Spirit Mirror (Tier III, $3,000)
Salt Sprayer (Utility)
The genius of v0.174 lay not in what it gave the player, but in what it withheld. Modern Phasmophobia (as of 2024-2025) is a robust, complex piece of software with progression systems, customizable difficulties, and a laundry list of evidence-gathering tools. v0.174 had none of that. Instead, it had a thermometer, a photo camera, a spirit box, an EMF reader, and a profound sense of amateurish desperation.
Crucially, the player’s movement was sluggish, the sprint was laughably short, and doors had a physics weight that felt almost malevolent. There was no “sanity” tutorial; you learned that your flashlight flickered because you stood in the dark too long, not because of a UI warning. The lack of hand-holding created a unique epistemological horror: you were never sure if a mechanic was broken or if the ghost was actively manipulating you. When the lights cut out and the front door slammed shut behind you in v0.174, it wasn’t a scripted event—it was the result of a systemic interaction between your sanity stat and the ghost’s hunting threshold. That unpredictability was terrifying.
v0.174 addressed a major complaint: Ghost Events (apparitions, singing, airballs) were too rare compared to Hunts. The devs rebalanced the Favor Curve.
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. Phasmophobia v0.174
After months of stability patches and smaller content drops, v0.174 restores the anxiety and unpredictability that made early Phasmophobia so memorable. The Echo is a masterclass in audio horror, the Snowblind weather changes map flow completely, and the AI tweaks reward game knowledge over raw hiding.
Rating: 9.2/10 – Minus 0.8 for the Spirit Mirror crash bug, but the rest is pure ghost-hunting gold.
Are you ready to whisper into the dark again?
Patch v0.174 is live now on the "Unstable" beta branch.
Phasmophobia version v0.174 was a minor update released in late September 2020 that introduced several core mechanics still recognizable in the game today, particularly concerning survival items and ghost interactions.
The most detailed resource for this specific version's changes is the 0.174 Phasmophobia Wiki entry. Key Gameplay Changes in v0.174 Spirit Mirror (Tier III, $3,000)
Crucifix Rework: The Crucifix was limited to a maximum of 2 uses, preventing it from being an infinite safety net.
Smudge Stick Overhaul: Smudge Sticks were changed so they no longer immediately end a ghost's hunting phase. Instead, they now provide a delayed use that stops the ghost from targeting a player for a short duration, effectively creating a window to hide.
Sanity Indicators: New visual cues were added where lights flicker if your sanity is low. Notably, these flickers are client-side, meaning only the player with low sanity can see them.
Ghost Interaction: The ghost's interaction range was significantly increased for larger maps like School and Asylum to ensure players didn't feel safe in large, empty hallways.
Inventory UI: Added text to the inventory screen showing the maximum amount of items you can add to the truck. Bug Fixes and Optimization Salt Sprayer (Utility)
Connection Stability: The update included a significant rewrite of server and voice server code to address frequent client timeouts and voice disconnects.
VR Improvements: Fixed issues where VR players were unable to grab objects on the ground or while they were dead.
Economy Tweaks: Lowered the monetary reward for certain photos and reduced the volume of the truck radio and main menu audio.
For broader gameplay tips that were relevant during this era of the game, you can refer to the Phasmophobia Information Library on Reddit, which covers early-game mechanics like crucifix ranges and ghost interaction triggers.
Published by: The Asylum Observer
Date: Retrospective Analysis
Category: Patch Notes Deep Dive
In the ever-evolving landscape of cooperative horror gaming, few titles have demonstrated the dedication to community-driven refinement as Kinetic Games’ Phasmophobia. While major version numbers (like the progression overhaul of v0.9 or the horror 2.0 updates) steal the headlines, veteran ghost hunters know that the foundation of the modern game was laid in the forgotten trenches of the Early Access build: Phasmophobia v0.174.
Released quietly in the winter of 2020, v0.174 did not introduce a new ghost type or a flashy map. Instead, it addressed the three pillars of the ghost hunting experience: communication fidelity, equipment meta-shifts, and the dreaded "Desync" loop. To understand modern Phasmophobia, one must understand the crucible of v0.174.