Kinetic Games unveiled the new update for Phasmophobia today, highlighting the new Insanity difficulty, Cursed Possession, and more.
Who you gonna’ call? Nope, not the Ghostbusters…that would be too easy. Today, Kinetic Games was proud to announce their latest Phasmophobia patch update 0.8.1.0, aka “Tempest.” It has rolled out the new Insanity difficulty and changes for custom difficulty, a new Cursed Possession/Item, updates to the shop UI, bug fixes and more quality-of-life improvements. The next major update was also announced, which will be called “Progression Part 1 (v0.9.0).” Check out a first-look image of some new equipment items that will be coming to the game soon.
The first preview of the Phasmophobia update was back in January when Kinetic Games showed off its progress toward upcoming content, but now the content is here. The biggest tease was the new Insanity difficulty, which has only been stated on the patch notes blog, saying, “more information can be found in-game on the difficulty selection screen.” Very ominous, but it just means players will have to try it out for themselves. A new Challenge mode has been added as well, varying from intermediate to Insanity difficulties.
For those who have been using custom difficulties, the reward values have been reworked to bring the game closer to the default difficulties. This would also make progression fairer for those who do not want to min-max their custom games. The store’s computer UI has also been completely redesigned to look more like an online store. An “all equipment” loadout has also been added, and players can now “auto-add” to their loadout when they enter a lobby. Some new equipment has been spotted in the “Coming Soon” sections, such as lamps, bottles, bowls, thuribles, and other new looks for already established equipment.
Another big announcement was the new cursed possession called Monkey Paw. Here is a breakdown of how it works, as explained in the patch notes:
A severed paw that grants a wish for those who ask it. Be warned, the wish may not be worth the consequences:
- Wishes can be found scattered inside Sunny Meadows Mental Institution and will be added to your Journal when found. These are not required to use the paw and are just a permanent note to help you remember.
The number of wishes you have will correspond to the difficulty or reward multiplier for that contract:
- 0x – 1.9x Rewards: 5 wishes
- 2x – 2.9x Rewards: 4 wishes
- 3x Rewards or higher: 3 wishes
More details on every wish will be updated in two weeks.
As for other additions, keep an eye out for some strange green symbols in the warehouse – find out what they mean. It definitely looked like some Riddler writing from one of the Batman IP’s. It was great to see that the Phasmophobia developers made significant environmental improvements to things like the crucifix, weather particles and lighting, improved UV shaders on UV effects, and changed certain sound cues. Be sure to check out the Steam patch notes for a complete list of gameplay changes and fixes. That hiding spot that might have been handy before might have been patched out!
This update is a huge one (16.9 GB worth!), but it was amazing how much work went into the Early Access game – with a lot of additions, changes and fixes. Phasmophobia is available exclusively on Steam Early Access.
