If anything, 2020 has been the year of multiplayer games. The pandemic forced people to stay home and social distance away from their friends in real life, so it is only logical that they took on to video games to find some relief for their social needs.
This year people saw some huge overnight success stories like Fall Guys, or Among Us taking over the internet. The later game to receive the viral treatment in 2020 is Phasmophobia, an indie co-op game developed by Kinetic Games. In Phasmophobia, you play as a ghost hunter who has to hunt down ghosts and solve the mystery of what they are. In case you want to give this game a try for the first time or want to bring your ghost-hunting skills to the next level, here are some mistakes to avoid.
10 Screaming The Ghost’s Name
Once you learn a ghost name, you’ll think the polite thing to do is call out its name when you want to ask something. However, it turns out that doing this only angers the ghost and makes you susceptible to being attacked.
Saying the ghost name and asking a question right after only register the name. So, for the ghost, you’re only calling it out and messing with them. Instead, try asking direct questions like “are you here?” and refer to it as “the ghost” if you need to talk with your teammates.
9 Not Learning How To Use The Crucifix
It’s happening, you’re losing sanity by the second, and you know the ghost is about to enter into its hunt phase. All your hopes lie in the crucifix you equipped earlier, so you pull it out and place it right in front of the terrifying ghost, and… nothing happens; you’re dead now.
Dont worry; the crucifix is one of the most challenging tools to use in the game as it only works with certain ghost-types and under specific conditions. You have to use it before the ghost starts hunting, and for it to work, it must be close to the ghost’s hunting spawn location.
8 Using The Ouija Board Way Too Often
If those countless hours of watching Halloween movies taught anybody anything, it is that you don’t mess with ouija boards. Unless you’re playing a ghost-hunting game, in which case you absolutely need to.
However, this item can be a little tricky to use. On the one hand, it gives you valuable information about the entity you’re dealing with. On the other hand, every time you use the ouija board, it takes a chunk out of your sanity, leaving you more susceptible to being attacked by the ghost.
7 Running Instead Of Hiding
As a human being, your first instinct is self-preservation, which leads you to run away when facing danger. However, this might not be a useful thing to do while playing Phasmophobia.
When a ghost starts its hunting phase, just dont start running towards the exit, chances are the main exit door is locked anyway. Your best option in this situation is to find a place to hide; you can use closets, bathrooms, or wardrobes. Now you know, next time you’re exploring the map, keep an eye out for possible places to hide in, and don’t forget to be quiet!
6 Not Utilizing The Truck
When you start a new game is normal to dive headfirst into the haunted location, leaving your safe truck behind. However, exploring the place unprepared leaves you exposed to quickly losing sanity in this game. As more seasoned players know, low sanity isn’t good as it makes you a bigger target for a ghost’s attack.
A good strategy is to place some cameras and movement sensors around the house and then return to the truck. This way, you can monitor the place to get more information about the type of entity you’re dealing with, so you’re more prepared when you go back in. Bonus fact, returning to the truck slows the speed at which you lose sanity.
5 Not Doing Your Homework
To make this game more exciting and give you the full-on supernatural experience, you deserve Phasmophobia devs packed the game with up to 12 different types of ghosts. That goes from a huge range of supernatural creatures like Poltergeists or Demons, and it is up to you to find out what kind of entity haunting this place.
As you might know, different types of entities behave differently and leave different kinds of clues. This is pretty straightforward, and it means that if you want to survive, you learn which type does what to identify correctly.
4 Not Taking Enough Pictures
Phasmophobia has its in-game currency that you can earn by completing side objectives getting life insurance, or taking photos. Pictures you can later sell, and this is a fantastic feature most players miss. It is such a shame because these give you access to money you can spend that will help upgrade your gear or buy sanity pills.
You’ll need to take photos of any ghost activity you catch around you. This means you can take pictures of the ghost itself, fingerprints or footprints, or even one of that ouija board you just used. Each photo has a value of $10 or $5 if you get killed. Keep in mind that each camera storages only five shots. You better equip multiple if you want to earn a few bucks!
3 Forgetting To Write In The Journal
Identifying what type of ghost you’re dealing with is part of the game’s primary mission, the other thing is pretty much trying to survive and not dying. However, when things start to go down, and the ghost presence becomes more prevalent and scary, it is easy to forget to write in your journal.
Dont miss this step until the end when you’re just rushing up everything, trying not to get killed. Instead, write in your journal just in the first few minutes of the game to gather all the evidence you and your team can. Once you enter the evidence in the journal, it will even narrow it down to the ghost types, making things way more manageable for you.
2 Not Paying Attention To Sanity Levels
In typical Eternal Darkness fashion, you’ll have to keep an eye out for yours, and your group’s sanity as a lower group stat makes you vulnerable to ghost attacks. You can check sanity levels back at the truck.
There are some tips players can use to keep their sanity levels at bay. For example, running back to the truck will make your sanity go down slower. If what you’re looking for is a way to replenish the sanity you lost, you’ll have to take some sanity pills, which restore up to 40% of your sanity.
1 Interacting With All The Objects
It’s normal to get scared and want to open doors or turn on every light. However, you have to let the ghost interact with a few items - like doors, windows, or light switches - to gather the evidence you need to know which type of spirit you are dealing with. Else this task will become so much harder.
Sometimes you’ll even have to turn off the power yourself! This sounds counterintuitive as light helps you not to lose sanity as quickly. However, certain ghost-types, like Jinn’s, will see their speed limited when you cut the power using your fuse box.
