Supremo scare-’em-up Phasmophobia is pulling a bunch of spooky new treats out of its ghostbustin’ bag for Halloween, with today’s massive new Nightmare update adding a haunted campsite map, four new ghosts, weather effects, and more.
Maple Lodge Campsite is Phasmophobia’s first outdoor map and packs in everything you could possibly hope for in a spooky holiday retreat, including picnic areas, tents, a log cabin, and even a haunted lake. Developer Kinetic Games says the new map features “more unique objects, higher object density and more visual detail”, and that players can expect other maps to receive a similar boost in detail, plus more unique objects, at a later date.
Ghostbusters can expect greater variety across the board as result of today’s update, which also introduces four new ghosts – Onryo, The Twins, Obake, and Raiju (all of which will have an increased chance of spawning throughout Phasmophobia’s Halloween event) – plus a new weather system, intended to add another layer of gameplay with each contract.
Let’s Play Phasmophobia – LIVE AT EGX 2021.
Essentially, each time players start a new contract, the chosen location will randomly adopt one of six weather types: clear skies, fog, light rain, heavy rain, strong wind, and light snow. Changes in temperature will make finding a ghost’s location more difficult, rain or wind will impair players’ hearing, and thick fog will reduce visibility.
Other gameplay changes include tweaks to the existing ouija board system, new ghost behaviours (they can now blow out lighters, interact with showers, and will be attracted to the walkie-talkie, for instance), plus a significant difficulty overhaul.
Amateur, Intermediate, and Professional difficulty levels have all been reworked to “make each difficulty feel more unique, and provide more options for players of every skill level”, and a new Nightmare difficulty has been added “for those seeking the most intense gameplay Phasmophobia has to offer”. Expect damaged monitoring equipment, long hunt durations, almost no hiding places, and other adjustments for optimal terror when playing Nightmare.
Phasmophobia’s new update is out now on PC, and full patch notes can be found on Steam.
