Phasmophobia: The Big Interview With Kinetic Games as Revamp for Fan-Favorite Grafton Farmhouse Map Goes Live

2025 has already been a productive twelvemonth for Phasmophobia shaper Kinetic Games, not slightest due to the fact that though it's lone August, we've already seen a large overhaul of the in-game journal, the merchandise of the (terrifying) reworked Bleasedale Farmhouse, and present a revamp for the fan-favorite Grafton Farmhouse representation has conscionable gone live.

As we dive into the last fractional of the twelvemonth — and get ever person to spooky play — we sat down for a chat with creation manager Corey J. Dixon to speech astir what's new, erstwhile Phasmophobia volition yet consciousness finished, the anticipation of Phasmophobia 2, and what it's similar moving with Blumhouse Films connected a movie adaptation.

IGN: Tell america astir the reworked maps. Why rework them astatine all?

Corey J. Dixon: [Creator] Dan [Knight] wanted Phas[mophobia] to beryllium the champion happening it could be. And with the magnitude of plus packs that helium had to usage to make the game, determination was a feeling of it not being his ain thing. The plan and the crippled and everything other wrong of it was his babe — and it was palmy due to the fact that of that — but anyone could recreate Tanglewood. They conscionable needed to bargain the asset. So Dan was like: 'I privation to marque this the champion puzzle fearfulness crippled I can. Let's rework the maps.'

I joined Kinetic Games astir 9 months aft Phas came out, truthful it's conscionable implicit 4 years now. Back then, determination were lone 3 of us. It was me, Dan, Ben [Lavender], and I was doing each the creation myself. My archetypal occupation was dilatory replacing each the creation assets, [and] we're inactive going 4 years later. But there's a batch much radical now.

IGN: Why was Grafton adjacent connected the database to get a revamp?

Corey J. Dixon: We bash what we consciousness is champion for players. Asylum was the astir repetitive map. It was perfectly huge before. I'd had chats with Dan wherever he's like, 'Oh yeah, it took maine truthful long, similar I was conscionable copy-pasting rooms due to the fact that I'd made it truthful big,' and it conscionable wasn't that enjoyable to make. That was the archetypal people — we felt that that was the astir repetitive, and could person the biggest uplift.

So we did that 1 first, and past the farmhouses. There are 2 farmhouse maps, but they were astir identical. We had truthful galore players who couldn't adjacent archer the quality betwixt Bleasdale and Grafton due to the fact that they were the aforesaid plus pack. So we had the conversation, and I suggested that we should truly dispersed them apart. Let's marque 1 of them this benignant of ornate, mansion-y, bigger map, and past instrumentality the different 1 successful the other direction. Let's ruin it, destruct loads of it — springiness it that abandoned ghosthunting acquisition that a batch of radical bash successful existent life. I deliberation it's worked — they consciousness wholly antithetic now.

IGN: Do you person plans to rework thing else?

Corey J. Dixon: Earlier this year, we announced we would beryllium doing Tanglewood, and that's a fan-favorite map. Everyone perfectly loves Tanglewood. So we'll person to marque definite we support a equilibrium of, you know, giving it a caller overgarment of paint, but not changing too much, due to the fact that we cognize however overmuch players perfectly adore it. But I'm beauteous definite we'll find that balance.

IGN: How bash you negociate request from players who privation smaller maps with those who privation overmuch bigger ones?

Corey J. Dixon: It's a operation of things, the archetypal chiefly being the community. We've got statistic connected what maps radical play. We cognize that radical play tiny maps, and we perceive radical speech astir tiny maps each the time. That's a monolithic factor. We privation to update and adhd things that players want to play. We recognize determination is simply a assemblage of players that bash similar the larger maps, but the bigger the map, the longer it takes to marque oregon redo. So, for us, if we're going to do, for example, 3 maps successful a year, and if we [chose] a ample map, that mightiness mean we lone get to bash 1 oregon possibly 2 a year. So players are missing retired due to the fact that we're doing thing that takes overmuch longer.

It's benignant of weighing up what the payment is for the assemblage versus however agelong it takes. We would similar to rework each of the basal crippled maps yet — it's conscionable however agelong that takes, and successful what order.

IGN: Have you ever considered expanding beyond four-player co-op?

Corey J. Dixon: A batch of the assemblage person asked for that, particularly connected the large maps! Yeah, much players means you'll find the shade and place it quicker. But it's not truly thing we're looking into. The full crippled is locked successful astir 4 players. And it's a 10-year project. Now, for Dan, he's [already] worked connected the crippled that long, and the codification basal is benignant of locked in, there's a batch of linking, intertwining systems, and it each benignant of works together. So adjacent if we wanted to bash that, it would beryllium an perfectly immense project.

IGN: You've besides precocious revealed that the adjacent caller representation coming to Phasmo is Nell's Diner. Tell america astir it.

Corey J. Dixon: We planned for a new, tiny representation this twelvemonth and, again, looked astatine the community. People suggest things each the time. We person a massive database that has each of the things the assemblage has suggested, truthful we notation that and spot what we think, what we deliberation would enactment oregon not.

We request to marque definite that tiny maps marque sense, due to the fact that the mode that the crippled plays, you're restricted successful what benignant of maps you tin do. A batch of radical person suggested a theatre oregon an amusement park, and portion those would beryllium perfectly astonishing creation tasks — they'd beryllium truthful amusive to make, gameplay-wise — they'd beryllium truly difficult. Massive unfastened spaces mean you don't person shade rooms, and you request to person things connected the level oregon things for the shade to interact with. So a diner conscionable benignant of made sense. You tin divided it up into these bully small chunks — you've got the eating area, the counter, the kitchen, the unit areas astatine the back, and past immoderate toilets. It's a cleanable little, tiny map.

It's besides a acquainted thing. People emotion the location maps due to the fact that they play Phas successful a acquainted environment, which is conscionable a location that doesn't look creepy oregon abandoned. They halt playing [for the night] and locomotion astir their location astatine nighttime and go, 'Oh my God. This is truthful similar. This is my house, and I'm frightened of looking astir astatine night.' And a diner is precise acquainted for a batch of people.

The theming is ace unique. We've ne'er done a retro American benignant oregon truly embraced the civilization of it all. Shout retired to the creation team!

IGN: Is that due to the fact that you person a bigger squad now? One of the criticisms we spot is astir the gait of development, which has felt sluggish astatine times.

Corey J. Dixon: Oh, yeah. Definitely. If you comparison our updates this twelvemonth to past twelvemonth — I deliberation past twelvemonth was conscionable the console update, and past we did [new map] Point Hope. This year, we've already done the Bleasdale update. Grafton. The Chronicle update — which was a immense shake-up of the gameplay — came retired a mates of months ago, and we're inactive connected way with our roadmap. We did Easter, we've got the Halloween holiday, and past Nell's Diner arsenic well.

IGN: You precocious said the diner was a accidental to usage a small biology storytelling, too?

Corey J. Dixon: We're trying to propulsion that arsenic overmuch arsenic possible. Phas doesn't person a story, per se, but adjacent backmost erstwhile I did the asylum map, I tried to adhd a spot of storytelling determination about, like, possibly there's an root communicative determination for 1 of the ghosts, oregon possibly it's conscionable a crazed lunatic.

We're trying to fto players deliberation astir what happened present without being excessively hand-holding. We've dropped these small bits and pieces around, and radical perfectly emotion it. We did immoderate worldly successful Bleasdale that adjacent referenced Grafton. [Our community] perfectly loves it. So we're conscionable trying to propulsion that Phas is not conscionable a ghost-hunting crippled with these environments that look beauteous but don't mean anything. It's a living, breathing world. We've got a lore update coming astatine immoderate constituent that's conscionable going to propulsion the storytelling successful the crippled arsenic acold arsenic we can.

IGN: Does this mean we're person to a 1.0 release? Phasmophobia's been successful aboriginal entree since its 2020 debut.

Corey J. Dixon: We decidedly person plans for 1.0, astir apt successful enactment with our Horror 2.0 update [slated for 2026] is wherever we consciousness the crippled is feature-complete. It doesn't mean we'll halt moving connected it — we inactive privation representation reworks and caller maps and worldly successful the future, truthful there'll beryllium much worldly for the game. But I deliberation erstwhile the Horror 2.0 has been redone, which is the adjacent happening we enactment connected aft the [2025's] Player Update, the crippled volition consciousness finished. Once that's in, I deliberation it volition beryllium successful a bully spot.

It's truly hard to cognize [when it whitethorn beryllium finished]. Our assemblage is perpetually putting out, 'Oh, it should person this!' truthful we tin look astatine that and conscionable support doing it! We'd emotion to enactment connected it until we're truly blessed with it. We haven't acceptable a day oregon an update that's like: we're done. I deliberation we'll conscionable know: there'll beryllium that company-wide feeling that this task is done now, we've made it the champion it tin be, which is what Dan wanted Day One. I deliberation we'll cognize erstwhile we deed that milestone — I don't deliberation we tin program for that.

IGN: How bash you support the fearfulness sequences caller (and scary) for seasoned players portion keeping the gameplay loop elemental capable for caller ghosthunters?

Corey J. Dixon: We conscionable effort and support a balance. Like with the Chronicle update, we wanted to marque it marque sense. Before, thing would beryllium dropped connected the floor, and you instrumentality a photograph and spell to the idiosyncratic you're selling them to, and say: 'I promised the shade threw this! It wasn't me!' So that was the main extremity of the update: let's marque the grounds strategy marque sense, right?

People travel up with brainsick ideas, and immoderate of them are great. Going backmost to the archetypal anniversary, and we did a mini update wherever we redid the journal, due to the fact that that was a large symptom constituent for players. And radical were posting designs connected Reddit. It meant that erstwhile we came to bash it, we had tons of reference, and we knew what players wanted feature-wise, and we conscionable had to marque it benignant of look pretty, and we haven't touched it since. The community's great, it's astir similar you don't request anyone [on the improvement team] with a encephalon now. We could conscionable beryllium developers that don't person immoderate thought, and we conscionable travel the Reddit thread and conscionable churn retired stuff, due to the fact that there's so galore bully ideas connected there!

When we got to the gameplay plan of the Chronicle Update, it was conscionable astir maintaining that involvement for caller players, but having it analyzable capable truthful that experienced players would bask it arsenic well. With the unsocial and duplicate system, you tin spell successful and instrumentality immoderate photos, videos, and sounds you want, and not interest astir the unsocial and duplicates, and you'll inactive get a beauteous bully payout.

But seasoned players with thousands of hours [in the game] — they cognize each nook and cranny. They tin benignant of curate their ain truly hard crippled mode successful customized difficulty, and they tin spell for a cleanable investigation, and they tin marque each crippled the hardest they privation it to be, and past extremity up with these huge payouts. The customized update is benignant of 'play your way.' We noticed truthful galore radical were making their ain small challenges, and we were like, let's conscionable enactment it successful the game. Let's conscionable walk the clip and enactment it in. We did a fewer updates to get the rewards right, but present it's ace solid. It's rewarding erstwhile it needs to be, and it's little rewarding erstwhile it doesn't. I'm truly blessed with however that turned out.

IGN: Given however overmuch Phasmophobia has changed since its motorboat fractional a decennary ago, person you ever considered starting from scratch with a sequel?

Corey J. Dixon: I wouldn't constitute it off. It would beryllium a amusive situation to spot if we could bash different one. There are a batch of things that I cognize we would alteration arsenic a institution if we went into Phas fresh. There's decidedly things we would each astir apt say, 'Oh, let's not bash that!' Or 'that would beryllium awesome. We should bash that instead.' So, yeah, you ne'er know. It's decidedly not disconnected the cards.

IGN: What astir a Nintendo Switch 2 version?

Corey J. Dixon: We privation what's champion for the game, and if the accidental arises, we'd emotion to. But there's nary quality oregon thing I tin share.

IGN: Before we spell — the Blumhouse movie adaptation. How tin Phasmophobia's genre-defining gameplay construe to a movie?

Corey J. Dixon: We've got a truly bully concern with Blumhouse. It's brilliant. It will beryllium a Phasmophobia film, it won't conscionable beryllium a shade hunting movie — we're going to marque definite it's a movie that fans privation to watch, and we're going to enactment with them truly closely. They're truly consenting to enactment with us, and, obviously, we privation to enactment with them. So yeah, we've got a truly bully partnership, and I deliberation fans are going to emotion it erstwhile it comes.

Phasmophobia's Grafton Farmhouse reworked representation is present unrecorded crossed each platforms, including PC via Steam, PS5, PS VR2, and Xbox Series X and S.

Vikki Blake is simply a newsman for IGN, arsenic good arsenic a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years acquisition moving with immoderate of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's besides a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her astatine BlueSky.