I finally had time this past weekend to play Phasmophobia coop with my son and his friend. It is, without a doubt, much more fun playing with other people. Plus, we were all playing in VR for extra immersion. I did not have a chance to try with random people, but coop with people you know was pretty easy to setup.
Setting Up Coop
My son uses the Quest 2, while I use the Valve Index for VR. He kept getting an error with audio trying to use it in Oculus Link mode. We finally fixed it by completely uninstalling/reinstalling the Oculus software. My Valve Index had no issues 🙂
Once I opened the game, I went into the options to make sure my microphone was recognized and the voice recognition test passed with no issue. A few more double checked settings and waiting for my son to verify his microphone as well and we were ready.
Since he had been playing for awhile now, he created the private game and told me the code for the game. I simply had to choose to join a private game and put that code in, then we were in the ghost hunter HQ together. His friend messaged him right after he set things up and he got him into the game, as well.
He chose the farm house as our first mission and they added their equipment to our inventory list (flashlights, EMF readers, etc.). I had no cash to buy equipment yet (earned by successfully completing missions), so they packed extra for me, then we were off.
Phasmophobia Farmhouse
Once in the truck, we checked the white board for objectives: figure out which ghost it is, prevent it from hunting with a crucifix (which none of us had), capture a photo of the ghost and find a room below 10 degrees (none of us had a thermometer, so that was out too). We divvied up the equipment and made our way inside. If I remember correctly, I had an EMF reader and the UV torch.
We made our way inside and I couldn’t help but notice how much the farmhouse was ripped out a scary movie. They nailed the presentation there. Inside the farmhouse, my son scared me when he turned the hall lights on and off since I only had the UV torch to light my way. We checked room by room upstairs, guessing the ghost must be up there. There was no trace of a ghost except for some creaking noises.
Back downstairs, we finally found a trace in the utility room past the kitchen when our EMF meters spiked up to level 3. While investigating the room more, we could not find any area where it would hit the level 5 needed to count as evidence.
It was soon after we noticed we could see our breath, so we knew it was cold. We all put that into our evidence page in the journal. My son’s friend then went back to the truck to get the ghost writing book to see if we could add that to evidence, since my UV torch found nothing. While we waited for him to get back, my son setup a video camera to look over the room.
As soon as his friend brought the book into the room, we could immediately see writing appear and in VR that sends chills down your spine. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was something to effect of leave or die. It also turned off all the lights on us, so I knew it was past the 5 minute mark where the ghosts start to get aggressive. Luckily we were in the room with the breaker, so we turned it back on quick. We all left pretty quickly and forgot even trying to take a picture of the ghost.
Back in the truck, my son checked the video feed of the camera he had setup, hoping we see a ghost orb, so we can avoid going back in. Lucky for us, we could see a ghost orb in the feed. We added that to our evidence along with the ghost writing and my son found the matching ghost in the journal was the Yurei.
We closed the truck ramp to signal our mission was over and we got paid for correctly choosing the ghost.
Residential House
I took the time to buy a crucifix and a flash light before our next mission. Round 2 started with another house where the objective suggests using a crucifix to prevent the ghost from hunting. This time I was ready for that and made sure to take it with me. I carried the flashlight I bought and turn on the UV torch which was attached to my hip.
We headed inside of the house you would typically see in the suburbs. We went upstairs to look at the rooms and got some EMF level 5 readings. I switched to the UV torch and found the hand mark on the closet door, except it turned out to be a bathroom.
We marked the fingerprints and EMF 5 evidence, then my son setup a camera. His friend came in with the ghost writing book and placed it with no luck. I dropped the crucifix right in the door way to hopefully prevent the ghost from hunting us.
While I headed outside my son managed to get a picture of the ghost and as our evidence told us, it was a banshee. Pure nightmare fuel, so we took the win and ended the mission. I didn’t mind not seeing that thing in person.
The Phasmophobia Asylum
After picking up some more equipment with my new cash, we started our final mission at the asylum. It was supposed to be a big map and wow it really was. Unfortunately, my sons friend lost connection, so we were down a man.
I didn’t want to make a bunch of trips back to the truck with such a big map, so I carried the UV light instead of a regular flashlight. I put a camera and ghost writing book on my hips. My other hand STAYED with that crucifix in it. I imagine that’s how I would be if I ever found myself in a horror movie.
There were so many rooms and we found no signs of a ghost. It was hard not to get lost with my lowly UV light, so I had to try to stay close to my son with his regular flashlight. Imagine a horror movie asylum and this is exactly where we were at.
We knew we were past the 5 minute point where the ghost would start to hunt, so we decided it would be too big of a mission to finish with just 2 people with no time left. We decided it was a good place to stop. I promise it wasn’t because we got scared … honest. Next time I’ll find a use for the tripod and smudge sticks I bought with the last of my money.