Welcome back, Ghost Hunters. We’ve got some news for you.
Today, we’re pulling back the curtain (just a little) on some of the updates coming to Phasmophobia in 2026. Next year is looking to be one of the biggest in the game’s history as we build towards launching Phasmophobia 1.0, bring the game to Nintendo Switch 2 and continue to evolve and iterate on the game. Reaching that 1.0 milestone will be a huge moment for not only for the game, but Kinetic Games and of course you, the community.
We hope you look forward to everything we have in store.
In this Development Preview, we’ll be looking at the Player Character Update, our Tanglewood Rework as well sharing a little on what Phasmophobia 1.0 will look like.
Originally, we shared that our Player Character Update would be launching in 2025. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to meet that date – but for good reason. As we saw with Chronicle earlier this year, giving the update more breathing room to evolve pays off. So while there’s a little longer to wait, we’re excited to share that we’ll be launching the Player Character Update in Q1 2026.
Of course, one of the biggest features of this update is the ability to customize your Ghost Hunter in-game with free cosmetics and different looks, however a major other part of this update is an overhaul of the player’s character itself and we wanted to focus on that today.
We’ve created brand new character models, improved animations and fine-tuned how it feels to play Phasmophobia. Our overall aim is to create the most immersive experience we can, and we believe our current player character models and animations can snap (pun intended) you out of the game with a disjointed arm there, a bendy back here. With these changes, our characters will move with more realism and present a more life-like experience for players. This update is a key part of our road to Phasmophobia 1.0, creating the most immersive experience possible - but more on that later!
Below are two screenshots showcasing our new character models that players will be able to use from the moment the update drops. As you can see, our new models present a huge leap in quality over the current in-game ones.
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[/carousel]The other feature we wanted to highlight in today’s preview is our new animation and player movement systems that will be making their way to Phasmophobia as part of this update.
A few examples of these new animations and movements are:
- Opening and closing doors with hands.
- Equipment swapping
- Picking up/dropping/placing equipment
- Injecting Tier 3 Sanity Medication
We’ll detail the update in more depth as we get closer to it’s launch, so stay tuned.
Launching alongside the Player Character Update will be our reworked version of 6 Tanglewood Drive.
We know that the news of us reworking Tanglewood was met with a bit of trepidation but we hope that seeing the work we did with both Bleasdale and Grafton Farmhouse has reassured that these reworks are all about levelling-up the location, rather than changing anything too drastically.
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[/carousel]When reworking Tanglewood, we wanted to make sure it provided a similar experience to the one Ghost Hunters know and love to this day while still feeling fresh and exciting. To that end, while the map layout remains very similar to what you can play in game today, the rework will feature a host of new interactions, a few small layout changes and more.
For those Ghost Hunters who fancy piecing a story together? A mystery lies behind 6 Tanglewood Drive that’s just waiting to be uncovered.
Both the reworked 6 Tanglewood Drive and our Player Character Update will be launching early next year, so stay tuned for more details on both as we get closer to their release.
While there’s plenty more up our sleeves for Phasmophobia in 2026, it’s all ultimately leading to what will be the biggest moment since we launched the game in Early Access in 2020 – Phasmophobia 1.0.
Our aim with the 1.0 launch is to be able to, as a team, look at Phasmophobia after many years of updating, iterating and evolving and know we’ve fulfilled our vision for the game. Previous updates such as Chronicle and the upcoming Player Character Update, have all gone a long way to creating the true immersive experience we know Phasmophobia is and will continue to be.
And yes, that includes what was previously known as Horror 2.0.
Our horror update will be the meatiest part of the 1.0 release and will give even the most seasoned Ghost Hunter a host of new scares and surprises. While we aren’t going to share too many details on it as we want that 1.0 release to feel as fresh and exciting as the original release did, keep an eye out for a few details throughout the year.
Phasmophobia 1.0 will launch in 2026 for all players, across all available platforms at the same time.
We can’t wait to share all of this and more with you next year, Ghost Hunters. As always, stay tuned to our social channels and Discord server for the latest news and updates on all things Phasmophobia.
Happy Holidays, and happy huntin’.
Thanks,
Kinetic Games Team
As you continue your investigations in Phasmophobia, if you encounter bugs, issues or simply have feedback for our team, please use the dedicated channels in the official Phasmophobia Discord.
