The KeenGamer’s Wishlist for Phasmophobia’s Official Release

Have you ever come up with an Idea for the official release of Phasmophobia that you think can improve the game? Here at KeenGamer, we got some of the players together to suggest some things we'd like to see added or improved on the game and made a wishlist. Come join the conversation and tell us what you think of our list and if you would add something else.

The KeenGamer's Wishlist for Phasmophobia's Official Release

Here at KeenGamer, we have a small number of regular Phasmophobia players. We sometimes play with each other, when the gods of different timezones are feeling magnanimous. We wanted to write a wishlist of what we’d like to see after the official release. Even if we mostly play with our local friends’ group or randoms online, we’ve all come to enjoy the somewhat fresh feeling this game has to offer. 

This gets even more significant when considering the fact that the game is still in Early Access, and as revealed recently by the developer, may stay in Early Access for a longer period of time than they had anticipated. Likely due to the booming success Phasmophobia has enjoyed since being released to Early Access in September this year. The most recent patch was implemented on November 5th. 

In DKnighter’s own words, the next update will be mainly about stability and bug fixes but they then might start to include more content to the game, since apparently the original idea was to just add a few more maps, ghost types, and equipment. So we can expect some better functionality after the next update drops, and then maybe a few months afterward we’ll see some considerable updates content-wise for the game. 

Probably everyone who plays this game has thought of something it could be missing, right?

Probably everyone who plays this game has thought of something it could be missing, right?

On this note, I gathered a couple (literally, a couple, as in, two) opinions from two of the other writers that also play the game as to what we would like to see in Phasmophobia for when it comes out of Early Access. Their and my opinion are what this article is about and of course, we are open to discussion and hearing your own thoughts on the comment section to let us know if you agree with us or if you have thought about something you might want to see yourself in the game. 

Evan’s Thoughts:

First off, we have our very own KeenGamer Phasmophobia expert, Evan Prather. Most of the articles about the game that you’ll find on our site are from him. It may even be that all of the articles besides this one have been written by him. He has made incredibly useful guides such as Voice Commands to Trigger Ghosts, How to Use Every Item, and even a Beginner’s Guide for new players

Here’s what Evan thoughts are on the game and its potential:

Phasmophobia’s premise is simple. You show up to a haunted house, and you discover what type of ghost is inhabiting it. There are several types of ghosts that have small quirks, but for the most part, the experience is similar in each mission. Especially when playing on professional, where even a Shade will attack indiscriminately. The gameplay is enjoyable, don’t get me wrong, but I believe adding different types of missions would do wonders in keeping the game alive. 

But what is the best way to do this?

I think the simplest solution would be to add ‘boss’ ghosts to the game. Imagine this. After reaching a certain level, the narrator announces, “We’ve got a big one for you”. When you go to the mission select page, you see one location circled in red. When you select it, the narrator provides a backstory for this ghost. It’s nothing too elaborate but enough to make them feel unique and dangerous. Think of the movie The Conjuring. When it’s revealed that a woman that used to live in the house sacrificed her child, put a curse on the land, and then killed herself, you can’t help but freeze for a second. The details give gravity to the situation. Adding this to boss missions in Phasmophobia would have a similar effect.

The Developer nailed the atmospherics of the game, that's for sure.

The Developer nailed the atmospherics of the game, that’s for sure.

For the gameplay, I would still have the players identify the type of ghost but would add a couple of required objectives. One would be taking a picture of the ghost. Only because it’s the most fun of the optional objectives in the game right now. Then I would add a new one. Since this ghost would be extra dangerous, we could say another group of ghost hunters went inside a few days ago — but never came out. Meaning you and your team need to try to find them. To complete this objective, you would need to find the bodies and take pictures of them. These kinds of missions would only take place in large maps which narrows it down to the asylum and the high school. Or any other large map that may be added later. 

After getting the picture of the ghost and the bodies, you would be able to use a new special item, holy water. By sprinkling it in the room where the ghost is located, you can cleanse the building of the evil entity.

Creating these types of missions will add variety to the game and will give players something to look forward to as they level up.

Rudra’s Thoughts:

Rudra is more of a Sports games writer, covering for FIFA and F1 news more than Phasmophobia, but he is a horror genre enthusiast as well. And while he may not be as experienced in the game as Evan (and none of us are), he was the one that got me into the game in the first place. So it made sense for me to ask him his two cents, too.

Here’s what Rudra’s thoughts are on the game and its potential:

Could this really be the early stages of a supernatural Battle Royale?

Could this really be the early stages of a supernatural Battle Royale?

On paper, Phasmophobia is your game-version of popular series such as Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures but there are vast differences when you look closer. While the shows may, or may not, find evidence to support a haunting (real-life, duh), Phasmophobia requires you to find proof for an already confirmed haunting. So how do you improvise this simple concept? Well, the answer is simple; layering.

A great addition to the game mechanics would be the ability to increase your inventory size. You can carry only 3 items at once and providing the players with the chance to increase their pocket sizes will surely be helpful, especially when you decide to go ghost hunting solo. Speaking of solo hunting, how about multiple targets as well? If 4 people can hunt a single ghost, why not multiple ghosts (wink wink)? Having just one ghost is already a challenging experience, and downright frightening when the ghost is a demon or wraith. But multiply that by 2 or even 3 and you’ve got yourself a party! Hunting multiple ghosts at once and have them hunt you at the same time is gonna be the first paranormal battle royale. You heard it here first folks!

Lastly, adding more locations is always a positive addition to the already vast and spooky locations offered in-game. Sometimes, the locations can get repetitive, especially in smaller locations. Only the school and asylum are large enough to offer a great experience every single time. Along the same lines of locations, location-based missions would be a huge addition to the replay value of the game. This could also potentially open the doors to a dedicated story mode and all ghost hunters I’ve heard of are suckers for a good origins story and honestly, aren’t we all?

Luis’ Thoughts:

Now, when it comes to what I believe the game may benefit from is, firstly, something that is going to step into what Rudra already stated. I also believe the game could benefit from being able to increase inventory size, but I’d say there’s more to add than this. 

Firstly, I don’t think the flashlight, (normal or strong) should count towards the inventory since the character models have their flashlight on their shoulder. Having said that, I think the standard inventory size should be two: one for each hand. In the beginning, you can take what you can carry, and that’s it. Maybe implementing different buttons to use each hand item may be a good idea too. Imagine being able to use the Spirit Box and search for prints at the same time?

Then, there could be Backpacks that you can buy or maybe even find in the maps that would then increase inventory size depending on the backpack size. Some being rarer than others, of course. 

I also think is a little tough that you lose all the items you selected to bring with you to the mission if you die. I’d understand if you lose the items you had on you when you die, that would make sense. On that same note, maybe if your teammates go inside and get the items back then they aren’t lost anymore? But in general, I think that the items that were always sitting in the truck shouldn’t be lost at all.

Maybe we should be able to move camera angles from the truck? That would make the tripod more useful.

Maybe we should be able to move camera angles from the truck? That would make the tripod more useful.

I’d also like to be able to do more as a ghost after my character dies. It’s cool that I can still hear the radio even as a ghost, but maybe some other ways to participate like being able to delay the ghost, to protect the other players, or communicate via noises or manipulating lights or appliances. Although I am realizing just now that I’ve never tried to manipulate any lights or appliances while on ghost form, and maybe that’s already implemented. 

Lastly, I’m hoping to see a 4 v 1 game mode similar to what Dead by Daylight does, but instead of the survivors running from the killer, it would be ghost mostly hiding from the investigators, except when they finally gather strength after fulfilling their own goals (turn off the light of a room a player is in, lower half the investigators sanity below X%, materialize behind a player but don’t let them see you, etc…), and then the ghost can hurt them. Sort of like Pac-Man powers. 

You can read some more of my notes (although I mainly do news) by clicking on my profile. 

If you still haven’t played the game, you can find it on Steam.

And this is what the KeenGamer team believes could improve the Phasmophobia experience. What do you think? Do you agree with some of our ideas or is there something else you’ve thought of?

Let us know in the comments below!

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