Phasmophobia community raises over $230,000 for American Heart Association in record-breaking Ghost Hunts for Hearts campaign! The Phasmophobia community has demonstrated that ghost hunting can make a difference beyond the virtual world, raising more than $230,000 for the American Heart Association through the hugely successful Ghost Hunts for Hearts 2026 charity campaign. Developer Kinetic Games has confirmed that this year's fundraising event more than doubled the $100,000+ raised in 2025, marking another major milestone for the popular cooperative horror game and its dedicated community. Running from 26 October to 2 November 2026, the week-long campaign brought together more than 500 streamers, setting a new participation record for a creator fundraising campaign supported by Heart Liive, an American Heart Association initiative. The event combined livestreamed paranormal investigations, community fundraising and exclusive in-game rewards, encouraging players and viewers worldwide to support an important cause. More than 500 Phasmophobia streamers unite for charity! This year's Ghost Hunts for Hearts campaign represented a significant step forward for Kinetic Games and the wider Phasmophobia community. Organised with support from Heart Liive, the initiative encouraged content creators to turn their ghost-hunting livestreams into fundraising opportunities, allowing audiences to contribute directly to the American Heart Association's mission of improving cardiovascular health and saving lives. Throughout the campaign, participating streamers explored Phasmophobia's haunted environments, investigated supernatural activity and entertained their communities while raising money. The response exceeded expectations, with over 500 streamers registering to participate. According to Kinetic Games, this represented the largest number of creators ever involved in a Heart Liive fundraising campaign. The impressive turnout also highlighted the growing role of gaming communities in charitable fundraising, demonstrating how livestreaming platforms can bring thousands of viewers together around a shared cause. Phasmophobia players unlock exclusive Twitch Drop rewards! To celebrate the campaign and encourage participation, Kinetic Games introduced a special Ghost Hunts for Hearts Twitch Drop. Viewers watching eligible fundraising streams throughout the event could unlock the exclusive Advocate ID Card and Badge, allowing them to show their support for the campaign inside Phasmophobia. The rewards provided an additional incentive for players to discover participating content creators, engage with the charity initiative and support the fundraising efforts. However, the developer had another surprise planned. At the beginning of the campaign on 26 October, Kinetic Games announced an ambitious fundraising target of $200,000. If the community reached the milestone, every Phasmophobia player would unlock an animated version of the Advocate ID Card and Badge set. With the final fundraising total surpassing $230,000, the community successfully achieved the target, unlocking the animated cosmetic rewards for all players. The achievement added another celebratory moment to an already successful campaign, rewarding the collective efforts of streamers, viewers and players. Kinetic Games celebrates record-breaking fundraising achievement! Following the announcement, Kinetic Games praised the dedication and generosity of the Phasmophobia community. "The Phasmophobia community never fails to amaze us, and this year they've outdone themselves. Doubling last year's total and seeing more than 500 streamers come together for a cause that matters is incredible. Thank you to every streamer, viewer and player who took part, and to our friends at Heart Liive for helping make it happen." The campaign's success reflects the strength of the relationship between the developer and its player base, which has continued to support Phasmophobia since the game's early access launch in September 2020. What exploded in popularity as a cooperative ghost-hunting experience has developed into a global gaming community, with charity initiatives such as Ghost Hunts for Hearts providing opportunities for players to come together beyond the game's usual supernatural investigations. American Heart Association praises gaming community's support! The American Heart Association also celebrated the campaign's success, highlighting the potential of gaming and content creation to support charitable causes. Heart Liive works with creators and their audiences to raise funds and awareness for the organisation's mission, helping turn online communities into powerful fundraising networks. Hayli Baez, Senior National Lead for Heart Liive, said: "Ghost Hunts for Hearts shows what's possible when content creation meets cause. We're grateful to Kinetic Games and every creator, viewer and player who raised lifesaving funds and supported the American Heart Association's mission to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives." The $230,000+ raised during the 2026 campaign represents a substantial increase over the previous year's total and establishes a new benchmark for future Ghost Hunts for Hearts events. What is Phasmophobia? Developed by Southampton-based Kinetic Games, Phasmophobia is a cooperative psychological horror game that challenges teams of up to four players to investigate paranormal activity across a variety of haunted locations. Players use specialist ghost-hunting equipment, including EMF readers, spirit boxes and other investigative tools, to gather supernatural evidence and identify the entities haunting each environment. Since launching into early access in September 2020, the game has attracted millions of players worldwide, becoming a recognisable title within the multiplayer horror genre. Its combination of unpredictable ghost encounters, atmospheric environments and cooperative gameplay has also made it particularly popular among livestreamers and content creators. The success of Ghost Hunts for Hearts demonstrates how that same community spirit can extend beyond gameplay, bringing players together to support causes that make a difference in the real world. A new milestone for Ghost Hunts for Hearts. With more than $230,000 raised, over 500 participating streamers and the campaign's $200,000 fundraising goal surpassed, Ghost Hunts for Hearts 2026 has become a landmark event for Kinetic Games and Heart Liive. The fundraising achievement also shows how gaming communities can transform their passion for entertainment into meaningful charitable action. For the Phasmophobia community, this year's ghost hunts delivered something even more rewarding than identifying a supernatural entity: an opportunity to help support lifesaving work. Players can find out more about the game through the official Phasmophobia website and learn more about the charity's work through the American Heart Association.

Phasmophobia gets Quality of Life Part 2 on Steam. Kinetic Games released Phasmophobia's Quality of Life Part 2 on Steam on August 25, 2026, with smaller map variants and Journal, VR and evidence changes. Quality Of Life Restricted Maps Vr Evidence Tools Kinetic Games released Phasmophobia v0.19.0.0, Quality of Life Part 2, on Steam on August 25, 2026. Kinetic Games had announced August 25, 2026, for all platforms, but exact platform release times were still to be confirmed. The update adds smaller-area Restricted variants for Prison, Brownstone High School and Point Hope, alongside evidence, Journal, Custom Difficulty, VR, Spirit Box, death-feedback and map-entry changes. The official notes also say that a Custom Difficulty with a 0 multiplier no longer contributes to progress such as achievements and leaflets. Kinetic Games describes Restricted variants as smaller-area options intended to enable quicker games in larger locations. Point Hope Restricted is classed as a Small map and limits access to the Dining Room. Prison Restricted is classed as Small, while Brownstone High School Restricted is classed as Medium and is randomly assigned when a contract loads. Brownstone High School has four Restricted variants, with environmental decoration outside each variant identifying which version loaded. Video Cameras, Photo Cameras and Sound Recorders now indicate when captured evidence is a duplicate. Tier 1 Photo Cameras use a yellow LED for duplicate evidence, while Tier 2 and 3 Photo Cameras and all Video Camera tiers use faded text or an overlay. Tier 1 Sound Recorders dim their volume indicators, while Tier 2 and 3 Sound Recorders display faded sound waves for duplicate evidence. The multiplayer Journal now displays other players' Evidence and Ghost Type selections. The Journal's Keys section has been replaced by Items Gamers has Found, which records keys, the bone and seasonal event collectibles in discovery order. The Journal adds male-or-female icons beside Ghost names and highlights the Evidence required by a selected Ghost Type. Custom Difficulty investigations can now specify a Ghost Type, and doing so sets the difficulty multiplier to 0. These Restricted layouts give larger locations a smaller investigation footprint, while Brownstone's four variants add a random map choice within the same site. The duplicate markers reduce the chance of treating a repeated camera or recorder capture as new evidence. Shared Journal selections reduce the need for multiplayer teams to cross-check each player's evidence and Ghost Type choices. The item page also turns keys, the bone and seasonal collectibles into a discovery-order record rather than a standalone Keys list. Selecting a Ghost Type can make a Custom Difficulty investigation more targeted, but its 0 multiplier removes progress toward achievements and leaflets. The update replaces the VR character rig across all platforms to target more responsive movement, better arm-length accuracy and improved character-model visuals when playing with VR users. Players using Text Voice Recognition Mode can interact with a Spirit Box without holding it. Dead players and their bodies now appear with greyer skin and misty eyes, including to other players while the player is dead. Voice chat now cuts out when the death animation reaches the death moment rather than when the animation ends. Unique video-evidence text was added for shower and fuse-box interactions. The Truck was moved closer to the main entrance on Brownstone High School and Prison. The VR changes are aimed at making body movement and other players' character models easier to read, while the death changes make the death moment and a dead teammate's state clearer. The Spirit Box and evidence-text changes address small interaction and identification ambiguities during a contract. Moving the Truck closer to the main entrance changes the entry logistics specifically on Brownstone High School and Prison. The official Steam patch notes still list several Restricted-map issues: low Ghost interaction counts at the Prison entrance, players getting caught on a Brownstone classroom chair, and placeable Equipment becoming lost on some new-map blockades. Further unresolved issues affect localized Video Camera text, persistent highlighted Evidence, Journal readability with FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0, and inaccessible Bone or Fusebox spawns. VR issues include Head Gear falling off, blank VR character profile pictures in lobbies, and distorted ragdolls after death with Immersive Animations enabled. The cited official notes list these remaining issues but provide no follow-up fix date. The Steam post confirms the Steam release, but the available sources do not confirm whether PlayStation and Xbox received the update at exactly the same time. The official material leaves both the console rollout timing and the schedule for fixes to these issues unspecified. No official source in the ledger quantifies performance, load-time or disconnect-rate improvements. How Part 2 follows the July Quality of Life update. On July 21, 2026, v0.18.0.0 launched the reworked 13 Willow Street alongside the first Quality of Life update for 2026. The 13 Willow Street rework retained the original layout while adding a visual overhaul, new assets and props, repurposed rooms and edited room flow. The July Quality of Life update paired the 13 Willow Street rework with the first half of the 2026 rollout. That July Quality of Life update already introduced evidence and VR changes including separate EMF Level 5 photos, camera evidence-priority behavior, improved evidence detection and VR character improvements. Kinetic Games said the Quality of Life work was split into two updates because of the volume of planned fixes, changes and new features; the first was the larger July release and the second was planned for August.