I had over 200 hours in Phasmo, and haven't gone back to it since playing this game. This game was immediately a breath of fresh air after dealing with disappointment after disappointment from Phasmo's recent development cycle. It becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly that the developers of this game are true fans of the genre and have a keen eye towards QoL. I'm very excited to keep playing and see what future development has in store! Here's a bunch of things I like about this game in no particular order:
-So far, haven't experienced a single bug, only very occasional and minor performance drops.
-Proxy voice works exactly like it should. You can actually hear people talking in different rooms and elevations. It just works. Unlike another game of the genre that has had longstanding issues with its in-game voice for YEARS, that just keep coming back to ruin your chill ghost-hunting evening.
-Audio design in general is just a step above. Map-specific ghost events are loud and percussive, and it RULES to get hit by them. Certain ghost interactions have EXCELLENT directional audio and it RULES to get hit by them.
-Ghost events in general are just awesome and memorable. Albeit, while there aren't a great quantity of different events, the quality is there, and the quality makes it more fun.
-Large maps are actually fun to play and not a slog. Inventory management is superior to similar games. The game does NOT get bogged down with ferrying items from truck to ghost room while you bleed sanity. Even with only 2 players, two trips is usually enough for all the gear, and the round trip rarely takes longer than a minute, even on the biggest maps. The large maps aren't just more playable, they're more interesting in concept and design, and WAY more fun for that.
-Seriously, the inventory system freaking rules. You're telling me I get FOUR inventory slots (that you can swap to with the number keys like any self-respecting video game, imagine THAT!), I get a headgear slot, AND a two hand slot for the bigger items?!? Wow, it's almost like the game is more focused on getting you back in that ghost room to see the interesting fun gameplay, instead of being a walking simulator. And that rules.
-Holy water (smudge) are two-use, and if you only use once, you keep the whole bottle for next. That's nice (and rules).
-Having two different game modes (Identify and Cleanse) is a really neat concept that I like a lot. Identify is the classic Guess Who where you whittle down the list with evidences and leave. Cleanse is interesting. The ghost has varying levels of ALL evidences, and you have to nail a certain number of them. Getting one wrong results in a hunt. Get enough right, and you get to play scavenger hunt with a glowing stick! It's a really cool game mode that's honestly designed pretty well. Waiting for the scan still fills me with tension, and the scavenger hunt is a really fun race against the clock. The whole mode is a breath of fresh air and very cool. Idk if any other game modes are planned, but if there are, I bet they'll be just as cool.
-When you get caught by a hunting ghost, you get taken to a place. This place is unique for every map, and is very cool, and I like it a LOT. It gives a lot of personality to each map's respective ghost model. There can be different outcomes to this place, and that is a very very neat concept, and I like that a LOT.
-You get an entire hideout to customize and decorate and blow earned cash on. Actually, there are 5 of them, as well as 3 different vehicles to buy and paint. And this RULES! It's honestly a great incentive to grind and play the game more. Unlike a similar game, where we've only very recently gotten some baseline cosmetics, poor in both quantity and quality.
-It genuinely seems like the devs care about their game AND their fanbase. Even with as few hours as I have, I once saw a weird little popup for a dev lobby while playing. I checked it out, they gave out some free currency, had a larger lobby to hang out in, and even took a big group picture. Honestly, it was kinda cool to see in an indie game, even for someone that doesn't ever interact with people. These devs seem more active and in tune with their community, as opposed to the weird mutual-hatred vibe you get with the Phasmo devs and their community.
Whether you're a newcomer to the ghost-hunting genre, or a burned, jaded fan of Phasmo, I can easily recommend this game in it's current state. Its got some great bones on it and I'm very excited for more.
...Alright, lemme just bash Phasmo one more time. The next update for this game will feature SEVEN new ghosts, a new mechanic (video & ghost orbs), and not one, but TWO new maps! I don't expect every update to be that jam-packed, but THAT'S what I'm FREAKING TALKING ABOUT! THAT is a major content update! None of this garbage "Uhhh... we pissed around for like... Iunno... four, five, six months, and have a SINGLE map rework to show for it (and probably broke in game voice again). Shut up, dev is hard, have a double xp weekend or something.. Oh btw Horror 2.0 has been removed from the roadmap for the umpteenth time" like COME ON! The single most echoed sentiment inside the Phasmo community is "Let modders finish your game." and honestly, at this point (especially after the player model/animation update), it's fairly well-deserved.
Do yourself a favor and play a game made by some people that actually care. Seriously, the care the devs have put into this game made /me/ care enough to think about and type all of this, and I'm usually a one or two sentence wonder in reviews. Give it a try, see if you like it. IMO its a better game than Phasmo, and cheaper at that.
