Phantom Hysteria

I am absolutely obsessed with this game! This is my most played game by far even though it just came out in October of this year. I've played 270 hours of Phantom Hysteria to date, while I've played 191 hours of my second most played game which is 7 Days to Die (which I've had for years). I've actually played it for over 24 hours straight on a couple occasions. Many compare it to Phasmophobia, but to me the only common ground they share is that you hunt ghosts/phantoms and use some of the same equipment. That's where the similarities stop to me. Phantom Hysteria is more fast paced than Phas, and you actually get to defend yourself and then banish the phantom!!! It's not a game where if the ghost gets to you you're instantly dead, which I love. I'm not a fan of the one hit kills, especially when I can't defend myself. So much love and attention goes into absolutely everything. Every playable character, phantom, and location has lore which to me adds to the immersion. Plus there are easter eggs galore. Each location has them, including the HQ. I've spent hours with friends easter egg hunting because it's so much fun. The phantoms are unpredictable, you can't find one thing that trips them up and repeatedly do it to avoid them. Each phantom also has unique abilities and behaviors like teleporting players to separate them from the group or to simply trip you up (Morrigan), crawling on the ground and a water attack that sucks you in and does damage (Molly), and shooting players (Lucas). And future phantoms will have their own as well. Accessibility wise, while there are some issues, this game is one of the most accessible games I've ever played that aren't specifically made for blind people. There are outlines around gadgets and equipment, so if you drop something you can tell easier where it ended up without it blending in or being too small to locate, and also around the computers at the HQ to make them easier to spot. When you are actually hitting the phantom there is an audio cue so you don't have to wonder if you are hitting them or not. The thermometer also beeps when you get freezing temperatures, which is great if you can't read the numbers on it. The sound design itself is also great, not just for people that are blind or visually impaired, but also for people that are hearing impaired from what I've heard from friends. It is easy to tell where the phantom is coming from because the sound is so immersive and well done. You can adjust the gamma, which may not seem like much, but if you can't see well in low light environments (like me) it really comes in handy. You only face one phantom at a time as well, rather than with most shooter type games where your fighting many players or characters all at once. I never thought I'd play any type of FPS or shooter in general, because of my vision, but only facing one phantom at a time is one of the things that drew me in. And there are captions for what the phantoms and playable characters are saying. As I mentioned, there are some issues. Some people from what I've heard get motion sickness from the head bob, which can't be turned off, and there are a lot of really bright and sometimes flashing lights. The font is also small, I have to use the Windows magnifier when I want to read the information on the computers in the HQ to select my loadout, Arcana cards, gadgets, etc.,, but this doesn't work for me when it comes to reading mine or the phantoms health because the game is fast paced and doesn't allow time to alt+tab to the magnifier, zoom in, alt+tab back to the game, read the number, alt+tab to the magnifier, zoom back out, and alt+tab back into the game. I have to try and go by the length of the health bar as it gets shorter the less health I or the phantom has. This is also hard at times though, because sometimes the color of the health bar blends in with the environment and I have to look toward a light or a lighter colored spot in order to have enough contrast. I also can't read the timer that show up after you use an ability. I can see where it is, and therefore can tell when it disappears (meaning my ability can be used again) but have no idea how long I still have to wait. The devs truly absolutely care about us players when it comes to general gameplay feedback and accessibility as well. They want the game to be not only enjoyable, but also accessible, to as many people as possible. There are some bugs, but in my opinion every game, big or small, has some bugs, but the Phantom Hysteria devs are always hard at work fixing them. I HIGHLY recommend it. I can't recommend the game enough. I know it is only going to keep getting better and better from here, which is SO EXCITING considering how amazing it already is!!

Don't buy this game its abandoned.

First let me say that this game is not a Phasmophobia copy and you shouldn't expect a game like it. Many games when released to early access are super buggy and often unplayable. Phantom Hysteria is not one of those games. The game works extremely well, and the bugs are minimal and none really effected the game play. There is a learning curve to the game, as well as strategy that you need to adopt. Once you learn how to play and the layout of the maps the game becomes easier. I like how there is a character progression to the game as well as traits for classes, and the cards allow for unique experiences for everyone. The game is fun, challenging, and fast paced, and at time intense. Phantom Hysteria has managed to combine a shooter and a ghost hunter game and hit it out of the park. The only down side to the game is that there is limited maps and ghosts. But Since as of this 10-14-2022 its only been out a few days. This game has the potential to take over as the King of ghost hunting games. I cant wait to see what they have in store for the game as time moves on. Great game 5 stars

An investigative FPS game from the horror genre. This is not the normal kind of game I play, but I was introduced to this by a friend and dear lords is a good fun game in its current state. It’s a fast-paced game where you are not safe. The entity will hunt you down whilst you try and figure out what you are dealing with. You can really breakdown the gameplay into 3 main phases. The investigation phase, hunt phase and then the combat. The investigation phase sees you using a variety of tools to find clues which you mark off on your PDA, narrowing down the list of potential entity types. Once you have figured out what you are fighting, you can submit it. Once you have submitted the entity type, you now have to hunt down a variety of items in a treasure hunt format. Whether that’s runes, statues, or effigies. This then leads to the combat phase. Now that you have drawn out the entity, you have to fight it using a wide variety of weapons and tools from holy water hand grenades to an energy rifle reminiscent of the proton packs from Ghostbusters. As you play you can level up your characters with cards that give you modifiers such as health regen etc and new equipment like the mighty salt shotgun! The developers are very active with their community, always willing to listen and take on feedback. If you find a bug, let them know and they will investigate it. This is a game that has had a lot of love and attention given to it. Having just come out of BETA and now in Early Access, I look forward to more being added to the game in time as it evolves.

This game is a fun change of pace from the standard ghost hunt game, definitely feels easy if there are more than 2 people playing. Also..... WHY THE HELL IS MOLLY SO BROKEN? Like why am I breaking line of sight from her ult and crouching behind a cemetary wall and getting hit for 30 anyway? Given that the phantom is effectively random each game, it's hard to just guess when to bring the gear in for molly specifically. She certainly is wacky and could probably use some fine tuning. Game still fun tho Edit: Molly actually very simple with one of the other weapons.

This game is everything Phasmophobia should have been, all the equipment works better and more realistically, and you actually exercise the ghosts.

CAUTION: I am Japanese and I apologize if I use wrong English including grammar. AND, please read all of my review so that there is no misunderstanding. I recommend this game for guys who love ghost busters series (or who loves ghost buster games!!!) Though, this game needs to fix some parts of it. I love the concepts of the game like: ・Investigate ghosts and identify what they are ・Try to weaken them somehow (The way to weaken ghosts is different depends on ghost types) ・Neutralize ghosts by using weapons you carried from base but I guess it is way too simple for now. I love the process of investigating, but I feel that most of the reaction from ghosts seem random so far. Just like EMF. You'll get 1~3 at some places, but no idea why. Also, you'll get 5 and you imagine that you are close enough to ghost, but have no idea what you can do other than that. I guess there is no ghost room like Phasmophobia, so it is quite hard to find the place that you place every item on (though, I love this concept that you need to move around the map to identify the ghosts. However, it is still too random to find where to look for and use items. I guess we need more hints just like something has thrown.) In hunt scene, it is a little bit obvious(which is pretty good) for us, so we'll know what to do when you hear some weird noises just like bell ringing. It is kind of creepy, but for now, I am getting used to it because I can not deal with ghosts attack, unless you go to safe space. There is noting that I can do while ghost is attacking me besides rushing towards the safe house. If you failed to get into safe house, you'll just get damaged. You can hide from them, but actually it feels meaningless for me because it makes easier for me to identify the ghost by facing thermometer towards ghost during hunt instead of walking around the big map (the map size is not a big deal. I love the side though). I can mention same thing to EMF. In fighting scene (I mean neutralize scene) , my opinion is pretty same as in the hunt scene. You mostly can't deal with ghost's attack. Therefore, once you see the ghost, especially when the ghost has a gun. you'll get injured. You can sometimes escape from the ghost's attack, but it is luck. You can not prepare for that so far. So, it is little bit stressful for me to be damaged any time when ghost appears and I have nothing to deal with it. That causes me to stay in Novice level and at least have fun. In addition, I feel like the way to weaken ghosts should be more difficult(I mean horrific) than now just like Obesideo does. THOUGH, I love this concept and I totally understand this game is still in early access. I still think that this game needs to be fixed a bit, but through the updates, I feel this game would be one of the best ghost hunting game everyone has ever met. I kinda wanna help steps that this game takes, and be a good old player who love this kind of genre. I hope really great luck for developers, and please do not make me disappointed by spending $20 for the game XD I seriously looking forward to improving whole game.

It's already dead man. Just don't

The devs have done an amazing job on this game. They are constantly pushing out bug fixes and vital updates. They care so very much about their game. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!!

It's an interesting concept but suffers from the same repetitive feeling of other ghost hunting games. Lack of updates just made it lose the momentum it had from the beta. Kinda hope something good comes of this game but seems like the development is just stuck in a loop of either lack of motivation or poor planning. Can't recommend it until there is more content for players and optimization gets a massive improvement.