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Phasmophobia has been doing one thing better than almost anyone since 2020: putting you in a dark house with a torch, an open microphone and the certainty that something in there knows your name. It is made by Kinetic Games, a tiny British studio, and it launched in early access on 18 September 2020. If you are thinking of going in now, this is what to know first.
How many players does Phasmophobia support?
One to four. Every contract is accepted with whatever team you have to hand, and the game does not punish playing alone: a solo investigation is a perfectly valid way to play, and honestly the tensest, because nobody is there to confirm you really heard that. With two the rhythm changes — one inside, one in the van watching cameras — and with four it becomes something else entirely: somebody sets up the gear, somebody watches the map and somebody invariably gets locked in the basement.
There is no more than four. There is no eight-player mode and no large public servers: the game is created in a private lobby you enter with a code, and that code is all you need to gather your group.
What does a full game look like?
The loop is short and always the same, which is exactly its strength. You pick a contract — a house, a school, an asylum, a prison — set the difficulty, load the van with whatever gear fits and go in. Somewhere in the building there is a ghost, and your job is to find its room, gather evidence of what kind of ghost it is, write it in the journal and get out alive.
What there is not is action. You cannot shoot the ghost, trap it or beat it: you can only hide when it decides to hunt, kill the torch and hold your breath behind a wardrobe while the lights stutter. When the hunt ends, back to work. The game finishes when you decide to leave, and that is when you get paid for whatever you got right.
What are the three pieces of evidence and why do they rule everything?
Each ghost type is identified by a combination of three distinct pieces of evidence, and that combination is unique to it. The game already includes 27 ghost types drawn from mythologies around the world, so the journal stops being paperwork and becomes the main tool: you tick off what you find and it rules candidates out for you.
That is why the gear matters so much. Each device hunts one specific piece of evidence, and if you did not put it in the van, that evidence simply cannot be seen. On the harder difficulties the game hides evidence from you on purpose and forces you to commit with less information, which is where the journal turns into real deduction.
What gear do you start with and how does it grow?
You begin with eight Tier I items: an electromagnetic field detector, a thermometer, a flashlight and friends. It is deliberately thin. As your level rises, more equipment types and upgrades to the ones you own unlock, and those are bought with contract money.
| Tool | What it is for |
|---|---|
| EMF reader | Finds the ghost room and detects one of the pieces of evidence |
| Thermometer | Hunts the temperature drop in the haunted room |
| Camera and microphone | Placed and then watched from the van |
| Torch and flares | Seeing anything, and surviving a hunt in the dark |
| Crucifix and salt | Defence: they do not kill the ghost, they buy you room |
Gear is lost if you die carrying it, so deciding what to take has real consequences.
Does it play the same on PC, PS5 and Xbox?
Yes, and it plays together too. Phasmophobia reached PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on 29 October 2024, and the console versions share lobbies with the computer ones. It does not matter where each of you comes in from: you meet with the same lobby code.
| Platform | Available | Plays with the rest |
|---|---|---|
| PC (Windows) | Yes, since 2020 | Yes |
| PC in virtual reality | Yes | Yes, in the same lobby as non-VR players |
| PS5 | Yes, since October 2024 | Yes |
| PS VR2 | Yes | Yes |
| Xbox Series X|S | Yes, since October 2024 | Yes |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | Announced for 2027 | — |
The practical upshot is that you do not have to agree on a platform with your friends. Everyone buys it wherever suits them.
Do you need a VR headset or a microphone?
Neither is compulsory, but both change the game. VR is supported on PC and on PS VR2, and headset players drop into the same lobbies as screen players: there are no separate communities. It is the most intense way to play it and also the one most people abandon after twenty minutes.
The microphone is a different matter. You do not need it to play, but the game listens to what you say and some ghosts react to it, so without a mic you miss part of the design. If it is your first run, start on the lowest difficulty, with a microphone and without a headset: there will be time to make it harder.
Which format should you pick on PC?
The listing on this page shows you two things, essentially. A Steam Key is a code you activate on your own Steam account: the game stays yours, with your progress and your friends. An Account offer is not a code, it is access to somebody else's account that already owns the game; it tends to be the cheapest line and it is exactly the one to skip, because the progress is not yours and whoever built that account still has the credentials.
Check the region each offer states before paying, too: it is the number one reason for codes that "do not work". With that verified you can buy Phasmophobia key knowing it will activate first time.
So is it worth getting into now?
If what you want is a horror game with an ending, no. If what you want is a short, repeatable co-op game you can play in half-hour runs with the usual crowd, it is one of the few that does that well and it has been getting content for years. With four it is a horror comedy; alone, it is something else completely.
If you go for it, check the format and the region in the comparison above before you buy Phasmophobia key.
I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember, and for the last 14 years I have been making life easier for other gamers. CEO and co-founder of Gocdkeys.
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