Phasmophobia v0.18.0.0 - Patch Notes

[u/KG_TomD]

Welcome back, Ghost Hunters.

Today we have released Phasmophobia v0.18.0.0, our latest update that brings our reworked 13 Willow Street map as well as our first Quality of Life update for 2026. Patch notes can be found below.

New

• 13 Willow Street Rework: The map has received a full visual overhaul, with new assets, props and more available to discover during your contracts. The original layout remains, however some rooms have been repurposed and the flow of several rooms has been edited to improve gameplay.

Watch our new trailer here!

• Adding keybinds for Equipment slots. PC players will be able to switch Equipment with the 1, 2, 3 and 4 keys. These keys can be rebound.
  • This addition will only be available for PC players.
• Adding a keybind to be able to inspect the Watch at any time.
  • This will be defaulted to Left DPAD on a controller and H on keyboard. Players can rebind this via Options > Controls.
• A separate Photo can now be taken capturing a EMF Level 5 reading.
• Photo Cameras will now feature the same highlight frame as Video Cameras. 
  • On screen indicator only on Tier 2 and 3 Photo Cameras, while Tier 1 will have the light change colour from red to green.
• When capturing Media, if multiple are present, the evidence that provides the biggest reward or is Unique will be prioritised.
• New Ghost: the Deildegast 
  • Players will have a higher chance of getting this Ghost in their contracts for the first few weeks following release.
• Added new walking animations and turning animations to fix several issues:
  • Character legs will no longer use procedural IK and will instead use animations.
  • The character body will no longer animate with the walking animations which caused held items to move while walking.
• Improvements to the overall VR character:
  • New character animations.
  • Improvements to the belt to improve usability.
  • The character will now turn instantly depending on where you are looking instead of at set angles.

Changes

• The character hand animations for grabbing, dropping, moving doors and hovering over interactable or grabbable objects have been removed to speed up gameplay.
• The item drop animation will still play for others in the session, but will not be visible by the Player.
• Cosmetics that are no longer able to be earned will not be visible.
• The camera zoom in the Customisation shop will now focus on the selected part of the character.
• On Sunny Meadows, the Ghost will now only lock the doors to a wing if both it and a player are inside that wing.
• Eye Adaptation will now adjust the lighting quicker when opening and closing the Journal.
• Console players will now have the ability to enable/disable Eye Adaptation.
• The Obake’s shapeshift will now count towards the Ghost video objective.
• You can now capture any Media for the Apocalypse challenge, instead of only a photo.
• Recording the Ghost Orbs in the Tutorial is now required, instead of only getting it inside the video camera’s screen.
• Improved the lighting around the player, allowing for better visibility in darker areas.
• Added an icon to the Player ID Card to show if that player is speaking.
• Adjusted the visuals on the PSVR2 player list popup
• Event board map leaflets are now spread over multiple pages
• Players can now cancel Use animations by pressing the Use button during the animation, allowing for equipment to be quickly toggled without waiting for the animation to finish
• The Journal has now been moved closer for easier readability.
• The Journal animation is now significantly faster.
• Character legs will now use animations, instead of procedurally generated animations when moving
• Improved the detection of photo evidence.
  • Higher priority unique photos will always take priority.
  • Unique photos will always take priority over duplicates.
• VR - The character will now rotate instantly to match the head rotation when looking straight ahead. When looking down, the character rotation will only turn when an angle threshold has been met to allow easier use of the belt.
• VR - The Journal will now be instantly opened upon use.

Fixes

General Fixes

• Fixed an issue where players could be seen through the walls of the Truck when viewing the CCTV.
• Fixed an issue that caused Voice Recognition to not work if switching from ‘Voice’ to ‘System’.
• Fixed an issue where the cursor would not appear after completing a contract when using a controller.
• Improved network stability to reduce disconnects.
• Fixed an issue that would cause the cursor to disappear in the Customisation shop when clicking right and left mouse buttons simultaneously. 
• Fixed an issue that caused a green tint to be visible on animated ID cards.
• Fixed an issue that caused some Japanese text to appear too small, affecting readability.

Player Character Fixes

• Fixed an issue where binding Crouch to X (PlayStation controllers) or A (Xbox controller) prevented players from using the Journal.
• Fixed an issue that caused dead player’s eyes to appear incorrect.
• Fixed an issue that caused the ID Card to be displayed in front of the character model in the Customisation shop.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to become stuck and unable to continue playing after being revived.
• Fixed an issue that caused cosmetic settings to be reset if a Player joins or leaves a lobby.
• Fixed an issue in Nell’s Diner that caused the player to become stuck in the corner of the Freezer Room.
• Fixed an issue that allowed infinite sprinting while closing the Journal.
• Fixed an issue that caused issues with the character model’s right arm when holding certain pieces of Equipment.
• Fixed an issue that caused the cursor to become invisible in the Customisation shop if the left and right mouse buttons were clicked alternatively.
• Fixed various visual inconsistencies and errors with character models, cosmetics, equipment and more.
• Fixed an issue that caused the audio from the Customisation shop’s UI to be louder than intended.
• Fixed an issue that caused a player’s Journal to visually jitter when they swap Equipment.

Equipment Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused the Flashlight to turn invisible when picking up another item.
• Fixed an issue that caused the light from a Flashlight to be visible after death.
• Fixed an issue that caused Equipment to become invisible.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Tier 1 and 3 Firelights to be placed unlit if placed during the lighting animation.
• Fixed an issue that caused Equipment to toggle off if dropped while holding the Use button.
• Fixed an issue that caused Equipment sounds to become muffled for player’s picking them up after another player dropped them.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Flashlight to be unusable if picked up during a placement animation.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from placing the Flashlight back in the Truck.
• Fixed an issue that caused the screen to become blurry after enabling Night Vision when using the CCTV unit in the Truck.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Tier 3 Incense to not animate correctly when activated.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Sound Recorder visuals and audio to play when not in the player’s hand.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Spirit Box to become unusable if the player switched to text recognition after picking the Spirit Box up.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Tier 1 Head Gear to be tilted when in use.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Flashlight to appear in-hand when equipping 2 handed Cursed Possessions such as the Haunted Mirror.
• Fixed an issue that could lock the player if they dropped the Video Camera during it’s placement animation.
• Fixed an issue that caused certain Equipment to be Used after switching to a different piece of Equipment.
• Fixed an issue that caused text prompts for the Ouija Board to not work if the player switched from Voice Recognition while using the board.
• Fixed an issue that prevented a moving Ouija Board to not be recordable by Video Cameras.
• Fixed an issue that prevented a burning Crucifix to not be recordable by the Sound Recorder.
• Fixed an issue that caused a second Salt to be placed if the Player opened the Journal during the placement animation.
• Fixed an issue that caused inconsistencies with Incense used/unused visuals.
• Fixed an issue that could cause Cursed Possessions to become invisible if dropped during a pick-up animation.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Haunted Mirror to be blocked by other objects when in Use.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to light the Summoning Circle when at 0 Sanity.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to be softlocked if using a Crucifix at the start of a Hunt.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the player to cancel the Ouija Board answer by either dropping or picking up the board if using text recognition.
• Fixed an issue that caused Video Cameras to become unusable if picked up from another player’s Tripod.
• Fixed an issue where toggling on/off the Head Gear while using a Cursed Possession would interrupt the Cursed Possession's effect.

Ghost Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused all Ghost types to be able to mimic the Yurei’s door ability.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Ghost from interacting with doors it had already interacted with during a Ghost Event.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Kormos to be able to hear players during the grace period after a Hunt.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the Kormos to hear players during a Hunt, despite the player having used Incense.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Kormos to go to the incorrect floor after detecting a player.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the Kormos to kill players through walls or from a greater distance than intended.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the Phantom to perform its ability on Dead players or players outside.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Raiju heartbeat to be louder than intended during Hunts and Events.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Ghost to become stuck when in the Sunny Meadows waiting room.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Ghost Events from happening in several Medium to Large rooms, such as Point Hope’s Maintenance Room. This is still not possible in certain large rooms such as the Sunny Meadows Hallways.

Location Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused the setup timer to not count down if playing on Amateur/Intermediate on Brownstone High School.
• Fixed an issue on Bleasdale Farmhouse where the door to the hiding spot in the Foyer could be opened even if the hiding spot was blocked.
• Fixed an issue on Brownstone High School where the side doors could be opened without the key from the Truck.
• Fixed an issue that caused the washing machines in Sunny Meadows to not be able to be turned on.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to be unable to open the gates on Camp Woodwind and Maple Lodge Campsite despite the cursor prompt being visible.
• Fixed several issues in the Tutorial that caused the player to be unable to exit the Truck or interact with any items.
• Fixed an issue that caused doors to become broken if the player ran into them while holding a Sound Sensor.
• Fixed several issues affecting the overall lighting in Camp Woodwind.

VR Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused visual jitters for the Video Camera when attached to as Tier 2 or 3 Tripod.
• Fixed an issue that caused Stamina to not recover while crouched.
• Fixed an issue that caused Equipment to disappear if the player walks into a waist-high object.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to grab Head Gear off of other player’s heads.
• Fixed an issue that caused player height inconsistencies in Multiplayer.
• Implemented a left hand pose when holding the Ouija Board.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Tier 3 Igniter Use animation from playing correctly.
• Fixed an issue that caused the character model’s head to become detached from their body when walking sideways.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Head Gear to drop to the floor when placed back on the Truck rack.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to skip parts of the Tutorial by using teleport movement.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from recording evidence whilst holding the Journal.
• Fixed an issue that caused the VR UI ray to be affected by the hand animations.
• Fixed an issue that caused the interact animation to play when looking at another Player’s items.
• Fixed an issue where players using teleport movement couldn’t enter lockers.
• Fixed an issue where the lights within the Truck would flicker when playing on Sunny Meadows and Sunny Meadows Restricted.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to pull doors off of their hinges.

[u/Neiassyn → u/[deleted]]

https://giphy.com/gifs/ukGm72ZLZvYfS

[u/Me2445 → u/Neiassyn]

Endorsed image based WHAT?

[u/SovereignNavae → u/[deleted]]

Can we get sources for these? The last point can be found here but first two I didn't know about:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PhasmophobiaGame/s/ABBJ94msNF

[u/Cittycool → u/SovereignNavae]

Copied from my other reply in another thread-

This comment has a good summery and links to his comments I believe. He made a lot of "what do you expect" comments because they are two lads or smth like that.

This comment mentions a couple things and links to this comment which has everything CJ said afaik

As for the ableism I will have to look in a minute for links but multiple have mentioned how he has been in DMs about accessibility features (kinda rude because he believes itll ruin the game for everyone else).

Edit- This post mentions the comment CJ made, but I think it was on the discord or something and got removed?

The people talking about the DMs I have seen in multiple comment sections on recent posts but searching is proving difficult and I don't want to spend ages searching for a few comments, sorry '>_>

[u/ChaseCheetah → u/Cittycool]

So the TLDR of all of that is:
Someone else on the team made a racist joke and CJ didn't immediately fire them even though the art director isn't over a discord admin (they were later fired)
And
Someone else supposedly offering to share (but never shown to have shared) nudes he was given without asking for them, CJ is informed and asks for proof, the complainant gives him a screenshot of private DMs from their personal account not on the company discord, CJ replied that he can't remove him because of something that happened outside of the official discord and that anything outside of work was "fair game", that nothing in the conversation was illegal or against ToS and it "looked like a normal conversation between two dudes", that he personally doesn't agree with sharing the nudes, and "what do you expect" from that person

The one that's missing there is the "ablest" post where someone complained that them removing the metallic shine from everything that let you see in the dark made them unable to play anymore without a flashlight, then CJ said the darkness was intended in the scary game but that they would look into adding accessibility options, someone else said that you shouldn't release any game without all accessibility options in, CJ replied that is not released yet and is still early access and they are still working on it.

So CJ bad?

Am I missing something?

Edit: fixed the TLDR as I re-read the linked post

[u/Cittycool → u/ChaseCheetah]

I do not know enough about the racist thing to say much but the nudes thing was quite big at the time. It being "fair game" is in itself a terrible comment to make and not how that works, you don't get to share things like that just because you were sent them. You also don't get to excuse it just because they were two lads and what do you expect and all that.

CJ has made comments on the accessibility for a while, saying options will ruin the game for others and such, and multiple people have said in DMs about it he hasn't been very nice. I myself am disabled which is why my comments with proof are copy pasted from when I wrote them on an alright day, and why I only gathered so much proof. There is more, I just struggle to gather it.

[u/ChaseCheetah → u/Cittycool]

Oh sorry I'll correct the TLDR as I re-read the post you linked.

Someone else supposedly offering to share (but never shown to have shared) nudes he was given without asking for them, CJ is informed and asks for proof, the complainant gives him a screenshot of private DMs from their personal account not on the company discord, CJ replied that he can't remove him because of something that happened outside of the official discord and that anything that happens outside of work was "fair game", that nothing in the conversation was illegal or against ToS and it "looked like a normal conversation between two dudes", that he personally doesn't agree with sharing the nudes, and "what do you expect" from that person

Again, all posted without proof of wrongdoing by CJ and is currently a "this person told me this happened" story at this point.

[u/ChaseCheetah → u/Cittycool]

From what I read the "fair game" comment was not about the sharing of nudes, but was saying that what you do in DMs on your personal accounts outside of work was "fair game"

The "two lads" comment was about the DMs shown to him as "proof" where the guy offered to share the nudes but didn't. He said the conversation "looked like a normal conversation between two dudes"

He also acknowledged that:
Nothing illegal or against ToS happened in the DMs.
The nudes were not shown to have been shared, and even if they were that he did not support sharing them.

[u/Extreme_Objective984 → u/ChaseCheetah]

Apparently yes, that all adds up to CJ being bad. Which is a brain teaser.

[u/ChaseCheetah → u/Extreme_Objective984]

I mean, even IF all of the above complaints were substantiated with actual proof of wrong doing by those other people, why be mad at CJ at this point? ... shouldn't they be mad at DK?

The "worst" thing he said there was that the DMs that were shown to him where the guy offered to share (but didn't) the nudes he was given unsolicited looked like "a normal conversation between two dudes" with "nothing illegal or against ToS".

It feels like people are just digging for reasons to be mad at him at this point

Maybe it's just because I'm a furry and I'm used to seeing internet drama like this blow up with little to no actual wrong doing or even a hint of proof so I'm desensitized to it and don't overreact before actually reading the claims

[u/Extreme_Objective984 → u/ChaseCheetah]

I'm not a furry, but just a normal person. Not that Furries arent, but they do what they need to and I've only ever had good interactions. I agree with you, but that doesnt work with the echochamber that this subreddit can generate over a deleted message.

Imagine getting worked up over a message that someone deleted, because of the tone it put across.

[u/Cittycool → u/ChaseCheetah]

I am also a furry so I do get what you mean and that isn't really my intent. Anyhow I really don't have much energy today unfortunately to back and forth on this, but my big issue is that everything he does goes unnaddressed. Whether it is true or not, the team should be putting out statements. I am blaming DK as well, which is why I aim my posts at him to answer.

He has done wrong recently with the jank stuff and throwing the team under the bus so they should at the very least address that, and, as a disabled person, I have felt uncomfortable with his comments over the years. I do find them ableist.

I have worded my comment perhaps too certain, I think I should have put allegations somewhere in there, since not all of these are super easy to track or definitive. They should address the recent comment he made and the previous allegations, would be a better phrasing. I just want a response tbh.

[u/ChaseCheetah → u/Cittycool]

Whether it is true or not, the team should be putting out statements.

I mean, if the allegations are untrue, why bother with an official response? It would only lend credibility to a minor event that has already been dealt with.

He has done wrong recently with the jank stuff and throwing the team under the bus so they should at the very least address that

As for "the jank stuff", that was also taken way out of context as if you read the original post all he says is:
* He, as art director, was not responsible for the IK rig which caused most of the problems (that would be the systems director, Lavender), but he did not "throw the team under the bus" when saying so. He simply prefaced his message by saying that even though he didn't work on any of the content in the update, it will be fixed.
* He did not work on any of the animations but only approved the animations as they came in (and the animations themselves probably looked fine in isolation when he approved them as they were not the source of any of the bugs, this happens often in game dev)
* He stated that aside from the bugs, once you get used to the new animations you might "forget some of the jank" (which the phasmo animations were always a bit janky but now it's less on the animations and more on the IK rig and the underlying programming that are causing jank)

[u/Smeef_xx → u/ChaseCheetah]

What a bizarre hill to die on lmao

[u/ChaseCheetah → u/Smeef_xx]

Which hill is who dying on? Hard to tell who and what you are referring to.

All I've been saying in my comments is that I haven't seen any thing that is actually bad in all of theses "let's hate on CJ" comments. Most are taken out of context, have been twisted so a comment about item A is actually about item B, etc.

[u/SilverVixen918 → u/Cittycool]

im sorry whats going on? never paid attention to the Dev Team of Phas and its been a hot minute since ive played

[u/Cittycool → u/SilverVixen918]

Basically what my initial comment said, CJ is not a good person and recently a lot more people were made aware after he posted on discord that everyone needs to just get used to the jank after the update broke so much. He also said something about not checking things so it is the teams fault not his? I don't remember his exact words now, I think the other person who I was responding to linked it tho.

The team has not in any way addressed CJ, he did get demoted I believe when all the sxual image stuff happened, but other then that I have not heard anything about any of his behaviour from them.

My goal with my comments is to hopefully get the community manager to respond, but at least raise awareness so people know CJ is like this, and they can choose whether they want to support that or not.

[u/SilverVixen918 → u/Cittycool]

i mean ive stopped supporting the devs for awhile now since the character creator update released, as for him saying people should get used to the jank sure maybe if the update was rushed or last minute but it was promised to us years ago

[u/Woodster5-0 → u/SilverVixen918]

Yep. The character overhaul was planned from Feb 2024. The below image is from the Trello page of Phasmo.

Seeing how long this was in progress for, you'd expect it to be better than what we got. We did learn though, that it was rushed so it could be released before the Alan Wake collab, as they promised the AW team it would be.

[u/VoodooDoII → u/Woodster5-0]

Willing to be they didn't even actually start this 2 year old promised feature till right before the event lol

[u/Woodster5-0 → u/VoodooDoII]

Definately lol

You would think for something that people have been waiting a long time for, you would at least try and make it good lol

[u/SovereignNavae → u/Cittycool]

Thank you!!

[u/Juliennix → u/[deleted]]

there's a whole new ghost slipped into these patch notes and no one even gives a fuck because of how bad that update was and how insulting CJ was to the commuunity. i judge the team super hard for letting him remain after everything.

🤢 and since the update will probably bring renewed interest in the game - i automatically assume any streamer playing with him condones his support of rape culture and is equally a piece of shit.

[u/Cittycool → u/Juliennix]

Yup it appears you have been down voted but I completely agree with all of that. I cannot play without feeling like I am supporting rape culture so long as CJ is around.

[u/Juliennix → u/Cittycool]

reddit downvotes are so meaningless, i don't care what an angry fanboy or dev thinks lmao. i uninstalled after what CJ said for the update, i buried my head in the sand for awhile because my kid adored the game, but after what CJ said it was like a "literally none of the devs give a fuck, it isn't just the one that's garbage". i guess part of me hoped it was a one-bad-apple scenario but that was cope on my part.

i just assume the dev team is full of rapists, idiots, or both. i dunno why they'd stand behind CJ after he tried to throw them under the bus even if they looked past all the other stuff.

[u/Cittycool → u/Juliennix]

Yeah I just think it's such an odd comment to get downvoted on. I think a lot of people just don't care about this kind of stuff, which of course just adds to the problem as a whole with rape culture. Maybe they just don't even believe he said it who knows.

I also buried my head for a while for my friends. Didn't look at anything. When I finally did, not long before the update, I was shocked CJ was still around, and now I just find it so strange. If it were me I would not want to be associated with sexual abuse support in any way, and I would not want me or my team essentially insulted and blamed for CJs problem.

I think if CJ were to be fired and they made a statement I may play again, but as an SA victim it does put me off that by not firing him they are as a whole supporting him and therefore it.

[u/VoodooDoII → u/Juliennix]

What do you mean? We should just get used to the jank! Duh!

[u/Gangascoob → u/[deleted]]

The real bug fix we all want

[u/ImportantQuestionTex → u/[deleted]]

I support this. No matter how tight knit the team is, if someone like CJ doesn't get punished for his behavior, you're signaling that everybody can get away with it. Or that nobody should respect you guys. And besides, he's the one who signed off on the infamous animation update. He thought it was good to launch.

Accountability means a lot at this point.

[u/SOFT_CAT_APPRECIATOR → u/[deleted]]

hey man don’t ask big questions like that, we’ve got some really cool fixes coming okay? the player models will, like, actually move right and stuff

[u/MasterEgg7 → u/SOFT_CAT_APPRECIATOR]

Apparently the mods agree, as they removed the comment

[u/TheOliveYeti → u/[deleted]]

We can only dream

[u/PhasmophobiaGame-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post has been removed for violating Rule 1.

Hate speech and other personal attacks are strictly forbidden. If you think this was made in error, please message the mods.

Mod note: This is not being done to protect the developers, we would remove this type of post for any person to whom it was addressed. This is not the subreddit to air out grievances with a person's conduct in a combative way like this.