Phasmophobia Ascension Update Live, Patch Notes Released

Phasmophobia‘s highly-anticipated Ascension update has finally been released, and players can look forward to a significant amount of new content. Several pieces of equipment have been changed, levels have been reset, and players even have the option of blocking one another. While not nearly as exciting as some of the new content, the update also features a wealth of bug fixes. Developer Kinetic Games had been hyping this update as the “biggest ever,” and it certainly seems like that’s the case! Full patch notes have been added to the game’s page on Steam, and can be found below.

PROGRESSION

A new levelling system has been added, with new rates of progression, new unlocks, and a prestige system.
Forthis system to function, all current players have been reset toPrestige 1, level 1, this way you can continue to play with yourunlocked difficulties and locations. New players will start at Prestige0, level 1.

Warning: Players now found editing their level will be banned.

LEGACY BADGE

Uponlaunching the game for the first time after updating, you will bepresented with a new screen to choose a unique badge with options basedon your pre-update level. Once saved, this is un-editable so choosecarefully!

EQUIPMENT

UPGRADES

Each equipment itemnow has 3 tiers, increasing our Equipment count from 22 to 60! Tierscost a large sum of money to unlock, but each tier will cost the same tobring into a contract.

To upgrade a piece of equipment, reachthe required level, go to the shop and press on any item’s UI tile onthe screen, then hit upgrade!

RENAMING

Severalnames have been replaced to accommodate changes or for the new upgradetiers, so that the word covers a broader spectrum:

• Fingerprints (evidence) -> Ultraviolet
  
• Footsteps (photos and descriptions) -> Footprints
  
• Candles and Lantern -> Firelight
  
• Matchbox and Lighters -> Igniter
  
• Smudge Sticks and Censer -> Incense
  
• Camcorders and Movie Camera -> Video Camera
  
• Glowsticks and UV torches -> UV Light
  
• Sanity Drink, Pills and Shot -> Sanity Medication
  
• Head Mounted Camera, Flashlight and Goggles -> Head Gear
  
• Weak or Strong flashlights -> Flashlight
  

D.O.T.S

Wefelt that DOTS wasn’t a very interactive evidence type, so we’vecompletely refactored it from the ground up. Instead of being a clone ofthe ghost that gets spawned in and revealed with DOTS, the followingwill happen:

• You will no longer get duplicate DOTS ghosts, or DOTS triggering during events, hunts or other interactions
  
• Ghostswith DOTS evidence can now enter a short “DOTS state”; where they aretemporarily visible with infrared light, during this time they willwander towards the nearest player before disappearing (if the player isin the same room)
  
• DOTS Ghost photos now count as normal ghost photos
  

Note: Banshees will try to roam towards their target instead

FIRELIGHTS AND IGNITERS

• You can now turn off Firelights by pressing the Use button again while holding it
  
• Firelightsnow have a duration for their effects, and no longer stop the sanitydrain completely, with different amounts of sanity benefits per tier

PARABOLIC MICROPHONE

• When using a Parabolic microphone, you will now clearly hear all soundsyou are aiming towards, within range, while all other sounds will bemuffled
  

INCENSE

• The interval in which the ghost checks if an Incense is active, is nowmuch smaller, making repelling the ghost much more consistent
  
• Using Incense during another Incense’s effect will now reset the timer instead of doing nothing
  

SALT AND ULTRAVIOLET

• Salt will now only reveal footprints if the ghost has Ultraviolet evidence
  
• UV prints must now be charged by a UV light to take a successful photo
  
• Footprints will be affected by ghost traits similar to Fingerprints
  
• Glowsticks can now be used again after they dim to shake and revitalize the light they produce
  

THERMOMETERS AND TEMPERATURES

• Thermometers are now counted as a starter item alongside the other evidence items
  
• The cold breath effect will now show at 5 degrees Celsius and below.
  
• You must now use a Thermometer to find freezing temperatures at 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) or below
  
• To receive a room temperature reading you must now hold the “Use” button for a short period (Tiers II and III only)
  
• Room temperatures will now be much more consistent between players
  
  • Freezing ghosts can lower the temperature to -10C, non-freezing ghosts can lower to 1C
    
  • Temperatures will now drop at 1/3 the current speed, if the temperature is below the minimum weather temperature
    

TRIPODS AND VIDEO CAMERAS

• Max amount reduced to 4
  
• Ghosts can now throw video cameras like other items
  
• Ghosts can now rarely knock over tripods
  

CONSUMABLES

• Some items are now consumable! This means that if you use an itemduring a contract, marked as “consumable” in the shop, you will have topurchase it again when you leave.
  Disabling “lose items” in Custom Difficulty will not consume items (rewards are still set to 0x)
  • Crucifix: All tiers
    
  • Firelight I and II
    
  • Igniter: All tiers
    
  • Incense I and II
    
  • Salt: All tiers
    
  • Sanity Medication: All tiers
    

PHOTO SYSTEM

• Added a new photo camera system which takes into consideration thedistance and view angle of the evidence. This will significantly changethe quality of photos.
  
• Evidence in photos will now need to be closer and centralized to get a higher quality reward.

REWARD CHANGES

Several rewards have had their values adjusted to feel more rewarding and encourage the completion of objectives

• Rewards for all objectives, tasks and the weekly challenge have been increased drastically
  
• Any experience earned will now give you the same amount in dollars
  
• Rewards for collecting the bone will no longer be affected by the reward multiplier

TRAINING

The Training mission has been replaced with a brand-new experience, to access it press the training button on the main menu.

Thisversion of Training is set in a custom-built warehouse, with differentrooms to show the player how to use each item of Evidence equipment, aswell as give tips and tricks on how to play the game in a controlledenvironment.

GAMEPAD 2.0

• Added gamepad UI button controls for the Journal, voice recognition text and the main menu screen 
• Replaced gamepad UI navigation with a virtual on-screen cursor

BLOCKING PLAYERS

You can now block other players. Blocking another player will keep them permanently muted until you unblock them.

Toblock or unblock a player, press the block button on either theirplayer card or on the recent players page. You can also unblock playersby going to the ‘Blocked Players’ tab in the ‘Pause Menu’.

NEW

• Upgraded the Unity engine for many performance improvements
  
• Swapped from the Forward to Forward+ renderer. With this, turning onmultiple lights should no longer reduce your performance drastically
  
• Added a help (?) button above the equipment list to explain the new icons to the player
  
• Clicking on any Equipment panel in the SHOP or LOADOUT pages will nowopen a new window displaying new information and buttons for Upgrading
  
• A small Tier button has been added to the top left of each equipmentitem in the Shop, which you can click to quickly cycle through unlockedUpgrades
  
• New gameplay Descriptions and Lore notes have been added to all equipment, viewable on the Upgrade screen
  
• You can now set a loadout to Auto-Buy! This will refill any missingitems when finishing a mission, but only you have the money to buy allthe missing items
  
• Added range indicators while placing to all Ghost-Writing Books and Motion Sensor III
  
• Added platform-specific icons to the player cards and recent player’s page
  
• Player voices will now be affected by audio effects such as the Sunny Meadows hallway reverb
  
• Added gamepad UI button controls for the Journal, voice recognition text and the main menu screen
  
• Added a fade to the VR head collision
  
• When the game loads into a map or the main menu it will now always be a smooth fade for VR and NonVR
  
• The ghost will now leave EMF when blowing out a candle
  
• Several equipment items can now be turned on and off by pressing use when aiming at them while they are placed
  
• Added support for the Quest Pro
  
• Added support for the Vive Focus 3
  

CHANGES

The in-game voice system has been replaced with Photon Voice

Replaced and added several new sounds for equipment

Moved the camera view for the Head Mounted Camera so that it’s slightly easier to watch other player’s view

Crucifixes will now have an extra 50% range (per Tier) against Demons

Incense will now have an extra 50% duration (per Tier) against Moroi

Rebaked lighting in all locations, main menu and training

Increased the height of the Equipment List panel in the lobby

Increased the penalty for choosing a Monkey Paw in Custom games

“I wish to see the ghost” will no longer teleport the ghost in front ofyou, instead it will reveal it where the ghost is, in its currentposition

Turning off “Flashlights” in Custom difficulty will now turn off all types of flashlights (DOTS I, UV II etc)

Updated all equipment loadouts for Weekly Challenges to accommodate Tiers, some are harder some are easier!

Reduced the chance for a ghost to interact with a door as it was overpowering other interactions

Moved the Tarot Cards in the Collection cabinet so you can see them all at once on all aspect ratios

Candles found inside contracts can still be lit, but are no longer grabbable and do not provide any sanity-altering effects

The “Take a Ghost photo” objective will no longer count if you take a ghost photo when your journal is already full

Light range has been reduced and will no longer cast shadows to save performance

Improved the performance of the fountain in Sunny Meadows

Removed distortion for VR Parabolic microphone glass

Improved support for new HTC VR headsets

Replaced Turkish font to make it more readable

VR Smooth Monitor View has been renamed to Social Screen Mode

Several candles in the Sunny Meadows chapel have been adjusted

• Light range has been reduced and will no longer cast shadows to save performance
  
• The fallen Candelabras will now start off, and cannot be re-lit

FIXES

Players should no longer reach themaximum light count, resulting in lights not casting any visible lighte.g. basement floor being black / DOTS not showing on walls

The weekly timer will now display the minutes and seconds left when there are less than 24 hours left

Thaye will now have the correct interaction rate

EMF interactions can no longer cause incorrect collisions with objects

Players will no longer change their order between the lobby, truck and journal

Fixed a common crash when initializing VR

You can no longer repel the ghost for another player with an unlimited range (e.g. lighting a smudge in the truck)

Thaye will no longer age when only a dead player is nearby

Thaye will now do fewer ghost events as it ages instead of more

Yokai will now have increased hunt chance and activity for all talking players instead of just the host

Tanglewood basement audio effects will now change when they should

Tanglewood basement room bounds are now accurate

Mare will no longer count keyboards and TV Remotes as light sources

The ghost can no longer get stuck at the back of the Woodwind games tent

The Sunny Meadows camera icons will now show on the correct floor

The setup timer will now be set to 0 after using the Ouija Board

The ghost mist event will now move towards you instead of above you

The Monkey Paw can now be grabbed while the Sunny Meadows Chapel cross is on fire

Items during contracts will no longer break if you are holding an item in the main menu before loading

Numbers in player names will no longer be translated when using Arabic

Several items will no longer push you around while held and you are crouched

Fixed a crash on low-end hardware that caused quality settings to be set too early

Due to the new Voice System, issues with desynced voice chat, voicedelays and poor voice audio quality are now significantly improved

The VR Loading fade will now be completely black

You can no longer walk through the bushes in Willow

Ghosts can no longer spawn / travel to unintended locations in High School

Mimics will no longer always have cold breath if they had previously mimicked a Hantu

Lighting the summoning circle will no longer turn the lights on in the room the ghost was previously in

Moonlight will no longer be visible in the Sunny Meadows basement: Restricted Wing

The Photo Camera can now be detected by the ghost during a hunt when a non-host is holding it

The High Priestess Tarot Card will now correctly work in single player

KNOWN ISSUES

Players sometimes do not leave the lobby correctly and are still visible, causing a bug where you have to restart

Changing your keybindings won’t currently change the sticky notes in the new Training mode

Some shiny surface reflections (such as the truck floor) will flicker on and off when viewed from a particular angle

Enabling MSAA will cause white outlines to appear around certain surfaces

• Workaround: Use FXAA or SMAA
  

VR placement highlight is incorrectly aligned in the truck and belt in most cases (actual placement position is correct)

VR Head gear can be toggled on/off when grabbed

Some equipment and fingerprint photos may be inconsistent

Hopefully the majority of these changes will be for the better! August is shaping up to be a big month for Phasmophobia, as the game’s console versions will also be arriving this month. With August more than halfway over, it shouldn’t be too much longer, but Kinetic Games has not announced a firm release date just yet.

How do you feel about these changes to Phasmophobia? Have you gotten a chance to try out the update yet?Let us know in thecommentsorshare your thoughts directly on Twitterat @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!