Phasmophobia gets a big overhaul in v0.4.0, aka the Nightmare Update

The simple ghost hunting horror game that took the internet by storm for a few weeks last year has received another major update in the form of v0.4.0, coined Phasmophobia Nightmare. Only two months after the major overhauls in the Exposition update, developer Kinetic Games is at it again to give players the authentic Ghost Adventures experience that they can enjoy with friends.

New Pinnacle Challenge: Nightmare Difficulty + Difficulty Reworks

This update brings several new features - such as a new map, 4 new ghost types, and dynamic weather - but the crown jewel of the patch is the namesake: Nightmare difficulty. This difficulty will replace Professional as the premier difficulty for hardcore gamers, as it takes most benefits that players have been accustomed to - even in Professional, where the ghosts are very aggressive and sanity is of the utmost importance - and greatly hampers those effects. There are four new mechanics for this difficulty: ghosts will hide one piece of evidence from researchers, in an effort to encourage studying behavior patterns; kills during hunting phases extend hunting duration, allowing the ghost to kill multiple team members per hunt; the ghost can change its preferred room following the completion of a hunting phase; lastly, monitoring equipment based in the truck can now be interfered with by the ghost. All of these changes, on top of the normal stat changes that accompany harder difficulties, look to provide the most elite challenge for only the most daring of ghost hunters.

For those who are not looking to have a heart attack every time they step foot out of the trailer, Kinetic Games also reworked the other three difficulties - Amateur, Intermediate, and Professional - to provide unique gameplay for all ghost hunters. As mentioned above, each difficulty increase provides ramping stat changes to some of the normal mechanics, such as setup time and hunt grace periods, now scaled with the newest Nightmare difficulty. Professional contracts do a have a slight chance for ghost relocation, but Kinetic Games made it clear that the rate is not close to as high as Nightmare's relocation rate. The developers also wanted players to understand better how the difficulties differ from each other, so they introduced description screens to the menu when selecting a new contract. These changes should make it much easier for people who don't play the game hardcore to understand how/when they should move to the next difficulty option, as well as preserve Professional as a worthy achievement for those not interested in Nightmare.

New Map - Maple Lodge Campsite - and Dynamic Weather

As briefly touched on before, there is a new location introduced with the update. Maple Lodge Campsite introduces the first ever outdoor area for ghost spawns. This map includes several tents, as well as a small log cabin that provides some familiar sights/sounds for the average Phasmophobia fan. This location also provides the best experience for the brand new weather system that was introduced in v0.4.0, which features 6 different weather conditions, each with their own unique influence on the evidence gathering. These weather types are present on other locations as well, although not as impactful as in the new map. Future maps should incorporate these mechanics as well, a good reassurance towards future development by Kinetic Games.

New Ghosts

There are 4 new ghosts introduced in this update - Onryo, The Twins, Obake, and Raiju. All 4 ghosts focus on a unique aspect of the game, including aspects that have previously not been explored, like flames/candles. Keep a watch out for Raijus and The Twins, both types look to cause problems for most hunters, although all new types make the evidence gathering that much more difficult.

There are many other changes to the update, such as fingerprint nerfs, so I'll link the full patch notes here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/739630/announcements/detail/4624626247919023466

Happy Hunting!