If you’ve ever stayed in a hotel with a TV, you’ve probably seen a ‘real’ ghost-hunting show that claims to have honest video proof of the supernatural. Phasmophobia lets you star in your own sensational docu-drama a la ‘Paranormal: Caught On Camera’, focused on finding poltergeists, ghouls and spirits in haunted locations. It’s a blast detecting EMF fluctuations and getting spooked by evil apparitions, made even better with the option to play with up to three friends.
Yes, there’s plenty more to this ghost-hunting simulator than just taking photos, but earning a full clear in a hunt means snapping pics of the supernatural haunter, any evidence you find and even the bodies of your less fortunate crew members. You can even set up video cameras on tripods to spot spirit orbs or witness your friends experiencing the horrors from within the safety of the van. It’s great fun cataloguing all the evidence of the supernatural, from footsteps in salt to spirit writing, and using it to work out exactly what kind of ghost is haunting the area.
Phasmophobia has been updated plenty since it launched, adding more equipment, more ghost types and totally reworking the progression system in free content patches on PC. On Xbox, you’ll take on the latest version, which comes with its own pros and cons compared to the simpler early access variation. There are tonnes of ghost types with their own quirks, which can make narrowing it down pretty tough, and unlocking all the fun equipment does take time and careful play, somewhat curtailing the opportunities for fun silliness that the original release excelled at. Still, so long as you have one reasonably experienced player in your team, you’ll have a brilliant time getting scared together, and considering the game offers crossplay between Xbox, PC and even PlayStation, there’s plenty of experts out there who will be happy to add another ghost hunter to the crew.
Pros:
• Amazing fun to play cooperatively with friends
• Loads of depth for those that want to engage with it
• Some genuinely good scares can pop up as you play
Cons:
• There are so many pieces of equipment and ghost types to learn that it can be overwhelming for newcomers
• Still needs some of the kinks working out, though constant updates mean it’ll get there soon!
Having continuity of dreams is always a wild card, because I'm like "alright g'night gang, I'm going to sleep! It' time to find out how I escape the collapsing sandstone maze under the target in Area 51 where my boss made me go because I had to shred the evidence" but in all likelihood I'm just going to teleport outside again unscathed but I'll have forgotten to shred the documents and a police dog is going to get me.