Phasmophobia
Game Information
Phasmophobia is a co-op survival horror game developed and published by Kinetic Games, a small UK indie game studio founded in 2020. Originally supporting Windows, VR, and Non-VR support, the game has now expanded to support other platforms such as remote play on mobile devices, and controller-support for Xbox and PlayStation. Played by popular Youtubers like Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CaseOh, Phasmophobia blew up and quickly became one of the best co-op games on the market. After release, the indie game received an overwhelmingly positive number of reviews over the years.
Introduction
In Phasmophobia, one to four players assume the roles of paranormal investigators, visit multiple haunted locations, and attempt to survive by gathering and recording evidence about the ghost using the ghost-hunting equipment provided. As investigators, you are able to use voice-interactive mechanics to communicate amongst yourselves and - as the game supports full voice recognition - communicate with the ghosts you are investigating. To succeed, players must gather 3-4 pieces of evidence, correctly identify the ghost type, and survive the night. Teams may also decide to complete the optional objectives to be awarded with more money and XP.
Autoethnographic Component
Before playing the game, I had watched numerous gameplay videos, which was not the same experience as actually playing. My first time playing Phasmophobia was full of fear and excitement. Similar to watching horror movies and seeing various settings, anxiety builds as the map environment is explored in game, however, unlike those horror moves, I control where I go and what choices are made.
I have played this game a lot, experiencing all 24 ghosts and all 7 cursed objects. The varied combinations of ghost types, cursed objects and maps make the game exciting, and I never know what to expect. One of my favourite cursed objects is the Tarot Cards. The deck has a random number of cards, each card causing different events in the game. In the past, I have played in groups where we all take turns drawing cards, and if the card causes the ghost to hunt, we all hide in the same spot and hope we survive. This roulette type game is very thrilling and leaves you on edge, not knowing what card will be drawn next.
As mentioned by King, the usage of voice chat is one of the scariest parts of the game. You can only hear your teammates when you are nearby or if you use the walkie talkie. The caveat to this is that the walkie talkie doesn’t work when the ghost is hunting, so you are unable to warn your team. I feel a lot of panic when I realize the ghost is hunting, as I must get to the nearest hiding place as soon as possible. As I have played more, I learned certain strategies to help me survive, such as scouting out possible hiding spots. Depending on the difficulty selected, some closets or lockers will be full of boxes, so knowing a spot before the panic sets in can save you from dying. Moreover, the ghost will find you if your flashlight or equipment is on, or if you talk. All you can do is hunker down, stay quiet and hope that your fellow players have also hidden away and are safe from the ghost. This creates that feeling of helplessness that a lot of horror games try to emulate.
Game Mechanics and Cursed Objects
One of the main aspects of the game is the apprehension felt entering the location for a map, as you don’t know what type of ghost is lurking. There are 24 different types of ghosts with unique strengths and weaknesses. Some of the ghost types are scarier than others; for example, the Banshee, the Deogen and the Spirit have vastly different behaviours. A Banshee chooses one team member and targets them. As a result, that member’s sanity will decrease faster than everyone else’s. It also makes a unique sound (a Banshee scream) which can be heard with the parabolic microphone. A Deogen, while slower than other ghosts, can find players even if they are hiding. Conversely, a Spirit is the easiest ghost in the game, it hunts very little and doesn’t interact much with the player or environment.
With the large number of different ghost types, entering the map can be daunting as you are unable to know which one you may encounter. The varied behaviour, strength and weaknesses of each ghost makes for an exciting experience, where survival of a player will depend on their ability to identify the type and act accordingly.
An enjoyable and dangerous feature of each map is a cursed object. The cursed objects are the Music Box, Haunted Mirror, Ouija Board, Summoning Circle, the Tarot Cards, Voodoo Doll, and the Monkey Paw, and they can help or hinder the player in different ways.
For example, the Ouija Board that can be used to ask the ghost questions, which can be personal or simply asking what room the ghost is in. Ouija Boards are well known in popular culture, lending a sense of familiarity to players.
In addition, the Monkey Paw is from the classic short story written by W.W. Jacobs in 1902, which gives wishes to its owner, but with horrific twists. In the book, the family who has the Paw asks for money, but unbeknownst to them it was at the expense of their son, who died in a workplace incident. In Phasmophobia, the Monkey Paw can be asked to bring players back to life, change the weather, ask for the ghost location, etc. Wishes will have various negative effects that depend on the type of wish.
The use of known horror objects in Phasmophobia is a great feature that allows players to have some understanding of game mechanics. These objects are often thrilling, but can have negative repercussions, causing outcomes like team members dying.
Certain Areas Seem ‘Familiar but Off’
Much of Phasmophobia’s unease comes from where its horror takes place. The game changes ordinary domestic spaces into sites of dread, making players question the safety of environments that should feel familiar. This distortion of everyday settings reflects what Thon identifies as a key feature of horrors’ unsettling power, discussing how sound cues, lighting adjustments, and environmental storytelling are used to destabilize commonplace settings, such as suburban homes, abandoned schools, etc., which supports the notion that conventional areas can be rendered ominous by subtly distorting the players’ reality in game (Thon 204). In Phasmophobia, ordinary settings are portrayed as unsettling as the player traverses their dimly lit environment with a flashlight and other tools. These spaces resemble familiar architecture of everyday life, yet their emptiness and unnatural ambiance make them uncanny, subconsciously making the player uncomfortable. In another essay, Mustonen discusses the concept of ludic spaces, complementing this idea of making spaces feel ‘familiar but off’, claiming “the sense of spatial vulnerability is created by placing the character in threatening locations with a diminished point of view” (Mustonen 142). This vulnerability manifests through flickering lights, ambient noises, and sudden paranormal activity which distorts these everyday spaces into something dangerous and unfamiliar.
Fear and Anxiety are Evoked by Audio/Visual Design
One of Phasmophobia’s most effective tools for inducing fear lies in its sensory design. Tension is created by certain soundscapes (such as silence, ambient noise, distorted audio) and visual limitations, which is precisely how Phasmophobia keeps gamers on edge with whispers, creaks, and flickering lights to create a threatening mood. The players’ limited vision forces them to depend on sound cues to anticipate danger. This interplay between what is heard and what is unseen forms the emotional backbone of indie horror experiences, where fear is not derived from spectacle but from uncertainty. Christopher and Leuszler expand on this idea by framing horror gameplay as an ‘active-passive’ dynamic in which players contribute to the tension through their sensory engagement and decision-making. In Phasmophobia, this active participation transforms listening and observing into survival mechanisms, making fear not just something experienced but performed through the player’s own actions. Christopher and Leuszler distinguish between immersion and flow, observing that “it is the narrative in which the viewer’s mental attention is immersed rather than the automaticity of ludic mechanics” (Christopher and Leuszler). This distinction reinforces how Phasmophobia keeps players in suspense through stillness and sensory focus rather than constant action. Players are drawn into moments of tense inactivity where their awareness of their surroundings increases their emotional engagement.
Algorithmic Yet Unpredictable Behavior
Beyond its sensory atmosphere, Phasmophobia’s fear factor stems from the behaviour of its ghosts. Players learn the games’ basic rules, yet the ghosts’ actions still feel unpredictable, creating a sense of tension that never fully disappears. This balance between predictability and unpredictability reflects what Thon identifies as the key dynamic for horror game design; however, this is not exclusive to ghosts, stating “large parts of the gameplay are procedurally generated (or simulated) according to the player’s rule-based interaction with the game spaces” (Thon 202). Emphasizing this distinction between gameplay that is predetermined and the notion of the unpredictable nature of ghost AI is what makes it ‘unreal but real’ as it seemingly acts on its own.
Trauma, Memory and Emotion
The emotional tension of being trapped, alone, and unheard reflects Thon’s view of horror as a space where players confront repressed emotions tied to death and dread (Thon 199). The ghosts in Phasmophobia will either respond to everyone or respond to those who are alone. In the cases where it is the latter, a single player is forced to speak with the ghost through the spirit box alone with none of the lights on. This emphasizes the isolation that Thon describes. Horror games like Phasmophobia evoke the fight-or-flight response in players. As described by Savino et al., “commercial success of the genre [horror] is partly attributed to the phenomenon of “fear addiction” (Savino et al. 2). The excitement felt by players when placed into ‘dangerous’ situations can be satisfying, such as hiding from a hunting ghost. Savino et al. also connects the importance of the “balance between fear and enjoyment” (Savino et al. 2) to positive reception of horror games. Phasmophobia does this by having ghost activity fluctuate. There are times of low activity where all players are safe and times of high activity where players are in constant danger. A further connection to Phasmophobia can be the use of the truck, which is considered a ‘safe zone’ where players can recuperate and analyze the evidence they have collected. When a hunt occurs, the doors to the main building lock, forcing players to find a hiding spot, rather than retreat to the truck.
Horror Genres, Aesthetics, and Mechanics
The flashlight, sanity system, and concealing gameplay in Phasmophobia can be connected to the recurrent indie horror clichés, such as dark corridors, unsteady perception, and helplessness. Mustonen’s discussion of ‘ludic spaces’ describes how spatial design in horror games manipulates vulnerability by forcing the player to navigate between safe and exposed spaces. The interplay between light and darkness, the gradual depletion of one's sanity over time, and the need to hide and stay silent during a ghost hunt illustrates “the sense of vulnerability caused by the uncanniness … of the space” (Mustonen 138). Perron similarly observes that horror games induce fear not just through imagery, but through the player’s own engagement with these systems, where mechanics like limited vision or fragile sanity create a constant state of tension (Perron 20). By connecting Thon’s aesthetic framework to Mustonen’s spatial theory, and Perron’s analysis of interactive fear, Phasmophobia can be seen as using its mechanics to make fear both playable and spatially embodied.
Conclusion
Phasmophobia demonstrates how indie horror games can effectively combine familiar horror elements with innovative gameplay mechanics to create genuinely frightening experiences. Through its transformation of ordinary domestic spaces into sites of dread, its sophisticated use of audio and visual design, and its balance of predictable rules with unpredictable ghost behaviour, the game keeps players in a constant state of tension. By forcing players to navigate between safe and dangerous spaces, to communicate while being vulnerable, and to confront their own fragility in the face of supernatural threats, Phasmophobia creates a horror experience that is both terrifying and deeply engaging. The game's continued popularity and positive reception confirm that when horror mechanics align with atmospheric design and meaningful player agency, the result is a memorable and effective horror experience that keeps players coming back despite the fear it evokes.
Gameplay Clip
Jaime Delorme, https://youtu.be/mIIR1gv9Ew8
Works Cited
Christopher, David, and Aidan Leuszler. “Horror Video Games and the ‘Active-Passive’ Debate.” Games and Culture, vol. 18, no. 2, Apr. 2022, p. 155541202210881, https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120221088115. Accessed 26 Sept. 2025.
Kinetic Games. “About Us.” Kinetic Games, 2019, https://www.kineticgames.co.uk/about-us. Accessed 27 Sept. 2025.
Kinetic Games. “Phasmophobia.” Steam, 2020, http://store.steampowered.com/app/739630/Phasmophobia/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2025.
King, Austin. “How Scary Phasmophobia Actually Is.” ScreenRant, Screen Rant, 13 Oct. 2020, http://screenrant.com/phasmophobia-how-scary-jump-scares-twitch-horror-game/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
Mustonen, Onni, et al. “Ludic Space in Horror Fiction.” Mediating Vulnerability, UCL Press, 2021, pp. 135–48, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1nnwhjt.12. JSTOR. Accessed 25 Oct. 2025.
Perron, Bernard, and EBSCOhost. Horror Video Games : Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play. Edited by Bernard Perron, McFarland & Co., 2009.
“Phasmophobia.” Phasmophobia Wiki, http://phasmophobia.fandom.com/wiki/Phasmophobia. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.
Savino, Klarisse Nicole N., et al. “Chasing the Rush: How Horror Games Trigger Adrenaline and Fuel Fear-Inducing Elements.” Entertainment Computing, vol. 55, Elsevier, July 2025, p. 101001, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2025.101001. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
Thon, Jan-Noel. “Playing with Fear: The Aesthetics of Horror in Recent Indie Games.” Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, vol. 10, no. 1, Apr. 2020, pp. 197–231, https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6179. Accessed 25 Sept. 2025.
Appendix
There was no use of generative AI.