The visual fidelity of the game also sees a slight bump in this version. Texture streaming has been optimized to reduce load times, a change that is particularly noticeable when moving between the lobby and the investigation site. This optimization is crucial for maintaining the immersion that Phasmophobia is known for, as long loading screens often break the tension built up during the briefing.
: Smudge Sticks lost the ability to magically stop an active hunting phase. Instead, burning them introduced a delayed use effect that broke the ghost’s targeting line-of-sight for a brief window. This change turned Smudge Sticks into a last-second tool to buy hiding time rather than a get-out-of-jail-free card.
: Resolved several spots in the Asylum where ghosts frequently got stuck, making hunts more consistent. Phasmophobia v0.174
Phasmophobia v0.174 — patch notes summary
To appreciate the patch, we must revisit the chaos of late 2020. Prior to v0.174, the game was a wild west of cheese strategies. Players used global push-to-talk to scream names from the safety of the truck. The Parabolic Microphone was considered a meme item. Most critically, the Van (Truck) was a static hub—a safe room where sanity drained at a glacial pace, and players could hide indefinitely. The visual fidelity of the game also sees
As of April 2026, Phasmophobia v0.174 represents a refined stage of the game's ongoing "Horror Engine" overhaul, focusing on deep immersion and technical stability.
The v0.174 patch focuses heavily on technical optimization, bug fixes, and subtle quality-of-life improvements that enhance the horror atmosphere without breaking the game's core loop. For veteran investigators and newcomers alike, understanding the nuances of this version is key to surviving professional-grade hunts. : Smudge Sticks lost the ability to magically
: The baseline volume for both the main menu audio and the truck radio was reduced, protecting players' ears between intense matches.
The “ghost in the van” glitch—where a Revenant would spawn inside the starting truck—turned the supposed safe zone into a death trap, creating a viral legend of no place being sacred. The broken door physics that allowed a player to survive a hunt by wedging themselves behind a refrigerator became a shared survival tactic, a secret language passed between players in Discord calls. These bugs did not break immersion; they deepened it. They reinforced the game’s central thesis: you are not in control. You are an amateur with cheap equipment in a hostile environment where the rules are not fully known, even to the developers.
This made the game feel scarier without increasing the actual hunt frequency. You saw the ghost more often, but died less frequently—a psychological masterstroke.