It’s October, which means people around the world are getting ready for Halloween, one of my favourite nights of the year.
In spite of this there are very few horror games that genuinely take my interest. There needs to be a strong hook, like the night-vision horror ofOutlastand the overly-intelligent xenomorph inAlien: Isolation. The hook forPhasmophobiawas the premise of becoming a paranormal investigator, and partnering up with friends for a few nights of spooks and scares.
Check out the trailer forPhasmophobiabelow
I’ve been a bit enamoured withPhasmophobiasince it first launched on PC, watching several playthroughs on YouTube. I love a game with options, and the assortment of gadgets, the number of spirits you can encounter, and the different settings all appealed to me even though I couldn’t play it myself.
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Fortunately the gamefinallyhas an Xbox and PlayStation port, and for the most part it delivers the same experience as the PC version does.
Visually I don’t thinkPhasmophobiais much to look at. Textures are quite bland and the colours often feel muted, and sometimes random objects or surfaces would start stuttering even though they weren’t supposed to be moving. This wasn’t a ghost’s doing it was the game’s and while it didn’t affect my gameplay the visuals are off putting.
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Phasmophobia- Credit Kinetic Games
The aim of the game is to narrow down what kind of ghost you’re dealing with, and to do that you need to use all sorts of equipment like thermometers, video cameras, EMF readers etc. You can only carry three pieces of equipment at a time, so when investigating alone you’re doing a lot of backtracking to the truck to get your other gear.
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Obviously this will probably differ from group to group, as if you’ve got a full team of scaredy-cats it’ll likely be a peak horror experience, but for the more goofy players out there this game will give you some good laughs. That’s not a criticism at all either, games are all about making your own fun andPhasmophobiais no exception.
Kinetic Games
As far as I can tell there’s nothing reallydifferentabout the console version ofPhasmophobia. Personally I would have liked to seesomenew content added, whether it be a new location or a new type of ghost. The game also differs from the PC version with voice recognition. In the PC version players could speak into the microphone and ask the spirit questions, inciting a reaction and more evidence to jot down. The game could actually understand what was being said or asked, but in the console version it just identifies your words as a sound you’re making, not the actual phrase you’re saying.
I don’t think this is a dealbreaker, as I’m just happy I’ve finally been able to play this game after so many months of waiting. The game will also feature crossplay with the PC version which is fantastic news and in my opinion essential for multiplayer games nowadays.
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The console port ofPhasmophobiacould have been a little bit more, but in many ways it’s exactly what it needed to be. How you play it will come down to personal preference and how many friends you have who also own a copy of the game, but if you’re a fan of spooks, scares and a little bit of silliness I’d say this is a game for you.
Pros: Can be genuinely scary at times, can be equally hilarious at times, plenty of progression, investigative gameplay is engaging
Cons: Visuals needed a touch-up, no new content added, some removed features
7/10: Very Good
Topics:Reviews,Xbox,PlayStation,PC
