Video Games
13 Willow Street Map Rework for ‘Phasmophobia’ Available Today [Trailer]
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.
After taking the demo offline last month for their occult wild west hack n’ slasher The Dark West for some performance issue tweaking, developer Black Hand has relaunched the demo onto Steam. And, as a way to make amends, the team is hosting a giveaway whereby two lucky winners will receive a key for the game when it launches into Early Access.
“We want to thank you all for your support, especially everyone who participated in our internal playtest and helped ensure the demo ran smoothly across a wide variety of PC configurations,” explains the team in a new update on Steam. “To celebrate, we’re hosting a giveaway on our official Discord server, where two lucky winners will receive a key for the game when it launches in Early Access. To participate, complete the demo and post a screenshot in the designated channel. Submit your entry by July 27th.”
Set in a cursed frontier where faith clashes with damnation and once-living towns collapse into nightmares, The Dark West is a gritty action RPG shaped by greed, black magic, and the belief that power always comes at a price. The land bears the curse of people who got too greedy, and paid the price for what they were willing to do for it.
Two sides have risen from the ruin. The Order speaks of justice and wears it like armor, unwilling to see the rot growing among its own. Meanwhile, The Damned are already claimed by black magic, cursed and unapologetic about what it has made of them. The real danger is not what waits in the dark, but who’s standing behind you when the killing begins.
Players will choose characters shaped by difficult pasts, where violence settles most questions, and the rest are answered by choices that haunt your soul. In keeping with the Wild West theme, alcohol will give you strength, but at the obvious cost of dulling your senses, requiring you to weigh your options in battle.