Video Games
‘Baptiste’ Kickstarter Campaign Begins Today
While not quite the summer launch Firenut Games and Digital Dreams were anticipating, off the heels of an appearance at The Horror Game Awards Halloween Showcase earlier this week, the Kickstarter for Baptiste is off and running today. Already set to launch early next year, the team is looking to raise €5,000 over the next month in order to deliver an “even better and more polished version of the game.”
And, as a extra cool bonus, the team has revealed two exclusive posters as part of the Kickstarter launch, which you can view below.
With the additional funds, the goal is to add more content to Baptiste that “will be valuable for players and make sense for the game without making it grow too much in scope, so that it won’t affect the development schedule and allow us to deliver a quality product on time.”
Beyond the initial funding goal, Firenut plans on including additional skins and a speedrun mode for Baptiste should they hit those respective stretch goals.
The campaign is offering plenty of physical and digital rewards for those who back a certain amount. That includes the physical Collector’s Edition for the PlayStation 5, which includes a physical copy of Baptiste, the Serenity Ville Journal, a postcard from Rebeca, a Baptiste coin, an USB-Cassette with the OST, a Faustus Daninsky A3 poster, all in a Collector’s Box.
Backers will also be included in the game credits, plus be given a link to download the game’s OST, a digital Artbook, and a set of HD Wallpapers for your PC and mobile devices.
Baptiste centers around Sara and her son, Tom, who arrive at a remote mansion seeking a fresh start, but sanctuary quickly becomes a nightmare, testing their sanity and will to survive. Explore decaying rooms, twisting corridors, and hidden chambers in a first-person experience where the mansion reacts to your actions. Shadows conceal dangers, and every object and document reveals the dark history and rituals that doomed the family.
Your sanity is fragile: linger in darkness too long, and the supernatural phenomena intensify. Use light, observation, and clever item use to survive. Solve puzzles, uncover hidden messages, and make choices that shape the story: confront the darkness, protect Tom, or risk everything.
At the heart of the mansion lies a glass cabinet holding Baptiste, an unsettling doll sealed with a single warning: “Never release this from its glass prison.”
Baptiste is currently in development for release on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and the Nintendo Switch 2. Extended Kickstarter plans include releases for the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch.
Kinetic Games has followed through with the 13 Willow Street map rework for Phasmophobia today, which is free across all platforms. Accompanying the map rework is the first of two major quality-of-life updates bringing hundreds of bug fixes and helping refine the gameplay experience.
Ghost hunters can prepare for a refreshed investigation experience with the reworked Willow map, adding a host of new paranormal interactions, objects, and hiding spaces. As with the most recent overhaul to 6 Tanglewood Drive, Willow retains an almost identical layout but features redesigned rooms, including a reconfigured basement layout, bringing the gameplay experience up to the team’s current development standards.
The reworked rooms include an art studio, home gym and entertainment room, replacing the bedroom, garage and basement previously featured in the haunted house. Alongside these visual updates, curious players will be able to uncover new lore hidden throughout Willow, piecing together a story waiting to be discovered.
“As part of the 13 Willow Street rework we’re continuing our approach to storytelling in Phasmophobia and developing the game’s narrative,” said Anastatia Dukakis, Senior Narrative Designer at Kinetic Games. “It’s always exciting to see the community make new discoveries together and we love seeing everyone share their theories and thoughts on the lore behind in-game locations.”
Players will also be tasked to correctly identify (and survive) 50 ghosts as part of map’s challenge, awarding the Sun Seeker ID set upon completion. Players can also unlock the Cool Cat ID card and badge for the first week after launch, by watching 2 hours of Phasmophobia streams.
Meanwhile, the major update accompanying the map rework is inspired by community feedback following the Player Character Update, and reflects Kinetic Games’ ongoing commitment to delivering the level of quality players expect before Phasmophobia leaves Early Access.
The update introduces a range of changes helping to refine the gameplay experience with refreshed animations allowing for smoother and quicker movements, and changes to evidence collection for a more seamless experience, and ghost hunters might also face a new presence lurking in the shadows…
New keybinds have also been added with players now able to use 1,2,3 and 4 for changing inventory slots alongside wider accessibility tweaks. For an overview of all the fixes landing in-game, you can check out the blog post here.
Phasmophobia is available in Early Access on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2, and the Xbox Series.
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