.

If you want a more haunted house experience go with Demon. If you want a more "did you hear that" ghost show experience go with Phasmo. Or go with both if you like both designs.

Personally Demon is alright and fun enough but I still vastly prefer Phasmo as it feels more like I'm interacting with the ghost where as Demon is about the jump scares interacting with the player. And it's well noted jump scares are the lazy man's choice in horror design. Some prefer jump scares though as it's an immediate rush of surprise compared to atmosphere build up, unsettling situations/environments, etc.

[Nine]

Well I don't have demonologist so i can't tell you the quality of it, but Phasmophobia has VR so i imagine it's much much scarier just on that alone. In phasmophobia in vr, even the tutorial wher ei know the ghost isn't dangerous is terrifying just from the atmosphere in VR

[thebuffburger]

Im not sure which to get phasmo or demonologist which should i get?