Phasmophobia PSVR 2 Review – Gimpy Ghost Hunting

Phasmophobia Review

Phasmophobia from developer Kinetic Games has been around on PC since September 18, 2020. The term means the fear of ghosts. What is interesting about this phobia is the spectrum of symptoms people have. Reactions can range from anxiety, difficulty sleeping, afraid of being alone, intense fear of ghosts, and panic attacks. Others can control their fear and some even get a thrill from being spooked.

Kinetic Games realized how ripe this dynamic would be to form the basis of a game. Especially when linked to a format already exploited by the plethora of ghost hunter reality based shows. These shows have become a staple of many a cable or streaming service. Everyone scoffs at ghosts or other paranormal phenomenon in the comfort of a bright sunny day. That bravado gets shaky though when you find yourself in a creepy house in the dead of night.

This holds true even when in a group. For some, the doubt and unease worsen in a group dynamic. For there is always is a joker in the group. Someone who gets off on pushing other people’s buttons and making them squirm. It’s an interesting insight into the human psyche to see how they react to stressful situations alone versus when they are in a group.

Phasmophobia, the game, taps into both dynamics. It supports single or up to 4-player, online co-op plays. Either on your own or with a team of fellow paranormal investigators, you will enter haunted locations. These locations have reported paranormal activity, and you must gather as much evidence as you can. You’ll use your ghost-hunting equipment to gather enough evidence to convince a ghost removal team that their services are necessary.

Home Base & Equipment

Phasmophobia begins at your home base. You start out with several training missions. These tutorials familiarize you with not only your equipment but various types of paranormal entities. The game’s strength lies in its flexibility. There are so many combinations of equipment and missions to tackle. Factor in whether you go solo or with a team and the combinations are endless.

The equipment falls into three categories: starter, optional, and truck. Starter Equipment includes the standard ghost hunting items such as EMF Readers, D.O.T.S. projector, Ghost Writing Book, Spirit Boxes, Thermometers, UV Light, and Night Vision Cameras. Plus the trusty flashlight.

Optional equipment includes items that include more sensitive detection equipment such as motion detectors, parabolic microphone, photo camera, sound sensor. Also available is salt, incense, sanity medication, and a camera tripod. Truck equipment is mission based and includes a mission board, site map, sanity monitor, site activity monitor, computer, sound monitor, and task lists.

There is a lot to take in here, so the tutorials are mandatory. Without them, you will stumble around quite a bit. If you play solo, you must carefully choose which equipment to take based on the mission profile because you can’t take it all. If you play with a team, you can opt to remain in the truck and coordinate from there.

Cursed Possessions and Your Sanity

To make things even more interesting, you will stumble across Cursed Possessions in the mission locations. Familiar horror paraphernalia included here are the haunted mirror, the monkey paw, the music box, the Ouija board, the Summoning Circle, tarot cards, and the voodoo doll. These items are a dual-edged sword. On the one hand, they can aid in completing a mission. On the other, their use comes at the cost of your sanity.

If you think there is a lot of equipment to choose from, the list of ghosts to find is equally impressive. There are twenty-four different ones. So there are spirits, wraiths, poltergeists, jinns, revenants, and shades plus more. Each of them has their own characteristics and these will determine which equipment you should carry.

You can find information about the equipment and the ghosts in your journal. This invaluable volume is one of the largest in terms of page count I’ve ever experienced in a video game. There is a lot of reading here! One of the most vital bits of information to be found are which pieces of equipment are most effective against which type of ghost.

Locations also play a role in mission prep. Certain ghost types are more likely to haunt certain location types. So there are thirteen maps grouped by size: small, medium, or large. Homes, farmhouses, and camps make up the small locations. For the three medium maps, there is the prison, the campsite, and the restricted area of a mental institution. For the two large maps, there is a high school and the entire mental institution.

Mapping Out Your Strategy

Maps affect how much money and experience you can earn. Plus, they affect the drain on your sanity and the amount of possible light allowed. The less light there is, the quicker the drain on your sanity will be. If you play solo, there is a progression level that has to be reached before certain maps will be accessible. In team play, everyone can access a map if at least one member has already unlocked it. There are five difficulty levels and you can also create customized missions.

So far, this all sounds great. The game is a monster hit on PC with almost 600,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews. The fun experience the game generates has powered the positive praise. An experience that is a very Jekyll and Hyde one. If you play solo, the game is a very scary experience. With a team, it is more of a lark. The banter between players turns any tension into opportunities to crack jokes. Both experiences have their charms.

Phasmophobia doesn’t receive praise for its technical prowess. It has never been a looker on the PC. Unfortunately, the aspect carries over to the PSVR 2, but it is even worse. This is one of the jankiest and low-quality graphics games I have ever seen on the PSVR 2. The textures used in the game are low texture and the level of anti-aliasing is non-existent. Jaggy edges appear on every straight line. There is an option for eye tracked foveated rendering, but it has the opposite effect and makes the image worse.

Object interaction is poor too. Opening doors is cumbersome and your VR hand goes through objects such as the wall next to the door handle. Very immersion breaking. For some reason, they’ve cut back on details in outside environments even though the PS5 is more than capable of handling them. There is equipment clipping of objects with the environment.

Phasmophobia Game Play versus Glitches

None of the glitches are game breaking, but they do detract from the experience. How much they do will be up to individual tolerance levels. Kinetic Games have promised to address current issues with future patches. One thing is that working is cross-platform play. PS5 and PC players can do coop play.

It is a testament to the game experience that players will get past the PSVR 2 issues and still go ghost hunting with Phasmophobia. If you love ghost busting and can tamper your expectations with the game’s polish, you are in for a great time.

***A PSVR 2 key was provided by the publisher***