How to Change the Difficulty in Phasmophobia

New indie horror co-op Phasmophobiadrops players into the world of professional ghost hunting as they seek and collect Evidence that can help them identify the kind of creature haunting a home, hospital, school, or other building. Players have access to a variety of ghost hunting tools, like EMF readers, thermometers, and a spirit box that can allow them to sense and even hear the dead. This equipment can be used to gather evidence that will help the team identify the kind of ghost, and using the equipment to complete objectives can earn the team more money. They can use that money to purchase better equipment and tackle bigger buildings and harder challenges.

Of course, the ghosts in the game aren’t all friendly spirits just wanting to mind their own business. In fact, the majority of specters a player will encounter in the game are aggressive, and during their hunting phase, they will kill off members of the team if players aren’t careful. The ghosts can hear the player through their computer microphone, so even the slightest sound made while in hiding can tip off the ghost as to the player’s whereabouts. For this reason, and because the game more or less dumps the team into a haunted house without much help, players must begin with the Amateur difficulty settings. The unpredictability of the various ghost types even at the Amateur stages can pose its own challenges, but as players and teams improve, they can increase the difficulty and take their ghost hunting to more professional levels. Difficulty in Phasmophobia is tied to levels, both for the player’s character and the maps.

How to Change the Difficulty Settings in Phasmophobia

Right now, players can increase the game’s difficulty after getting the hang of the more Amateur stages, but this cannot be done manually. Difficulty is tied to stage maps. If players are looking for a bigger challenge, they will need to choose a different, more difficult map.

A team of beginner ghost hunters can’t choose a new map right away either. Instead, they will need to work on leveling up their characters. This, in turn, will unlock access to these higher difficulty levels.

Players will level up their characters by completing various objectives, outlined on the white board in the truck, and staying alive through the ghost’s hunting phases. They earn XP in addition to cash for completing the job, staying alive, and performing the required tasks.

Once players reach level 10, Intermediate difficulty maps unlock, and once players reach level 15, the Professional difficulty maps unlock. At that point, changing the difficulty is as easy as selecting a new map.

Intermediate and Professional maps are larger and take more time to explore to find the ghost room and determine the kind of ghost haunting the building. Due to their size, Intermediate and Professional maps cause the players to lose their sanity 50% and 100% more quickly, respectively. On Intermediate maps, players only have 3 minutes to set up their equipment before the ghost becomes active, and on Professional maps, the ghost is active immediately.

With all these added challenges, players may wonder what the point of playing on a harder difficulty might be. Apart from the challenge to test the group’s mettle and ghost-hunting prowess, completing Intermediate maps and successfully identifying the ghost pays twice as much cash and 50% more XP than Amateur maps, and completing Professional maps pays triple the cash and twice the XP of Amateur maps. It can also keep the game from becoming to bland, simplistic, or repetitive and ensure the experience stays scary for longer.

Phasmophobiais available for PC.

About The Author