Phasmophobia has released a new update, called the Nightmare update. This introduces many new things to the game, including a new map, several new ghosts, and a rework of the difficulty levels.
The new map featured in the update is called the Maple Lodge Campsite, and is the first outdoor area in the game. It features picnic areas, tents, a log cabin, and a lake. While it is just a medium-sized map, it has the most unique objects and details of any map up to this point. The minimap in the truck has been updated for this map, with the other locations planned to have a similar minimap in the future. Phasmophobia also added four new ghost types. These are the Onryo, The Twins, Obake, and Raiju, all of which have an increased chance of appearing during the game's Halloween event.
In addition to adding new ghosts, the update also granted them some new behaviors. This includes allowing them to interact with showers in certain locations, disrupt electronic equipment when visible, blow out lighters as they can candles, be alerted when the player uses a walkie-talkie, and cause them to only make static sounds when near a player.
One of the biggest features in the update is the difficulty rework. The three original difficulties have been rebalanced, while also adding a new Nightmare mode. The Amateur difficulty (the easiest one) features a long setup time and hunt grace period, a short hunt duration, sanity pills restoring a lot of sanity, and if you die, you'll regain half of your lost equipment's value. Intermediate difficulty has a shorter setup time and grace period, longer hunt duration, less sanity gained from sanity pills, and less money gained from your lost equipment if you die. There will also be fewer places to hide. Professional has no setup time, short hunt grace period, long hunt duration, much fewer hiding spots, and the ghosts can even change their preferred room rarely. The new Nightmare difficulty makes things even harder, as the ghosts can now change their preferred rooms more often, sanity pills become almost useless, there are no hiding spots, and some gear will just be busted.
On top of all of this, there are many minor changes added to the game. These include balance changes like increasing the ghost's speed and acceleration when chasing a player, fingerprints disappearing after a minute, ghost sounds now fading out instead of abruptly stopping, and a new randomized weather mechanic that can change temperatures or add fog.
Phasmophobia's new Nightmare update is available now. The game is available on PC through the Steam store. You can check out the full list of what was added to this massive update on their official Steam page.