As Kinetic explains in a new Steam post, the team has now revised its early access roadmap for 2022 and beyond to “more accurately represents what we achieved this year, and what we plan to do moving forwards” following a longer-than-expected development period for Phasmophobia’s VR rework, which eventually arrived in April. Kinetic has released some smaller updates since then to keep players appropriately terrified but it’s all go in September with the advent of Phasmophobia’s Custom Difficulty update, which the developers says is “a big one”. Alongside the rather self-explanatory flagship addition, the Custom Difficulty update will also introduce the new Sunny Meadows map, a replacement for the existing Asylum map with a more condensed layout. That’ll be joined by a new report system, two additions currently only listed as ‘redacted’, and “much more”. Phasmophobia’s Custom Difficulty update will be followed by the URP Upgrade update in Q4 this year, promising a variety of features originally planned for the now-delayed Progression update - including a “huge” weather effects overhaul, new volumetric lighting, optimisation, and another of those pesky ‘redacted’s. As for the Progression update, that’s now expected to arrive in multiple parts across 2023. Kinetic calls this “the biggest programming and art overhaul that Phasmophobia will ever receive, with many systems, models, and animations getting completely reworked or created from scratch”. It’ll be released in smaller chunks - alongside the likes of customisation, new equipment, and equipment upgrades - so players can “experience new things slowly over time, instead of having to wait six or more months for one massive patch”. And that’s still not everything planned for 2023! Next year will also see the introduction of Horror 2.0, which Kinetic says is the “last part of Phasmophobia that needs reworking”. This will replace all ghost models and add new effects, events, sounds, and interactions “to scare you out of your skin”. Those eagerly awaiting more new and reworked locations shouldn’t panic about their limited appearance on the roadmap, either. These will be developed alongside other features and will be released either on their own or as part of other updates once complete. “Development doesn’t always go exactly to plan,” Kinetic notes in its post, “so in this new roadmap, we’re allowing a bit of extra room for things going wrong. If things go well, that just means we can be ahead of schedule and push updates earlier.”
