Phasmophobia - The Ultimate Beginner's Guide

Phasmophobia’s goal is simple, though achieving it is a little tricky. Here are some tips to get you started.

Ghost-hunting horror game Phasmophobia is rapidly gaining attention, and with Halloween just around the corner, it's a great option if you're looking to get spooked with some friends. As it's still in early access, it has its fair share of jankiness, but that's part of the fun. The only downside is that the tutorial is rather unhelpful (and that's putting it generously).

In this video, Jake Dekker gives you a proper tutorial to hunting ghosties in Phasmophobia. He runs down what the actual goal of the game is--to identify what kind of ghost you're dealing with--and then all the tools you'll need and how to use them. This includes the EMF reader, the tricky-to-use spirit box, and the all-important thermometer.

Jake also explains some of the optional tools at your disposal, including the crucifix (which works as expected, in a the-power-of-Christ-compels-you sort of way), smudge sticks for saging a haunted room, and more. If you're trying to get into Phasmophobia but having a hard time navigating its learning curve, he's got you covered.

We recently named Phasmophobia one or our best horror games to play for Halloween. You can also see our list of the best horror anime you can stream right now if you're looking for even more ways to get scared.

[jacobdekk]

Got any more tips? Lemme know and maybe I'll do an advanced guide! Thanks for watching!

[theloshadow]

I like how it actually it says in the lobby that you're the investigation squad and it's your job to identify the ghost and afterwards the cleaner squad will remove the ghost somehow. Which means you're part of a large business that deals with ghosts and what not, but you aren't the squad who has to actually exorcise the building of it's unwanted deceased inhabitants. I wonder if this will get explored upon at some point in the future.

[pepperVenge]

Useful Tip: Thermometers don't read the temperature of the air, it reads the temperature of the object or surface it's pointing at.

[imokiguess]

Last time, me and my friends were chanting the ghost's name, not knowing that it would aggravate them.

And then we all died.

[dsxz]

-Fingerprints also appear on light switches
- crucifix only work to stop a hunt if the ghost starts the hunt within its 3 meter radius
- voodoo dolls will fly towards the ghosts direction if thrown
- all ghosts have hidden abilities, wraiths dont leave footprints when they walk through salt, they can also see through doors/lockers and can go thru walls
- jinns can teleport with the power on and will never turn the power off
- revenants can outrun players that are in line of sight but are slower when players are hidden
- Yuries lower the sanity of players more than others when theres an event
- demons hunt more often and start hunts at a higher sanity (even over 50) than other ghosts
- oni's HATE when you remove all the items from thier room
- swearing also pisses off the ghost

[juwyie]

The most important tip; press T to open the flashlight so you can hold something else. Seriously, so many people don't know this and keeps forgetting, they freak out in the dark.

[jetstrike]

There are a lot of things missing from this video.
1. turn on lights can help reduce the rate at which your sanity drops this is important for Highschool and Asylum.
2. Crucifixes are only going to stop a hunt from the beginning. placing the crucifix where the ghost has appeared previously are great spots for the crucifixes. Common spots would be behind doors as ghost spawn when people are alone in the correct room.
3. candles are extremely underrated while the candle doesn't provide directional illumination like a flashlight they can reduce the rate at which your sanity drops this is a must when in high school and especially in the Asylum.
4. having a lighter in your inventory allows you to press F to an object that is in your hand already. i.e. smudge sticks and candles.
5. Salt is a great tool as it can show you if a ghost is wandering outside its room. This can be important in showing you where they can spawn giving you the ability to plan a safe route for an escape or hiding spot during hunts.

[darkracer]

now. this game might look scary.
but it's verry laughter heavy.

example.
we did a highschool map once, and the ghost's name was "micheal jackson"
and all we did was run through that school going "yeeheee. shamona"

[jd_av]

"AKA your friend without an SSD.."... That one hit home

[zombieshuffle]

The ghost's behavior can be broken down into two distinct categories, haunting, and hunting. Haunting includes everything the ghost can do that isn't violent, up to and including physically appearing (either totally or as a shadow). Hunts, however, start with your flashlight flickering. About three seconds pass before the ghost actually begins hunting for people. During which time the ghost will hunt people either by sight or sound.

Hiding must be done out of sight of the door frame of the room you're hiding in as the ghost can see through them (you see this when you die as well).

[Linda-foep]

Yesterday I had a ghost write in the journal while I was in the middle of placing it so the camera could see it and we watch from the safety of the van. I didn't think it was possible, but BAM demonic symbols in my hands and an unhappy in my ears. I was yelling, "It wrote in the book! It wrote in the book!" and my partner in the van was saying, "I can't see the book! Where's the book!?" ... "IN MY HANDS!!!"

[trankuill]

I love to think that there will at some pint be Phasmophobia 2 where the players are actually the ghosthunters, aka the second party to arrive, right after the ghost type has been discovered

[cpu]

When I am with friends I never get a feeling of being scared. Only of fun or frustration. But when I am alone, all of a sudden the game gets scary. I love this game XD

[yikesmsmsmsm]

Bit of an oversight here - crucifixes don't stop hunts! You can't stop a hunt. There's a glitch that means some ghosts stop if the crucifix hits them in the air but it's not intended behaviour. Crucifixes prevent hunts if the ghost tries to start within 3m of it (for banshees within 6m).

[jaska]

Important note when you use the thermometer, if the ghost turns off the fuse box, the heat will also be turned off so the overall temperature will be much colder and you won't be able to tell which room is the ghost room unless it's freezing

[CoisoNull]

if i am not mistaken, saying things like "run" or "im scared" triggers the ghost

[prop]

There is a white button left of the map in the van. This helps cycle through floors to see your friends. :)




Took me way to damm long to even notice it! LOL.

[Monica-himh]

Phasmophobia is great because you can play for five hours and not get hunted once and then the next three games you play you get hunted every 45 seconds until you give up or everybody dies

[deykuzor]

Everything but the crucifix tip is correct.

Don't hold the crucifix. It does nothing, we've tested for that. It also does nothing if the ghost already began hunting. It also has a radius of only 3 meters. You must throw the crucifix down prior to a ghost initiating hunting phase, and preferably at the entrance of a room you intend to hide in, or at the entrance of the ghost's haunted room.

Smudge sticks are actually more useful than crucifixes at preventing being hunted but are balanced out because they prevent some ghost activities making it harder to find evidence, and require two inventory slots for a single use. The nice thing is they can be tossed at the ghost when it hunts though to temporarily confuse it.

[chalkix_nz]

the 3 items i tend to take are torch, thermometer and either video camera or book. that way when you find the room, drop the book/camera and go back for more gear. when you return, the book might have been written in and the camera is now set to check for ghost orbs. The book is NOT a tool to use to talk to the ghost. it's a tool used to figure out what type. so asking it to write in the book its age/location/name etc is pointless.
As for team members, we (my team and I) only have 1 person buy and take everything. whoever supplies the investigation then generally stays in the truck monitoring the team. that way you wont die and lose your gear and everybody gets rewarded at the end of the mission.