Phasmophobia is not a good horror game its more of a puzzle game for speed runners

[Legionnaire Descendance]

Ive seen many ghost hunters and phasmaphobia fails to capture the mysterious sense of ghost hunting, the ghost isn't really scary its awfully too predictive its like reading a script pretty much

[💚⁧⁧ Peach]

A lot of people object otherwise. You stated the bad parts about the game and not the good ones.

If you really want to be legit, I’d say the developers have are the problem.

[Legionnaire Descendance]

Originally posted by Aya:

A lot of people object otherwise. You stated the bad parts about the game and not the good ones.

If you really want to be legit, I’d say the developers have are the problem.

the good ones are the equipment and such but not how ghosts are handled

[Kormit the Frag]

thats what makes it fun tbh
the steps you take to rule out each ghost when on 2 or less evidence.
yes 3 evidence is basically just sit in a room and wait but 2 evidence requires use of the ol noggin
1 and 0 evidence are where it gets fun

[Legionnaire Descendance]

Originally posted by Kormit the Frag:

thats what makes it fun tbh
the steps you take to rule out each ghost when on 2 or less evidence.
yes 3 evidence is basically just sit in a room and wait but 2 evidence requires use of the ol noggin
1 and 0 evidence are where it gets fun

thats what makes it awfully boring, whats the point with a horror game if there's no surprises simply it isn't a horror game its more of a get symptoms from ghost clue kind of game

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡👀:

thats what makes it awfully boring, whats the point with a horror game if there's no surprises simply it isn't a horror game its more of a get symptoms from ghost clue kind of game

The kicker here is that no horror media stays scary. This is a fantastic example of that happening here. This is why you don't see or feel the horror as you've been attuned to seeing and knowing about.

But then again, Phasmo is based off the reality TV silliness that's surrounded investigations. Spirit Boxes, aka radios. DOTS, aka Xbox Kinect. EMF meters that don't pick up the EMF a house with electricity would have. Or my favorite, a Crux stopping ghosts from entirely different faiths. There's a reason all this stuff works in the fictional world. Any actual investigator wouldn't be bothering with things that would be giving false positives left and right.

[WolfLink0370]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡👀:

Originally posted by Kormit the Frag:

thats what makes it fun tbh
the steps you take to rule out each ghost when on 2 or less evidence.
yes 3 evidence is basically just sit in a room and wait but 2 evidence requires use of the ol noggin
1 and 0 evidence are where it gets fun

thats what makes it awfully boring, whats the point with a horror game if there's no surprises simply it isn't a horror game its more of a get symptoms from ghost clue kind of game

that's what the ghost events are for - to give that moment of surprise and anonymity that unsettles oneself and instills the fear.

Yes, it is a puzzle game at it's core... but there's nothing wrong with that. The horror is a secondary actor and is done in a way that compliments the game quite well.

There is a horror rework planned later this year to go the route of hallucinations... it's not the exact fear factor some people want, but they want to go with the more slower ambient horror... which again, works well for this kind of game as it allows one to think while still not being capable of feeling fully safe from it deciding to do an event near you.

[Cathulhu]

Most of the horror in this game comes from not understanding the mechanics or possible events. That will fade in time no matter what the game. So when it comes down to it I'd rather have a spooky deduction game than a horror game with puzzle elements because the former will last longer. And I'd rather they leaned into making weaker parts of the deduction more fun (adding audio/visual evidence recording, photo overhauls instead of 9 pictures of salt + a bone, etc).

All that said, even now I do get spooked by the ghost. 1s grace period and high wandering frequency helps a lot to lower the sense of safety/complacency after learning the game.

[Kaisoku]

Firstly, nothing stays scary forever. This is an arcade style gameplay (repeating mission after mission), not a story driven game (that has certain beats to it, like quiet moments between high moments, and a climax and resolution stage).

Most things are scary because they are unknown. Once you've played it a hundred times, it ceases to be scary. At best, you can get startled and might appreciate the creepiness, but it isn't FELT anymore.

Phasmo is better than most, honestly, as far as atmospheric horror goes. It feels creepy, and when you don't know the mechanics and how everything will be presented to you, things can get nicely horrific. And the fact that it's entirely random, instead of haunted house scripted (happens at this spot, every time), keeps it fresh a bit longer.

But after you've become inured, what is left? The gameplay around Phasmo is skill based: you, as the person playing, learn what each sound and visual means, the timing, the in-game physical space, how it all works.. and you use that skill to solve the puzzle.
It's an investigative game with atmospheric horror elements.

Second, Horror 2.0 is on their roadmap, once they've solve the main game loop, and right after they update the player models and such. Then they'll dig into more ghost events, more interactions, and add new elements (they've mentioned Hallucinations, so I wonder if there'll be an effect to having low sanity).

So there'll be a bit of a boost to the freshness of the creepy factor.. though I suspect that if you've played any horror games over the last couple years like I have, you will likely never FEEL the horror like you did when you first started playing these kinds of games.

[Watcher Rat]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡👀:

Ive seen many ghost hunters and phasmaphobia fails to capture the mysterious sense of ghost hunting, the ghost isn't really scary its awfully too predictive its like reading a script pretty much

It interests me that this is a negative...I honestly think the thing that's kept me playing the game for so long was that it was more of a puzzle game with some horror elements, rather than a fully fledged horror title meant to jump scare you every other minute. As Kaisoku said, jump scares will always become mundane when they occur with repetition over a long period...you eventually just start expecting the moment, and it fails to hit you. The design of this game as a puzzle title, however, is what keeps it fresh IMO. Figuring out ghosts without all their evidence is sort of the endgame challenge for those of us who've played a bit too much XD

[[TKC]olT3lo]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡👀:

Ive seen many ghost hunters and phasmaphobia fails to capture the mysterious sense of ghost hunting, the ghost isn't really scary its awfully too predictive its like reading a script pretty much

This is only an opinion, and a crappy one at that, meant only to troll people who enjoy the game.

[Maya-Neko]

Graphics and Horror elements is what gets people into a game like this, but gameplay keeps players interested into it for longer periods of time.

That's why Phasmo focused mainly on gameplay and the puzzle/investigation factor over the horror factor the past 2 years. Obviously they're already planning to rework all the horror stuff, but that's just the cherry on the cake and not the foundation for which people play this game for hundreds of hours in the first place.

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡👀:

thats what makes it awfully boring, whats the point with a horror game if there's no surprises simply it isn't a horror game its more of a get symptoms from ghost clue kind of game

By that definition, every single horror game is boring, because eventually you can predict everything with enough knowledge.

And Phasmo is a game build to be played several hundred, if not thausands of times over. There's no way that playing a Resident Evil for 100 times, that you're still being surprised of the same zombie breaking through the same wall at the same time over and over again.

And like Phasmo, every game in the ghost investigation genre is build identically to Phasmo in that regard (except for conrad stevensons paranormal PI, but that has a completely different approach to begin with).

Like seeing the dress in Demonologist turning into a ghost is scary the first few times, but if it happened 100 times to you already, then you're already aware of happening, pretty much you knowing, that the ghost could do an event at any point in Phasmo. The only difference here is, that this event looks more unique in Demonologist (but that is also the part, where it gets the most predictable as well)

[Legionnaire Descendance]

Originally posted by Kaisoku:

Firstly, nothing stays scary forever. This is an arcade style gameplay (repeating mission after mission), not a story driven game (that has certain beats to it, like quiet moments between high moments, and a climax and resolution stage).

Most things are scary because they are unknown. Once you've played it a hundred times, it ceases to be scary. At best, you can get startled and might appreciate the creepiness, but it isn't FELT anymore.

Phasmo is better than most, honestly, as far as atmospheric horror goes. It feels creepy, and when you don't know the mechanics and how everything will be presented to you, things can get nicely horrific. And the fact that it's entirely random, instead of haunted house scripted (happens at this spot, every time), keeps it fresh a bit longer.

But after you've become inured, what is left? The gameplay around Phasmo is skill based: you, as the person playing, learn what each sound and visual means, the timing, the in-game physical space, how it all works.. and you use that skill to solve the puzzle.
It's an investigative game with atmospheric horror elements.

Second, Horror 2.0 is on their roadmap, once they've solve the main game loop, and right after they update the player models and such. Then they'll dig into more ghost events, more interactions, and add new elements (they've mentioned Hallucinations, so I wonder if there'll be an effect to having low sanity).

So there'll be a bit of a boost to the freshness of the creepy factor.. though I suspect that if you've played any horror games over the last couple years like I have, you will likely never FEEL the horror like you did when you first started playing these kinds of games.

thats because its so easily predictable, this is a issue many of these games trying to replicate horror which suffers, its fine for storymode games since it is essentially a one time experience, unlike replayable areas and such should be procedural which would make it far more scary

what they should focus on is the lore to make it more believable along new environments across the world, not gonna lie its not just the ghosts but the majority of locations are just not scary the feeling of being vulnerable where there's no one to help you is the scariest feeling there is, having haunted locations in urbanized areas that doesn't even seem abandoned even if there's no one around yet you get the impression you're in a populated city at night

which makes it far less scary.

[SamEstine]

I think in essence what ruins it is the knowing. You go there knowing there's a ghost that'll behave in a certain manner and you'll tick what you've observed on your journal and call it a day. Phasmo's whole schtick is the routine.

Real horror is the fear of the unknown. If you go somewhere NOT knowing what you'll find / expect, then encounter a ghost or an unknown entity, you'll poop bricks for 3 days straight. Keep in mind it only works for the first time cuz eventually there'll be a pattern in games and you'll know what to expect once you get familiar with it.

It's unfair to put that kind of expectation on Phasmo, when the whole horror genre suffers from this. Everything in phasmo-clones will be scary for the first few times, then it's back to the routine of ticking your boxes and calling it a day. You get used to it and it won't be as effective.

I guess what I'm saying is, there's no real horror, best case scenario is a few jumpscares here and there, which work most of the time if you're not expecting them.

[GamingWithSilvertail]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡👀:

Ive seen many ghost hunters and phasmaphobia fails to capture the mysterious sense of ghost hunting, the ghost isn't really scary its awfully too predictive its like reading a script pretty much

You're correct, cause its just stale when it comes to scare factor. Alot of players mostly play it with other people because its 'something to do' but not really 'something to look forward with' because playing with friends makes a game so much more fun.

[☩ CroSS ☩]

i have a simple solution for you. If you dont like it how it is now then dont play it. Maybe wait couple of months for next update and check if you maybe like it now. Dont force yourself to play the game if you feel it like this. Cheers