Phasmophobia is one of those games that shows early access at its best. It first released in September 2020 and had the core ghost-hunting experience nailed from the start, but it also felt a little like a proof-of-concept: There weren’t too many maps, the environments leaned heavily on asset packs and soon felt a little samey, and there were all sorts of rough edges.
The game’s success allowed solo developer Kinetic Games to focus on improving all of these aspects and begin building a team to do so. The five years since have seen Phasmophobia receive regular updates, both large and small, which has gradually transformed the look and improved nearly every element while keeping the heart of what makes it special: having the bejesus scared out of you with friends.
The latest update has revamped the Grafton Farmhouse map, and Phasmophobia art director Corey J. Dixon sat down with IGN to discuss the game’s journey here and what lies in the future. Towards the end of the chat Phasmophobia’s early access status is addressed, with Dixon basically saying a final release is on the horizon, though avoiding any specific timeframe.
“We definitely have plans for 1.0, probably in-line with our Horror 2.0 update is where we feel the game is feature-complete,” says Dixon. “It doesn’t mean we’ll stop working on it—we still want map reworks and new maps and stuff in the future, so there’ll be more stuff for the game. But I think once the Horror 2.0 update has been redone, which is the next thing we work on after the player update, the game will feel finished. Once that’s in, I think it will be in a good spot.”
The Horror 2.0 update is scheduled for next year, but Dixon says “we haven’t set a date or an update that’s like: we’re done. I think we’ll just know: there’ll be that company-wide feeling that this project is done now, we’ve made it the best it can be, which is what [creator Dan Knight] wanted Day One. I think we’ll know when we hit that milestone—I don’t think we can plan for that.”
Dixon is full of praise for Phasmophobia’s community, which has informed countless changes made over the years, and in some cases has even suggested ideas that have ended up incorporated into the experience. Some requests, however, would simply need a different game: increasing the maximum number of players above four, for example. That’s the kind of thing that would need a sequel.
“I wouldn’t write it off,” says Dixon. “It would be a fun challenge to see if we could do another one. There are a lot of things that I know we would change as a company if we went into Phasmophobia fresh. There’s definitely things we would all probably say, ‘Oh, let’s not do that!’ Or ‘that would be awesome. We should do that instead.’ So, yeah, you never know. It’s definitely not off the cards.”
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