I'm too scared to play this? Is it as scary as it looks?

[Crimson]

I'm too scared to play this? Is it as scary as it looks? My friends want me to play it, but honestly, I don't think I have enough alcohol to numb the fear after I play this game? lol\

How scary is it exactly? Is it just jump scares? Or will it give me nightmares?

[Id3alistic]

It's only scary at first because you don't know what to do. As you get better it gets less scary.

You can outrun most ghosts, and you can also just hide from them. Things I did not know when starting out so I was scared asf.

[AleXD]

Not scary.

[Isaac730]

It is not as scary as it seems. There are not traditional scripted jump scares, although just by coincidence you may have the ghost appear in front of you. No sudden loud noises. It gets less scary over time as you learn what to expect. Might have a sleepless night after your first session though.

[King_Solomander]

It can be as scary as it looks, but often times not as much

[Ink Hyaena]

1. depends on how easily you get spooked
2. starts off scary, but as you learn, you get better
3. Scariest thing outside of a hunt is the unexpected gurgling or shouting at you

[Rocketeer]

The scariest thing is your teammates ditching you when you told them to throw down a crucifix and a hunt was about to start lmao

[YetiChow]

I would say this game is excellent at "creeping dread" -- it doesn't scare you so much as it convinces you to scare yourself. If you're already nervous, it will just hammer away at those nerves until you're jumping at shadows. And then, when something actually starts (either a haunt, or a ghost interaction, or such), it can be a powerful jump-scare since you're already focussed somewhere else but fully on-edge at the same time.

As someone who finds most horror to be too formulaic and easy to predict, I find this game to be genuinely unsettling and it's certainly freaked me out a few times. But each time, it's felt like the scare was "earned".

Now, if you're looking for a game where you can face down your fear and take control of the situation, Phasmophobia is actually pretty good for that! The ghosts aren't smart, they just work off a really basic behaviour tree; so the object of the game is really to figure out what ghost you're dealing with ASAP so you can get what you need (evidence, secondary objectives) before you run out of sanity and things get messy. If you're playing with serious teammates who want to get the job done, it's easy to develop an efficient routine and be "in and out" within minutes without even being haunted or seeing the ghost! The only time that things go sideways is when the team either a) aggravates the ghost too early (which is usually a result of trolling, not something that you can easily do by accident), or b) doesn't come in properly equipped, or c) just doesn't pay attention or mis-communicates info (usually this is someone getting evidence wrong, leading to a mis-identification of the ghost, which might mean that the things you're doing to "power-down" a ghost are actually powering it up... e.g. if someone mistakes a Mare for a Jinn and turns the power off, that's going to make the Mare stronger.)

So, if you're paying attention to evidence and you focus on the objectives, and your friends are doing the same, then the game shouldn't be super scary. Unfortunately... if your friends know that you're not into scary games and they're pushing you to join in, it's probably because they're hoping to see you get scared -- it's the same in my group hahah!

Phasmophobia is a very aptly named game -- it's not the ghosts that will get you, it's your own nerves that lead you to making mistakes.... And then the ghosts get you because of those mistakes.

One last note: I'd argue that this game is actually less scary on the hardest difficulty, once you know what you're doing -- because at that point, the ghosts don't seem like big bad powerful enemies... they're just another ghost and just another paycheck. They're not more active or more powerful or anything, the only difference is that you don't have the "safety time" at the start of the mission before they can start the first haunt; so your plans don't actually change -- you just move quickly and don't mess around with the time you have. This is HEAVILY reliant on playing with the right people; but if you can get that "professional" mindset going, it can be a good way to push outside your normal comfort zone and practice working/keeping cool under pressure.

[VolOpt]

I'd say it definitely starts off spooky and scary but once you get used to how the game interacts and the mechanics the spoopy factor dials back a fair bit. It's still creepy but it's more atmospheric spoopy than jumping at your own shadow spoopy.

IMO best played with friends.

I wouldn't say the game relies on traditional in your face jumpscares, there are some but it's more being in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time than it is the game shoving it in your face. To me it feels more organic, if that helps?

[Veinn]

imo:
1.- It is scary enough. When I started playing, everything was pretty frightening, mostly because you don't know very well what to do. Playing with friends helps out a lot to numb it's scary factor tbh. If you play alone...it's an absolute different story, so you should be alright (I'm a really scaredy cat with games. I can't stand horror games quite well, but this one is scary enough).
2.- No jump scares. The closest you'll get is when you get "Ghost whispers" (You hear some stuff from time to time, but nothing jumping in front of your screen) and when ghosts appear physically, where they emit a sort of "gurgling" sound that you'll get used to soon enough. Nevertheless, no sounds that are meant to scare you due to how loud they are with everything being silent nor whatsoever, so it's pretty fair.
3.- That depends enterily on you. I've dreamt about the game, but no nightmares. I have a friend who had nightmares, but she insists on playing the game because really, it's pretty good once you get used to things around.

As someone who can't stand games with jumpscares and others with names related to memory loss (paraphrasing this, as I don't know if it counts as advertising and dk if there are rules against that too c':), I absolutely recommend this game

[MelBoBel]

I have 130 hours... I still get spooked here and there. LOL :) It gets less scary as you get used to the game, but sometimes you do get jump scared.

[Where's The Lamb Sauce]

If you play it the way its intended yeah its spooky. But most people just come in talking ♥♥♥♥ and trying to use the most cheese tactics to ruin it for themselves and the people they are playing with just because they want the win lol.

[SiEgE]

Originally posted by Schrix:

I'm too scared to play this? Is it as scary as it looks? My friends want me to play it, but honestly, I don't think I have enough alcohol to numb the fear after I play this game? lol\

How scary is it exactly? Is it just jump scares? Or will it give me nightmares?

Yes and no.
Yes:
It took me 3 tries to finish the training mission in VR.
No:
Once you've got used to the game mechanics, and you understand exactly what you need to do to get done with it - you'll steamroll through rounds without making the ghost angry.

[Plaguelight]

Scary? Nah, but it can get spoopy at times, and if you aren't expecting it, the "ghost" can pop up outta nowhere and really give you a fright.

[Kuma]

Originally posted by Schrix:

I'm too scared to play this? Is it as scary as it looks? My friends want me to play it, but honestly, I don't think I have enough alcohol to numb the fear after I play this game? lol\

How scary is it exactly? Is it just jump scares? Or will it give me nightmares?

yes and no but overall it's fun

[b00tylick3r]

u will get used to it