Next to its effective scares, Phasmophobia is a game known for its janky player characters and animations. For some, these rough edges, like the remarkably silly way player-characters move through the world, have been more like a feature than a bug. Kinetic Games has recognized that some players like the jank, but has always maintained its plans to buff out these rough edges, and has today revealed the forthcoming update that will do exactly that.
On May 5, Phasmophobia will get a free patch that the team is calling the Player Character Update, which will bring with it several changes to what investigator avatars look like, but perhaps even more dramatically, how they move and interact with their haunted locales.
The update will finally populate the in-game shop, which has been visibly empty in the safehouse’s computer for a long time. Players will be able to choose from one of 12 base character models, then customize their features like clothing, hair color, and “much more,” according to the studio. More cosmetic options will arrive in the game over time, and in the week following the patch, players can grab the High Priestess t-shirt via Twitch Drops.
While the team hasn’t yet revealed the complete patch notes, it’s hinted in a blog post that animations are being addressed in this patch as Phasmophobia continues to march toward its 1.0 version, saying, “With the Player Character Update, we’ll be introducing new character animations as well as some changes to the overall gameplay experience such as the removal of the death room and the way you interact with both the environment and your chosen equipment during an investigation.”
Back when Phasmophobia first came to consoles in October of 2024, Kinetic Games’ Corey Dixon told me, “We definitely plan to remove [the animation jank]. It’s obviously funny and makes the game more light-hearted, but we are trying to push it more in the [direction of] a serious horror game, and the fun comes from you laughing with your friends getting scared because you’re all scared together. A lot of stuff like that is just a limitation of how the game was originally made. You know, [original solo dev Daniel Knight] is a programmer, not an artist. He did an absolutely slamming job, to be fair. But yeah, some stuff does need to be changed.”
While some players will mourn the loss of the investigator’s incredibly bendy backs, it’s all part of the plan as the team continues on toward its 1.0 version, which is meant to coincide with a major “Horror 2.0” update that will retool many of the game’s scariest bits.