Phasmophobia Patch Notes (March 2024): Ascension Updates and News

Welcome back Ghost Hunters, we've got some news for you. The long-awaited shop rework is finally here, boasting a new, easier way to manage your gear!

SHOP UPDATE

Based on player feedback, the shop has had a complete overhaul!

• 3 separate pages for more intuitive usage
• Easy buy options for controller
• Renamable loadouts
• Player-specific colours for supplied equipment
• Quick shortcuts to navigate between screens to unlock equipment
• Full tutorial for each page
• Shortcuts for gamepad users

NEW

New accessibility options:

• You can now customize each player's color for many areas in the game:
  
  • Main menu stickers
  • Shop interface
  • Sanity screen in the truck
• You can now customize your cursor
  
  • Shape
  • Color
  • Opacity
  • Size
  • Additional options when highlighting objects
  
  
  Note: VR players can only adjust their highlight cursors colour and opacity

CHANGES

• You can no longer receive a photo of a DOTS ghost while it’s not inside a DOTS Projector's light
• You can now rotate the Sound Sensor III whilst placing it
• Greatly improved the DOTS Ghosts AI navigation, this will result in more consistent evidence across the board
• Reduced the brightness of the Journal
• Reduced the volume of various sounds

FIXES

General:

• Improved the AI pathing for the Phantom and Wraith abilities
• Ouija board will now break if you do not have enough sanity to use it instead of answering a question then breaking
• The shop screensaver will no longer appear and disappear when walking into/away from the shop screen in non-VR
• Fixed a ghost AI navigation issue on the Tanglewood living room
• DOTS Ghosts AI navigation will now work correctly when you are in the same room as the ghost
• Ghosts can now correctly interact with all telephones
• The grandfather clock ghost interaction now works correctly
• The sound sensor “offline“ text is now translated for non-English languages
• You can now swap to the 'Blocked Players' page using the gamepad shoulder buttons
• The Sunny Meadows Apocalypse sticker will now show during single player
• You can no longer back out of the menu with a gamepad while the Journal is open
• You can no longer use the Main Menu left and right UI arrows while the Journal is open
• The Haunted Mirror will now correctly break straight away if you do not have enough sanity (20%)
• Gamepad 'Local push to talk' rebind tape is now the correct image

VR:

• VR players can now prestige
• Sound sensor III can now have its shape changed in VR
• Motion sensor II can now have its shape changed in VR (while placed)
• Up and down arrows now work in the VR journal
• You can swap between hold and toggle grab types again in VR
• You can now drop the Sound Sensor III in VR
• Fixed a lag spike when a VR player joins the game
• The VR Journal sounds can no longer be heard from far away
• Spirit Box 3 VR text voice recognition now works

FIXES

NEW

• Added the Unity Gaming Services notification system to be compliant with the EU Digital Services Act

CHANGES

• Smudge Sticks now block the Onryo’s hunt ability
• If the Onryo is hunting and blows out a third candle, it will now cancel the Onryo hunt ability and no longer start a hunt after that hunt ends
• Upgraded Unity version from 2022.3.5f1 to 2022.3.17f1

FIXES

• The bear in the Grafton Nursery has been moved so it doesn’t get stuck when the hiding spot is blocked
• Fixed ghost navigation issues on Grafton Farmhouse
• The bone will no longer spawn in the bath in Grafton
• The monkey paw will no longer mark you as a hacker and only half revive the host if you tried to revive the host while they were dying
• You can no longer change your system clock to skip ahead to another week or days challenge
• The fog will no longer be inside of the Prison truck
• The ghost can no longer get stuck behind walls in Willow
• The ghost can no longer get stuck inside the tree in Woodwind
• You can no longer get stuck behind one of the fuse boxes on Maple Campsite
• You can no longer get on top of the table in Storage Tent 2 in Maple Campsite

Welcome back ghost hunters, we've got some news for you.

We’ve received your lighting feedback and we have now implemented several new systems to improve on these areas. With the below changes and new settings, this will alleviate many issues.

NEW

• New graphics settings have been added to the Journal (Currently not available for VR and requires a graphics card):

  • Eye Adaption: Simulates your eyes adjusting to light or dark areas over time
  • Screen Space Global Illumination (SSGI): Simulates bounced lighting; making lighting and shadows look less dark. This may affect performance so there are three quality settings.

• Static lighting has been overhauled in all locations

• Ambient light has been increased

• Light from outside sources (moon, street lights) will now shine through windows

• Larger rooms or rooms with darker materials such as farm houses may look darker, however this is intended

CHANGES

• Removed the Holiday Event

• Reflections will now update quicker and more consistently when lights are toggled on or off

• The brightness slider has been adjusted to 0%-250% and its maximum value lowered slightly due to the new brighter ambient light

• The cursor brightness slider has been adjusted to be 0%-100%

• Moved the wardrobe and lights in the Nursery in Grafton for better lighting

• Adjusted the range and brightness of the passive player light

• Adjusted the range and brightness of several location lights to make them more realistic

• Grafton hiding spots

  • The upstairs hallway armchair and nursery crib are now hiding zones and can be blocked
  • The upstairs armchair has been moved closer to the wall to make it safer

• Adjusted the player post processing to give slightly more cinematic colours

• Improved performance when toggling the fuse box

• Ghost writing books can no longer be thrown by a poltergeist ability

FIXES

• Metallic door knobs are now shiny again
• Fixed several safe spots in Willow
• “Deja Vu” weekly challenge now has the correct items
• “Glow in the Dark” weekly challenge now has the Fuse Box as the correct state: Broken
• “Hide and Seek: Extreme” weekly challenge now correctly has 3 evidence
• Adjusted several reflection probes in Tanglewood to stop glowing objects when a light is turned on in a different room
• You can now take a photo of the Sunny Meadows summoning circle
• Motion sensors now correctly show detections on the truck map
• Fixed safe spots in the Sunny Meadows male room 5 and Maple Campsite Storage Tent 2
• The ghost can no longer get stuck on the fallen down locker in the School hallway
• Campsite A and B in Maple Lodge Campsite will now work correctly

FIXES

• You will no longer get Point Hope as a weekly challenge map
• Years with an extra week will no longer break the weekly challenge on the last week of the year
• Fixed localisation issues with the Holiday event in some languages

HOLIDAY 2023 UPDATE -

NEW

• The Holiday 2023 event is now active! The event will last around 3 weeks
  
  • Instructions can be found on the main menu event button
• An error message will now show if you fail to connect to Unity Gaming Services

CHANGES

• Updated the textures, audio, and effects for the Summoning Circle
• Flashlight III Upgrade now costs $3000 (up from $2500)
• As Spirit Box I range is only 3m, we've lowered the “far” Spirit Box response’s minimum distance to 2m, from 4m
• Lowered the volume of DOTS Projector III

FIXES

• Several interaction photos will now work consistently
  
  • Ghost-writing book II
  • Fairy lights poles
  • Beartraps
  • Light switches
  • Keyboards
  • Ouija board
• Removed fog from the Truck in all locations
• Removed the fog leak in Sunny Meadows male day room
• Igniter III will now permanently extinguish after 10 minutes, as listed in the shop
• Salt II is now consumable, as listed in the shop
• Nightmare difficulty now unlocks at level 30 instead of level 29
• Dead players will now receive the Investigation bonuses if earned in that contract
• Sounds that loop should now always be audible from the start, and are more reliable
• Pressing the ‘Special’ key binding (default: T) while you are holding a Flashlight will no longer play the toggle sound
• The Ghost-writing book is now throwable by the ghost if the ghost does not give ghost-writing evidence
• Film grain and chromatic aberration for night vision now respect user settings
• The Custom difficulty icon in the server list now displays correctly
• UV Flashlights can no longer charge fingerprints/footprints while Flashlights are set to disabled in the Difficulty settings
• The ghost can no longer detect any type of Flashlight during hunts while Flashlights are disabled in the Difficulty settings
• The Parabolic Microphone objective will no longer be completed if you are not holding it
• Motion Sensor mini-map icons now turn green when a ghost walks through it
• Motion Sensor II now toggles shapes correctly
• You can no longer throw/place equipment through the Tanglewood glass sliding doors
• Some walls no longer teleport items back to the truck incorrectly
• Removed tree rendering issues next to the white tent in Maple Lodge Campsite
• Potential fix for DOTS ghosts being invisible during hunts
• Potential fix for crucifixes not preventing hunts

Patch Released on November 13, 2023 - 

NEW

• Added the first wave of Steam Achievements! Check out the Achievements section on Steam to see how to earn them. More achievements will be added in future updates.
• Added an option to enable Screen Space Ambient Occlusion for VR

CHANGES

• Removed Halloween Event
• Adjusted the sky effects when you are dead
• Reduced translucency on medium tents slightly to stop them from glowing so much when a DOTS is placed inside
• Both campfires in Maple Lodge will now have a max hearing range of 5m and are the same volume
• The Maple Campsite Chem toilet will now behave similarly to house closets and lockers when hiding
• Brightness will now default to 1 for new players instead of 0

FIXES

• Significant improvements to loading times and performance across the whole game
• Max-level players will no longer get stuck on the reward screen
• You can now get past the splash screen if you are failing to connect to Steam
• You can no longer hide from the ghost’s view behind a lit campfire
• The totem pole in Maple Lodge Campsite will now block the ghost's view during hunts
• Moved the twigs easter egg in Maple back to where it should be
• Removed the invisible walls on top of the small tents
• Incense III will now swing again while held
• Maple’s Green and White tents now have the correct room names
• Moved some camping chairs by Campfire B in Maple to remove a safe spot
• Moved the small green tent in Maple’s Campsite B to remove a safe spot
• Moved the Maple Campsite’s Ouija Board spawn to the right slightly to stop it from clipping
• Moved the Maple music box spawn up slightly to stop it clipping inside of the log
• Moved the orange bottle up one shelf to stop it clipping with the Maple Ouija Board spawn
• Moved the fingerprint up on the Maple light pole near the Toilet block
• Ambient Occlusion will no longer be turned on in VR
• Fixed fog several leaks:
  • Ridgeview bathroom
  • Willow garage, laundry, bathroom and bedroom
  • Sunny Meadows entry, courtyard hallway
  • Woodwind toilet block

HALLOWEEN

• Halloween Event 2023 has been added, instructions can be found in-game on how to receive this year's spooky ID-card badge and trophy! The event will last around 2 weeks!
• Maple and Prison are temporarily unlocked at level 1 to allow new players to complete the event

NEW

• Maple Lodge Campsite has had a complete layout revamp, featuring a new reception building, two separate campsite areas, new assets and areas, more hiding spots and greatly improved performance
• Added new rain sounds in both campsites when inside tents, inside the toilet block or under draped tarp
• Added Temporal Anti-Aliasing option in the journal (Provides a higher quality AA method than FXAA and SMAA, but lower quality than MSAA)
• The EULA has been updated (2.2, 7.1, 7.2 and 10.4)

CHANGES

• Several icons have been replaced across the main menu and contract selection screens
• You can no longer light objects using 'Interact' (default: Mouse 1)
• To help with performance in the truck, the CCTV monitor will now only turn on when you are standing nearby, and it will now display a screensaver when disabled

FIXES

• The Monkey Paw now has the correct textures again
• You can now take a photo of the haunted mirror on Ridgeview, whilst it is on the wall
• In Training, you can now open/close the truck doors in VR
• Several fingerprints are no longer visible when you don’t have UV evidence
• Crucifix T2 should now consistently give both “interaction” and “burned crucifix” photos
• The haunted mirror will no longer get detected on the parabolic microphone or sound sensors if not being held or used
• The Camp Woodwind entrance gate will no longer say “Maple Lodge campsite”
• Video cam no longer breaks if swapped into inventory when CCTV is on the last camera
• Lighters can no longer light some candles, firelights and the campfire when not lit
• Summoning circle photos will no longer take priority over other photos as often
• If you die in foggy weather, future games in foggy weather now show the fog correctly
• Many performance improvements, especially in multiplayer and in the truck
• Placing equipment on the wall in some areas of Sunny Meadows will no longer teleport the equipment back to the truck
• Bone photos will now work more reliably
• Firelight T2 now correctly lasts 5 minutes instead of 3 minutes

• The in-game version number will show as 0.9.0.11
• Terrain is currently showing inside Sunny Meadows
• Ghost footstep sounds are currently sometimes incorrect in Maple Campsite
• The bear trap interaction photo does not work

HOTFIX #10

CHANGES

• Improved VR target priority
• Improved VR grab performance, accuracy and reliability
• To fix a UI bug, the VR journal is now bright when grabbed
• Further optimisations to Sunny Meadows
• Changed the rendering path back to Forward from Forward+ due to graphical issues
• Optimised Maple Campsite
• Optimised VR cpu usage across all maps

FIXES

• You can now close tent doors again
• You can no longer exploit custom difficulty multipliers by not applying it
• You will now drain sanity when the fuse box is off when the room light is turned on
• Player cards and scrollable areas will now look correct in the journal in VR
• The ghost can now kill you near the front door of High School
• The ghost can no longer move outside of the playable area in Woodwind
• Obake will now correctly make footstep sounds during hunts
• UV Light T1 will no longer roll around on the floor infinitely
• The VR teleport movement distance circles are visible again
• The VR highlight reticule is now visible again
• Sunny Meadows wheelchair sounds now show on parabolic microphones
• You can no longer teleport through walls in VR with teleport movement
• You will no longer drop your held items in VR if another VR player drops their Journal
• The cost of UV Light T1 is now correctly $35 to match the other tiers

HOTFIX #9

CHANGES

• Removed the 100% initialising text once VR has finished loading to allow for a smoother loading transition
• Improved VR distance grab
• Lowered the number of photos needed for the 3 star footstep weekly task
• Increased VR players grab distance by 50%. This does not affect teleport grab
• The sanity system has been replaced to increase cpu performance.
  
  • Sanity is no longer based on the light around will now stop draining if the main room light is on
  • Large rooms with a lot of dark areas (e.g. Sunny Meadows Hallways) will drain 80% sanity of the sanity drain rate if the room light is on

FIXES

• Very significant CPU performance optimisations, especially in VR
• You can now grab the Spirit Box T1 much easier in VR
• Incense T3 now falls to the ground when dropped in VR
• VR player’s vision will now fade in and out when loading to join or create a lobby
• VR players can no longer toggle night vision goggles while holding them
• The T2 Ghost Writing Book’s left-hand grab position is now correct
• Tarot cards are now grabbable on PC after a VR player has used one
• VR and PC players can no longer grab VR players’ items off their head
• VR and PC players can no longer use VR players’ items on their head or belt
• Obake footsteps can now be heard correctly during hunts
• The Mare long roam trait will now work in prison cell blocks
• Weekly Tasks will no longer be able to randomly choose training as a location requirement
• VR players can no longer place Tripods on their belt
• The Voodoo Doll is now floppy again!
• DOTS 1 now has the [PLACEABLE] keyword in the shop
• VR equipment highlights in the truck are now all correct
• Removed depth of field and chromatic aberration from VR night vision goggle post processing
• When a VR player puts head gear on, PC players will no longer see it or grab it at their feet
• Map floor selector buttons should now work properly when selecting them in VR
• Disturbed salt photos should not get in the way of other photos as much
• You will no longer override night vision goggle post-processing settings when hitting apply in the journal, with the effect enabled
• Swapping inventory items while placing an item then swapping back to it again, will no longer still display the placement highlight
• Dirty water photos now work on all sinks
• Fingerprints are now the correct size on the wooden poles in both campsites
• The hunt will no longer sometimes start when all players are outside
• Your sanity will no longer sometimes drain when you are outside

HOTFIX #8 BUG FIXES AND CHANGES

NEW

• You can now rebind the interact button on gamepad

FIXES

• The left-hand VR orientation for emf reader T3 is now correct
• The VR journal now works in Training
• The spirit box and UV flashlight will no longer prevent you from being able to strafe in VR while it is on your belt
• Motion sensor T3 can now be placed in VR
• You can now light incense T3 consistently in VR
• You can now light firelight T3 consistently in VR
• The VR Journal can now be easily grabbed when on your shoulder
• The shop TV no longer turns on and off for all players when a VR player focuses on it
• Salt lines no longer collide with players, which allowed players to get trapped, and access unintended places
• Turkish font is now readable
• The cursed hunt will now end correctly if prevented by a crucifix T3

HOTFIX #7 BUG FIXES AND CHANGES

CHANGES

• Gamepad players can now press the south (Xbox - A) button to quick access the main menu board
• You can now press the east button (Xbox - B) to exit the spirit box text voice recognition without dropping the item

FIXES

• Pressing the east button (Xbox - B) while the journal is open will no longer drop the item you are holding
• Doors will no longer get stuck while held when using a gamepad
• Placing a crucifix will no longer sometimes push it through the floor, but photos will be temporarily worse
• You are no longer counted as being inside the truck if you push the spirit box into the truck wall from outside
• Ignitor tier 3 now correctly lasts 10 minutes instead of 5 minutes
• The shop funds visual no longer defaults to $999,999,999 if your save file fails to load the value
• The music box will now correctly do the ghost event when within 5 meters of the ghost

HOTFIX #6 BUG FIXES AND CHANGES

CHANGES

• Interact and Primary Use controls have now been swapped for gamepad to allow for easier gameplay
• EMF reader T2 is now 2m range as stated in the shop description

FIXES

• Photo cameras are no longer taking photos in portrait mode (regression since 0.9.0.4)
• Dead body photos now work after the ragdoll animation has completed
• Three star ghost photos are now easier to take
• Haunted Mirror can now have its photo taken whilst upside down
• The ghost will no longer have a high chance to fail to show DOTS if there is a room above you or the ghost
• When looking through the room divider in the downstairs Grafton bedroom, objects will no longer disappear
• You can no longer put the glowstick into your inventory during the “shake” animation
• Firelight T3 is no longer labelled consumable in the Shop

CHANGES

• Added a fake bounced light effect to Flashlight T1/2 light cookies, to help with motion sickness when using high FOV and navigating in the dark
• Improved main menu load times
• Reduced memory footprint in some maps
• Increased the knock over chance for tripods

FIXES

• Crucifix T2/3’s burn and interaction photos will now work consistently
• Toggling a light on and off in a room will now update reflections correctly
• Forcing the game to close without clicking the quit button should no longer revert you to an old save

• A commemorative plaque has been added to the Lobby allowing you to see your Legacy Badge
• Added new sounds for radios in houses and campsites

• 3 star photos are now easier to get instead of 2 star
• Increased the range for a 3 star ghost photo
• Firelights 1 and 2’s light sources are now brighter than igniters

• Moved the guitar in the blue room in Tanglewood so you can take EMF photos if the ghost uses it
• UV light tier 1 and 3 will no longer roll forever when dropped
• You can now take fingerprint photos on the Willow glass doors
• Cursed item photos are now more reliable
• Cursed item noises will now appear on the parabolic microphone
• You will no longer lose your items when dropped into a salt line
• CCTV monitor will no longer break when swapping between cameras on tier 1 tripods
• You can now take a photo of a fingerprint, in the same location as a previous fingerprint, which already had its photo taken
• Taking photos of dead bodies should now be easier
• Lowered texture resolution of several textures to lower RAM usage
• Video Cameras now work in multiplayer

WEEKLY CHALLENGE FIX

FIXES

• This weeks challenges will now be correctly generated

CHANGES

• Save files will now be backed up more often

FIXES

• If you have a corrupt save file you will no longer get stuck on initializing and will now revert to your cloud backup
• Non hosts will no longer crash when a player leaves the game
• When you play this update for the first time you should no longer have a low legacy level on your legacy badge

DEV NOTE - To clear up some confusion with legacy badge, your badge can currently only be seen in multiplayer by another player on your character. This will change in a future update when we add new character models.

NEW

• DOTS T1 is now placeable on most surfaces like Firelights
• Added instructions to the shop descriptions of Head Gear, explaining how to turn them on or off

CHANGES

• Igniter T3 is no longer consumable
• Glowsticks will now be the correct brightness when dimmed
• Crucifix T3 Range is now correctly 5m
• Removed the 1s delay on the Incense hunt effects
• Reduced the volume of the car alarm
• Significantly improved performance of saving and loading from the save file
• Motion sensor T2 now swaps between a single line, double line and off
• Temporarily removed the VR social screen mode due to severe performance issues

FIXES

• The Incense hunt effect duration will no longer sometimes set to 0 seconds
• Fixed a bug where if you haven’t played for a long time, you would be wiped to prestige 0
• Incense will no longer use its ghost effects when you are not near the ghost
• Crucifixes have received several scale fixes, improving consistency
• Anti-virus software should no longer stop you from having read/write access to the save file
• Corrupt save files will now revert to the cloud backup
• Ghost sound effects now have the correct volume distance falloff
• T2 Motion sensors no longer turn off when toggling the modes
• Main menu performance has been improved
• The wall telephones found in the farmhouses will now let you take interaction photos
• Potential fix for the Incense T1 glowing
• One Matchstick is no longer glowing
• Equipment list text will no longer overlap the item icons
• The “Next” button on the Legacy Badge screen will now scale correctly when translated
• You can now get past the splash screen if you fail to connect to the unity servers
• The legacy badge will no longer clip into one of the female model’s arms
• After a game in challenge mode, you will no longer be set as a hacker
• Challenge mode will no longer be different weather for each player
• Challenge mode will no longer be different cursed item for each player
• Potential fix for not being able to exit a map if a player crashed while loading
• Flashlights now cost $30

PROGRESSION

• A new levelling system has been added, with new rates of progression, new unlocks, and a prestige system. For this system to function, all current players have been reset to Prestige 1, level 1, this way you can continue to play with your unlocked difficulties and locations. New players will start at Prestige 0, level 1.
• LEGACY BADGE — Upon launching the game for the first time after updating, you will be presented with a new screen to choose a unique badge with options based on your pre-update level. Once saved, this is un-editable so choose carefully!

EQUIPMENT

• UPGRADES — Each equipment item now has 3 tiers, increasing our Equipment count from 22 to 60! Tiers cost a large sum of money to unlock, but each tier will cost the same to bring into a contract. To upgrade a piece of equipment, reach the required level, go to the shop and press on any item’s UI tile on the screen, then hit upgrade!

• Fingerprints (evidence) -> Ultraviolet
• Footsteps (photos and descriptions) -> Footprints
• Candles and Lantern -> Firelight
• Matchbox and Lighters -> Igniter
• Smudge Sticks and Censer -> Incense
• Camcorders and Movie Camera -> Video Camera
• Glowsticks and UV torches -> UV Light
• Sanity Drink, Pills and Shot -> Sanity Medication
• Head Mounted Camera, Flashlight and Goggles -> Head Gear
• Weak or Strong flashlights -> Flashlight

• You will no longer get duplicate DOTS ghosts, or DOTS triggering during events, hunts or other interactions
• Ghosts with DOTS evidence can now enter a short “DOTS state”; where they are temporarily visible with infrared light, during this time they will wander towards the nearest player before disappearing (if the player is in the same room)
• DOTS Ghost photos now count as normal ghost photos

We try to only keep the most recent patch notes for Phasmophobia and will normally wipe his page with the release of every major new update.

If you want to see any older patch notes for the game, we suggest taking a look at the game's Phasmophobia Steam page, where there is a complete release log of all updates, patch notes, and hotfixes.