Phasmophobia Guide#

Phasmophobia is a four-player online co-op psychological horror game from British indie studio Kinetic Games. Founder Daniel Knight built the first version alone at his parents’ house, and the game entered Steam Early Access on September 18, 2020 at $19.99. Six years later, the team that started as one person has sold more than 30 million copies across all platforms — a milestone the studio officially announced on October 8, 2026. Knight’s original goal, he noted in the announcement, was 1,000 sales in the first year; the current total is roughly 30,000 times that.

You play as a contractor for a paranormal investigation team: drive the truck to a haunted address, carry in the gear — EMF reader, spirit box, UV flashlight — and piece together the evidence in the dark until you can name the thing inside, then get back to the truck before it gets you. The game supports up to four players in co-op and is fully playable solo, though walking through the door alone is a much tougher proposition.

This guide follows the core loop that defines every contract — evidence collection, ghost identification, survival extraction — from your first investigation through the seven evidence types, the behavior tells of all 30 ghosts, breakers and hiding spots across 18 maps, the three equipment tiers and their purchase priorities, and the 2026 Halloween Crimson Eye event. It is the first horror co-op section on the site, and the event season makes it a good time to jump in.

Game Information#

The Core Loop: Evidence, Identification, Extraction#

Every contract runs in three stages, and understanding the cycle is the prerequisite for everything else:

1. Setup and ghost-room hunting: Unload the gear from the truck, flip the breakers to bring the power on, and use the thermometer, EMF reader and sound sensor to narrow the search until you have pinned down the room the ghost calls home.

2. Evidence collection: Deploy the video camera, spirit box, ghost writing book, UV flashlight and D.O.T.S. projector inside the ghost’s room, and gather the three evidence types that particular ghost leaves behind. Each one has a hard condition — freezing temperatures require a thermometer reading below 0°C, and UV fingerprints linger for two minutes by default.

3. Identification and extraction: Log what you have measured, eliminate candidate ghosts round by round, and head back to the truck once you have the evidence and photos you want. If the team’s sanity drops far enough, the ghost begins a hunt — that is when you either reach a proper hiding spot or lean on smudge sticks and a crucifix.

Difficulty is essentially this loop with pieces removed: Amateur hands you all three evidence types, Nightmare only two, and Insanity only one — the rest of the identification has to be read from the ghost’s behavior.

Key Numbers at a Glance#

Keep these figures close before diving into the sub-guides — they are the most-checked and most-misremembered hard stats in the game, and the numbers below match the current version:

One more number worth knowing: some older guides still list 27 ghost types. That was the count before the roster expanded to its current 30.

Version Status (October 2026)#

• Crimson Eye Halloween event: Running October 8 to November 1, 2026, built around blood moon weather — faster ghosts, faster sanity drain, higher payouts.
• QoL Part Two update (August 25, 2026): Four Restricted maps, shared journal viewing, duplicate media tagging, a VR character skeleton rework, and voice lines that cut out the instant you die.
• Version 1.0: Slated for the second half of 2027, with the studio promising major reveals on ghost design and gameplay overhauls starting in 2027. The 1.0 release slipped from 2026, the official line being “quality over speed.”
• Publishing arm: Kinetic Games has launched a publishing label, Kinetic Publishing; its first signed title is the spaceship work simulator Contact Protocol, slated for spring 2027.

Halloween Crimson Eye: Schedule and Rewards#

Crimson Eye is the annual Halloween event, running October 8 to November 1 in 2026 — exactly the window this guide covers, and the best-value time of the year to start playing. The schedule:

Blood moon mechanics first arrived in 2024 and have always been a straight trade — extra danger for extra reward. Event maps run permanent blood moon: ghosts move faster, sanity drains faster, and payouts scale up accordingly. This year’s pool rotates through eight maps: six small ones (Tanglewood Drive, Camp Woodwind, Grafton Farmhouse, Edgefield Road, Nell’s Diner and Willow Street) plus two medium maps, Bleasdale Farmhouse and Point Hope — note that only the standard version of Point Hope is in the pool, not its Restricted counterpart. With the pool weighted toward small maps, running between rooms is far less punishing, which pairs well with a first-contract learning curve.

Rewards run on two tracks. Community goals unlock the Beholder ID card, an exclusive badge and the blood moon trophy; personal goals unlock the blood moon charm and a seasonal T-shirt. Players who already hold a previous event trophy instead bank points toward the trophy they own rather than receiving a new one.

Reading Ghosts: Signature Behaviors#

Insanity gives you one evidence type, so identification is pure behavior work; Nightmare gives two, leaving the gaps to be filled the same way. The full roster of 30 ghosts and their evidence combinations live in the roster guide — six of them, including Aswang, Dayan and Gallu, are recent additions — but these are the most recognizable tells in the game:

One concept to lock in while you are reading behavior: the game only counts closets, lockers and marked hiding zones as proper hiding spots — crouching behind furniture does not. That rule feeds straight into the Aswang’s profile: any hunt it starts ends the moment someone ducks into a proper hiding spot, which you can use to save a run.

Equipment Tiers and Spending Priorities#

All 20 equipment types come in three tiers, and the gaps between tiers are not flat stat increases — they split into game-changing upgrades and modest bumps. A few examples:

• Crucifix: Tier 1 protects a 3-meter radius, Tier 2 covers 4 meters, and Tier 3 keeps the 4-meter protection while also blocking one cursed hunt.
• Smudge Sticks: Tier 1 hides you for 5 seconds, Tier 2 slows the ghost, and Tier 3 works across a 5-meter radius for 7 seconds and briefly stalls it.
• Sound Sensor: Tier 1 picks up audio within 20 meters; Tier 3 reaches 30 meters and adds distance and direction readouts, which changes how fast you find the ghost room.
• EMF Reader: Tier 3 has a 3.5-meter range and displays the distance and direction of interference sources on screen.

The community’s standard spending order: two sanity pills ($60), then two smudge sticks and a lighter (a survival kit for under $100), then a Tier 1 Spirit Box, a Tier 1 UV flashlight, a Tier 2 Ghost Writing Book (unlocked at level 23, $3,000), a Tier 2 Crucifix, head-mounted gear, and finally value picks like the Tier 3 UV flashlight. Two iron rules: buy the game-changing tiers first and save the small bumps for later, and always keep a $5,000 emergency reserve — a full team wipe on Insanity’s largest map can torch roughly $15,000 worth of equipment (guide estimate).

Difficulty should drive your loadout. Amateur’s starter kit is enough; Professional wants a Tier 2 or better crucifix, a flashlight per player and double smudge sticks; Nightmare calls for a full Tier 2 kit plus a sound sensor and motion sensor to read behavior; Insanity means Tier 3 across the board, double Tier 3 crucifixes, four Tier 3 smudge sticks, and a photo camera is mandatory — when a contract fails, photos are the main source of income.

Finding Your Footing#

• Brand new to the game: Walk your first contract from truck to extraction with the beginner flow, learn the evidence conditions, and keep the ghost roster within reach. On lower difficulties the evidence is complete, so gear alone can lock in the answer.
• A dozen contracts in: Spend on the tier system and purchase priorities first, then hunt survival — that knowledge decides whether you walk back out on Nightmare.
• Chasing the hardest difficulties: The sanity threshold table, per-ghost behavior profiles and custom difficulty options are the big three. Insanity hands you one evidence type; everything else is behavior reading.
• Joining for the Halloween event: The Crimson Eye guide covers the blood moon pool, double XP week and charity week schedule end to end; breaker positions for the event maps are in the three map guides.

FAQ#

How much does Phasmophobia cost, and is it still in Early Access?#

The game is $19.99 and remains in Steam Early Access, where it launched on September 18, 2020. Version 1.0 is slated for the second half of 2027.

Can you play Phasmophobia solo?#

Yes. The game supports up to four players in co-op and can be completed solo, but a lone investigator faces a much steeper climb — there is no one watching your back during a hunt.

How many evidence types and ghost types are there?#

There are seven evidence types and 30 ghost types in the current version, with each ghost tied to three of the seven. Older sources listing 27 ghosts predate the latest additions.

How many evidence types do you get on each difficulty?#

Amateur gives you all three, Nightmare gives two, and Insanity gives one — so on the hardest difficulty, identification depends entirely on reading ghost behavior.

When does a ghost start hunting?#

Most ghosts begin a hunt once average sanity drops below 50%. A Demon can hunt at 70%, a Shade at 40%, and a Mare at 40% with the lights on or 60% with them off. Staying in darkness drains 0.09% sanity per second during setup and 0.12% per second in the main phase.

What is the Crimson Eye event?#

Crimson Eye is the annual Halloween event, running October 8 to November 1, 2026. Blood moon weather puts faster ghosts and faster sanity drain on every event map in exchange for higher payouts, across a pool of eight rotating maps. It also includes Twitch drops, a double XP week and the “Ghost Hunts 4 Hearts” charity week supporting the American Heart Association.

How many maps are in the game?#

Thirteen full maps plus four Restricted versions, along with a training warehouse for practice.

What is the best first equipment to buy?#

Community consensus starts with two sanity pills ($60) and two smudge sticks plus a lighter for under $100, followed by a Tier 1 Spirit Box and UV flashlight, then a Tier 2 Ghost Writing Book and Tier 2 Crucifix. Keep a $5,000 reserve at all times.

Related Rankings#

Best Co-Op Games · Best Indie Games of All Time · Best Indie Games of 2026

Full Guides#

In-depth sub-guides across the 24-page Phasmophobia section — the full 30-ghost roster and behavior breakdowns, all seven evidence types, every map’s breakers and hiding spots, the three-tier equipment system, sanity and hunt mechanics, hunt survival, and the Crimson Eye event — are available in Chinese on NTGame’s Phasmophobia section.