In Update #3 today Phasmophobia received a slew of bug fixes and optimizations including changes to correct issues around voice chat, voice recognition, and VR support, as well as the new inclusion of LIV mixed reality support.
One of the coolest features in Phasmophobia is the voice recognition. While playing, you can talk out loud to the ghost to try and elicit a response in the Spirit Box or anger it to spark activity like moving objects or flickering lights. Using in-game voice chat instead of Discord adds to the immersion because it increases the chance of the ghost responding any time you speak to your teammates. The proximity chat works well and the radio on your shoulder is used for long-range communication.
That is, it works well when it works. Previously there were lots of issues with voice recognition such as the mic resetting in the options inexplicably, claiming it can hear you when it actually can’t, and the mute toggle not working.
Phasmophobia debuted on Steam on September 18th and despite only being on Steam for about 12 days it still ranked in the top 20 new releases for sales. That’s pretty impressive!
Native Oculus Quest support is also listed as a far off future development goal, so fingers crossed there.
Phasmophobia Early Access Update #3
Here is a list of all changes made to the way voice is handled, which should improve and fix most issues:
- Fixed a bug where the microphone would reset in the audio options each game.
- Upgraded the server code to PUN2. This should fix most timeout disconnects and all voice chat issues.
- Fixed a bug where changing the voice language wouldn’t change the voice recognition language.
- Fixed a bug where dead players couldn’t use voice chat.
- Fixed a bug where dead players were able to use the walkie talkie.
- Fixed a bug where VR Toggle mute was set to hold and not toggle.
- Added a voice sensitivity slider in the audio options.
- If your voice recognition is working you can no longer get a response on the Spirit Box just by talking, it will now only answer if you asked a question.
- If your voice recognition stops working the Spirit Box will default to giving a random response by talking.
There is also mention of new “additions for Halloween” but it’s unclear what that means exactly. The Twitter account is teasing a ghost that “knocks” perhaps in reference to trick-or-treating.
We haven’t tested these fixes yet, but based on issues we’ve had with voice recognition during Early Access so far this sounds like a big improvement. Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
