Phasmophobia is a game about ghosts and supernatural events created by an independent game company called Kinetic Games, which is located in Southampton, England. The game was first released in early access for computers running Microsoft Windows and supported virtual reality technology in September 2020. In the game, one to four players act as ghost hunters who complete a contract by identifying the type of ghost haunting a specific location and achieving other optional goals.

The game became more popular after many Twitch streamers and YouTubers played it in October 2020. It became the sixth most popular game on Twitch that month and the best-selling game on Steam worldwide for several weeks between October and November 2020. Critics gave the game good reviews, praising its original ideas. As of April 2026, Phasmophobia is the 50th best-selling video game.

Gameplay

Phasmophobia is a horror investigation survival game played from a first-person perspective. Players work alone or in a group of up to three others to complete a contract. The goal is to identify the type of ghost haunting a specific location. Players can talk through voice chat, either nearby or using walkie-talkies. The game uses speech recognition so players can communicate with certain equipment, cursed items, and the ghost. Gathering evidence to find the correct ghost type and surviving will earn most of the cash and experience points. Completing objectives and taking photos, videos, and audio can increase or double rewards. Investigators are encouraged to complete as many tasks as possible to level up and earn money to unlock maps, levels, and upgrades.

Players create or join a lobby where they prepare for contracts. Phasmophobia allows players to choose from eight different paranormal investigator appearances to distinguish group members. At two corkboards in the lobby, players vote on a contract location, and the host sets the difficulty. All equipment is bought and upgraded at a computer in the lobby and loaded into a van for use at the site. Players who survive or finish their tasks must return to the van and close the barn doors to leave.

Phasmophobia includes 27 different ghosts, each with unique behaviors and clues. When players arrive at a site, one ghost type is randomly assigned for the mission. As players work on the contract, their sanity decreases based on events and circumstances. If sanity is low enough, the ghost will hunt and try to kill players, unless the "Friendly Ghost" difficulty setting is enabled. During hunts, all exit doors are locked, forcing players to hide or run from the ghost until the hunt ends. Some ghosts may hunt at different sanity levels based on their strengths and weaknesses.

Locations include:
• 6 Tanglewood Drive
• 10 Ridgeview Court
• 13 Willow Street
• 42 Edgefield Road
• Camp Woodwind
• Grafton Farmhouse
• Nell’s Diner

• Bleasdale Farmhouse
• Maple Lodge Campsite
• Point Hope
• Prison
• Sunny Meadows Restricted

• Brownstone High School
• Sunny Meadows

When starting the game, players receive basic starter equipment: an old radio, notepad, laser pen, electromagnetic field detector, old camcorder, mercury thermometer, small UV flashlight, and retro metallic flashlight. More items can be bought with money. Additional equipment types or upgrades can be unlocked based on player level and purchased later. Some equipment, like Firelights, Igniters, Incense, and Crucifixes, may be needed for optional tasks or protection.

When entering a contract, players begin in a van where they find their selected equipment and the Objective Board. This board lists tasks, the ghost’s name, and all 10 photos taken. The van also has tools like the Surveillance Computer (to watch cameras), Sanity Monitor (to track sanity), a map of the site, Sound Sensor Screen (to listen for audio), and Site Activity Monitor (to track ghost activity). These tools are always in the van but may be disabled on certain difficulties. Players also have a journal to record ghost information, evidence, tasks, and photos. Evidence and ghost identification must be marked in the journal to earn money and experience for upgrades.

Players use equipment to find three pieces of evidence specific to the ghost type and complete optional tasks. On Nightmare difficulty and higher, the ghost may show only two or fewer pieces of evidence, requiring players to use the ghost’s traits to identify it. Some ghosts always show at least one piece of evidence. As of November 2025, there are seven possible types of ghost evidence.

In the Chronicle update in June 2025, the Media system was added to help players earn extra money and achieve perfect games. Each Media type has different recordable items and uses specific equipment.

Photo evidence is taken with a Photo Camera. Items that count for photo evidence include ghosts, bones, dead bodies, fingerprints, footprints, EMF readings, freezing temperature readings, dirty water, used crucifixes, Ghost Writing, and Cursed Possessions.

Video evidence is recorded with a Video Camera. Recordable videos include ghosts, teammates dying, Ghost Writing, Ghost Orbs, items being thrown, lights switching, doors moving, motion sensors, salt being disturbed, candles blowing out, Ouija Boards, crucifixes burning, and other interactions.

Audio evidence is recorded with a Sound Recorder. Recordable sounds include EMF 5, Music Boxes, Ouija Boards, candles blowing out, crucifixes burning, Ghost Writing, Spirit Box responses, ghost audio, and paranormal sounds.

To achieve a perfect game, players must collect 5 unique photos, 5 unique videos, and 3 unique sounds. A unique piece of media is one that has not been recorded before. If a duplicate is taken, it earns less money. Players must balance unique media requirements with limited deletions. Lower difficulties allow more deletions, while higher difficulties have fewer.

Cursed Possessions, also called "Cursed Items" or "Cursed Objects," are items that let players interact directly with the ghost. Some abilities include making the ghost appear, forcing a hunt, asking questions, or killing the player. As of May 2024, there are seven cursed possessions: the Ouija Board, Music Box, Haunted Mirror, Tarot Cards, Summoning Circle, Voodoo Doll, and Monkey Paw. Each item interacts with the ghost differently. Each cursed item has a 1 in 7 chance to appear on a map, with different spawn locations. Only one cursed item appears on a map unless changed via difficulty settings. The only exception is "Insanity" difficulty, where no cursed items appear. Having any cursed item reduces the multiplier for custom games, and choosing one specifically lowers it further. The Monkey Paw reduces the multiplier the most (5x). The Ouija Board, Music Box, Haunted Mirror, Tarot Cards, Summoning Circle, and Voodoo Doll were added in version 0.5.0. The Monkey Paw was added later in update 0.8.1.0.

• The Ouija Board was the first Cursed Possession in Phasmophobia.

Development

The game's Steam page was launched in March 2020. Three months later, an announcement trailer was released. It showed support for virtual reality and the release date for the early access version. On September 18, 2020, the game was made available in early access for $14. After the release, two major updates with bug fixes were added the following week. Over the next three years, several major content updates were also released.

On June 13, 2023, Kinetic Games announced that console versions of the game would be released in August. However, a fire at the Kinetic Games office caused the release dates to be pushed back to October. On October 17, 2023, Kinetic Games announced another delay for the console versions. This was due to "Unforeseen challenges" caused by the fire, and no new release date was confirmed. Finally, on October 29, 2024, Kinetic Games released the console versions of the game.

In the future, Kinetic Games has promised changes to core systems such as horror, hunts, and events. New features will include character customization, new character models and animations, new optional tasks, new interactions, hallucinations, and new ghost models.

Release

The game was first released on September 18, 2020, but it became more popular around the start of October because of Halloween. This was the first time the game was trending, and many well-known Twitch streamers and YouTubers played it. This might have happened because the game was available in early access during Halloween and was similar to another game called P.T. In addition, early players shared videos of the game on social media, and others re-shared these clips or downloaded the game themselves. Much of the game's quick success was because of its presence on social media. It might also be because the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic started, causing many people to stay home.

As more players joined the game due to popular streamers playing it, hackers became common later in the release period. These hackers often tried to scare players or create an endless number of items in the game. One serious issue involved hackers called "stream snipers," who changed their player models to show inappropriate content, which likely caused streamers to receive warnings or bans. The game developers then started working on updates to fix these problems.

On Twitch, the game's popularity grew quickly and reached the top 5 most viewed games by mid-October, surpassing games like Among Us, Fortnite Battle Royale, FIFA 21, and Genshin Impact. According to an online player tracker called GitHyp, the game had over 86,000 active players around October 10.

Reception

Phasmophobia received positive feedback from critics. GameRant called it the best horror game on Steam, noting that players on Steam were very impressed with the game, and more players would likely enjoy it when it became available on consoles. IGN listed it among the "12 Best Horror Games on PC" in August 2023, describing how players experience fear when friends react suddenly to being caught by the game’s supernatural spirits and rush to escape.

Rich Stanton of PC Gamer praised Phasmophobia as "the best ghost game ever made," saying it was unlike any other game he had played and included surprising moments that caused fear. Cass Marshall of Polygon gave a positive review, calling it a "cozy kind of horror" that became very good once the game started, though it had some bugs that were later fixed. Jeuxvideo.com described the game as original and imaginative, noting that its maps were well-designed and the game’s progression was well-paced. While they criticized the animations and some repeated elements, they believed these issues would improve with updates before the game’s release. A review by CBR called it "the perfect game for Halloween," praising its unique jump scares and sound design. The game has been compared to other horror games like Friday the 13th: The Game and Dead by Daylight.

Phasmophobia became a top-selling game on Steam. By the end of October 2020, it was the best-selling game of that week, surpassing Fall Guys and pre-orders for Cyberpunk 2077. It remained the highest-selling Steam game for three consecutive weeks. As of December 2024, the game had sold over one million copies on consoles and nearly 22 million total copies since its 2020 release.

As of February 2025, Phasmophobia had sold over two million copies across PlayStation 5, PlayStation VR2, and Xbox Series platforms, 104 days after its console launch.

As of June 2025, a film adaptation of the game was reported to be in development, produced by the horror film company Blumhouse Productions.