Disclaimer and small rant: I already shared what I thought earlier when I streamed today. I deleted my streams, and I had planned to share them here. But here is what I think people need to know and understand about me. Lest you forget, I am 50. I have been gaming since the late 80s. I have basically seen gaming go through all stages, technology advancing, etc. It is extremely rare for me to see a game go backwards in quality. Also, this is the reason why I hardly talk and get uncomfortable. Because people never like what I have to say. I will always be critical, and I am a pessimist. There are only so many times a person says they will do something, but words mean nothing to me. Actions are what matter.
With that being said, let’s dissect Kinetic’s blog post!
A lot of it doesn’t make sense to me, and it reads like word salad. And as I predicted, streamers/content creators are creating content while “excited,” yet they’re not currently in the game. EVERYONE IS ON MECCHA CHAMELEON. Phasmo Partners have been on other games for the past week. One Phasmo partner (not naming any names on streamers, but you may figure out who I’m talking about) in their weekly Phasmo stream was playing old Phasmo “because the update was broken,” even one streamer I watch regularly had a well-deserved crashout on it, being nearly 50 days of broken Phasmo since the horrendous and disastrous animation update. I have hardly been streaming it (I’ve been on 7 Days to Die recently and absolutely loving it)
But ok, back to Kinetic’s blog post!
“We are sorry it’s taken a while to respond, but we wanted to make sure that when we did, we had something of substance for you.”
They promised they would be more communicative. They haven’t posted anything on socials since May 12, for the Alan Wake 2 event. thats 43 days. That is anything but being more communicative. That’s
“The rework of 13 Willow Street will launch July 21st, 2026 alongside a Quality of Life update.”
so we have to wait 4 weeks for a fix. so basically 2 months with no fixes but we’re supposed to be happy about a reworked map?!?
“A further Quality of Life update will launch in August 2026.”
so another month wait to fix more bugs…
“Phasmophobia’s new Roadmap, which can be seen below, focuses on bringing the game back in-line with our vision and one that we hope reignites your passion for it.”
thats the thing, isnt it? Its your vision, of course understood. but why are you taking player feedback into account now? Why did someone post in the Kinetic discord say to paraphrase “the community are basically testers so its up to us to report the bugs” Why are you unable to revert or at least let us choose which version to play??
Phasmophobia first announced their roadmap for 2026 on January 29. I live streamed the event. I remember being quite happy and excited. but a lot has happened since then and now I am indifferent.
/
But now, with this updated roadmap to fix the animations, some things have been pushed back. understandable, Behaviour did this with Dead by Daylight with the Walking Dead fiasco, and that embarrassing event with Chandler Riggs. They pushed some things back to fix bugs.
But here’s the thing. Gamers/streamers/content creators will give devs/games shit when things go wrong, and when you see an announcement or broadcast, they lose their complete shit. Just like when I saw clips of streamers reacting to news during DBD 10th anniversary announcements (holy shit, some were way too over the top), and it’s the same thing here, the updated roadmap was barely announced, and people had their “breakdown” videos ready. Phasmo partners are trying to tease their communities about what’s coming, trying to get us excited. But here’s the thing: WHY ARE YOU TELLING US THIS WHILE PLAYING ANOTHER GAME?!?
Anyway, I can understand 1.0 and the new map being delayed to next year. That’s fine. Don’t care, honestly. Just fix the game. Forget new content, fix the game, then introduce new things.
And honestly, if the game had never had the animation update, I would be excited about the reworked maps. But now? again I’m indifferent, but I digress
The July Quality of Life Update
can’t really say anything here since no patch notes, but there are some interesting changes:
“FOV adjustments for held items to increase item visibility.”
they did this last update but hopefully this is improved.
“Moving the Truck closer to map entrances on Prison and Brownstone High School.”
This would be great for the Prison map, but honestly both of these maps need a rework. i know eventually all maps will get a rework and may ppl dont like playing these maps (I hate the high school map, i dont mind the prison map, i think ppl think you have to check all the cells you dont)
“Restricted map variants for Point Hope, Brownstone High School and Prison.”
a streamer i watch regularly pointed this out, which i missed and this would be good. now I honestly dont get the hate for point hope but a restricted version of high school map is much needed.
“Equipment switching animation speed increasesincluding making opening and closing the journal almost instant.”
the amount of times i have died and i cant even get to the journal and circle the ghost…
i have barely made any money since this update
“Improvements to photo detection as well as showing an indicator for what you are taking a photo of, similar to video cameras.”
i do like this though honestly i think its unneccessary but hey whatever
“We’re not going to stay quiet though. Beginning in 2027 we’ll be bringing you with us during development through regular streams and other means; showcasing our work, sharing some of the secrets of Phasmophobia 1.0 and much more.”
why wait 6 months to be more communicative, again? It is nearly the end of June. we still have 6 more months of the year. communication is talking more not less
New ghost models and New look for patient 7
yes this is good news but again just fix the game and i can be excited about graphical changes/improvements.
“Another aspect of 1.0 we want to reveal today is the introduction of Conduits. Replacing the Bone as a collectable during each contract, these are unique items paired with a particular ghost model.”
so theyre trying to be like The Other Side?
“This Unity 6 update will provide some crucial stability updates as well as a brand new lighting system for Phasmophobia.”
I have Phasmo on PS5 as well as PC. It is so dark on PC. on PS5 I see just fine. I do hope the lighting is improved. the problem is so bad streamers make videos on “this is how i take my games from this to this. I’ll walk you through my settings” Gatekeeping them like a well guarded secret. *eye roll*
“Our second Player Character update will arrive in November, bringing with it brand new customisation options and cosmetics, an improved Shop UI as well as new animations and graphical improvements for our character models in-game, giving each character much more life and personality than is currently available.”
The Other Side has 2 people working on it and much more customization options than i ever expected. I think they are studying their competition which is good. games need a competitor it is healthy for QoL.
“Elsewhere, we’ll see the return of Crimson Eye and Winter’s Jest (sans leaderboards)…”
FINALLY! This is the news i’m most happy about. as i was saying on stream (and i said most of this on stream but again i deleted streams I am not in a great headspace) the leaderboards are useless. its the same streamer thats always first and all he does is goes in house initiates hunt dies gets out, gets points. its BS. im glad for no more leaderboards, all it is, is for people to advertise their twitch channels
“Finally, we’re also planning one extra content update for the game later in 2026 that’ll bring with it changes to our Weekly Challenges ,new Voice Recognition features…”
I see they may be keeping an eye on “Give us a Sign” that is heavily marketed for their voice recognition gameplay. Coincidence? LOL
Final Thoughts
Overall, and not to sound like a broken record, I would be happy if the game wasnt broken. but these are just words. As a streamer that I saw earlier today said, to paraphrase, July 21, is make or break for this game. I know people are excited. but where you excited yesterday? Did you even play the game yesterday? This week??
Its easy for someone to say they promise things will change. But when do you geet tired of words that you just want to hear? No more empty promises. hopefully this time Kinetic delivers.
