Phasmophobia Difficulty and Custom Difficulty Guide
Scope: Difficulty statements in official patch notes from October 2021 to October 2026 and the Steam store description; each rule is dated because later patches may have changed it, and per-difficulty numbers such as setup time in seconds are not published in these notes
Key points
- The Steam page lists 5 default difficulties; patch notes name them Amateur, Intermediate, Professional, Nightmare and Insanity, plus a weekly Challenge mode.
- Custom Difficulty ties every option to a reward multiplier; a February 2023 patch set the maximum reward at 15x.
- Since August 2026 you can pick the ghost type in a custom game, but that sets the multiplier to 0, and 0-multiplier games no longer count towards achievements or leaflets.
- As of the June 2024 notes, the Apocalypse challenge on Sunny Meadows asks for a multiplier of 6, 10 or 15 for Bronze, Silver and Gold.
On this page
- What are the default difficulties in Phasmophobia?
- When do Phasmophobia's harder modes unlock?
- How does Custom Difficulty work in Phasmophobia?
- How do Phasmophobia reward multipliers work?
- What does the Apocalypse challenge require?
- What are Phasmophobia's weekly challenges?
- Which Phasmophobia difficulty should you start on?
- Sources
- Related guides
Phasmophobia has five default difficulties, a weekly Challenge mode and a Custom Difficulty where every setting moves your reward multiplier. Patch notes name the defaults Amateur, Intermediate, Professional, Nightmare and Insanity and, per February 2023 notes, cap custom rewards at 15x. Since August 2026, choosing the ghost type yourself drops the multiplier to 0, and such games earn no progress.
What are the default difficulties in Phasmophobia?
The Steam store page advertises "5 default difficulties and hand crafted weekly challenges". The developer's own descriptions of four of them come from the difficulty overhaul in the Nightmare update of October 2021. The fifth, Insanity, arrived in February 2023.
| Difficulty | Developer's label | Traits listed in the patch notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amateur | "Recommended for new Ghost Hunters!" | Long setup time, long hunt grace period, short hunt duration, sanity pills restore a lot, regain half of your lost equipment's value if you die |
| Intermediate | "The standard Ghost Huntin' experience" | Average setup time, grace period and hunt duration; fuse box starts off; fewer places to hide; regain some equipment value on death |
| Professional | "For experienced Ghost hunters" | No setup time, short grace period, long hunts, fuse box starts off, much fewer hiding places, the ghost can very rarely change its preferred room |
| Nightmare | "A new difficulty for the top ghost hunters" | "Ghosts will not reveal one type of evidence"; shortest grace period; kills extend the current hunt; almost no hiding places; some monitoring equipment damaged |
| Insanity | "For the best investigators" | "More information can be found in-game on the difficulty selection screen." |
Those are the developer's words from 2021 and 2023, not a readout of the current Phasmophobia build. The notes never give the underlying numbers, such as setup time in seconds or the exact sanity restored, so this page does not print any. A July 2026 fix that mentions "the setup timer" on "Amateur/Intermediate" shows the setup phase still exists on those two modes.
When do Phasmophobia's harder modes unlock?
Two unlock levels appear in Phasmophobia patch notes, both a little old:
- Nightmare: "Nightmare difficulty now unlocks at level 30 instead of level 29" (December 2023).
- Custom: "Custom difficulty will now properly unlock at level 50 instead of level 1" (a fix in the October 2024 notes).
A search of the full official Steam feed for Intermediate, Professional and Insanity turns up no unlock level for any of them. If you are still learning the basics, the how to play guide lists other level gates.
How does Custom Difficulty work in Phasmophobia?
It was added in the Apocalypse update of September 2022 with this pitch: "Modify existing difficulties or create your own, come up with crazy challenges or just have fun." The key sentence follows: "Each option is tied to a reward multiplier, so you can still earn money and XP from your Custom games."
The launch notes list the options in three groups, which match the Player, Ghost and Contract tabs in the official screenshot above.
| Group | Options listed at launch (2022) |
|---|---|
| Player | Sanity Pill restoration amount; starting sanity; sanity drain speed multiplier; sprinting use allowance; sprint recharge time; sprint duration; flashlights being broken; losing items on death; player speed multiplier |
| Ghost | Number of evidence given; chance of changing favorite room; interaction amount; event frequency; hunt duration; grace period duration; fingerprint chance; fingerprint duration; disable hunts; kills extending hunts; roaming frequency; ghost speed multiplier |
| Contract | Setup time; weather; number of doors starting open; amount of hiding places; sanity monitor state; activity monitor state; fuse box map visibility; fuse box starting state; Cursed Possessions quantity; Cursed Possession choice(s) |
The list has shifted since as Phasmophobia was rebalanced. In February 2023 sprint duration and recharge were removed as options and sprint became Off, On or Infinite; in June 2024 "Interaction amount" was renamed "Activity level". The pieces added later are easier to pin down:
- Presets. "You can save up to 3 Custom Difficulty presets in the main menu" (2022), and since June 2025 "Players can now rename their custom difficulties."
- Lobby browser. Other players "can now see the Difficulty (or multiplier if using a custom difficulty) of a lobby" (June 2025).
- Ghost choice. v0.19.0.0 "Added the ability to select the Ghost Type in a Custom Difficulty which will set the multiplier to 0." The preview says to look in the Ghost settings when setting up your game.
How do Phasmophobia reward multipliers work?
The rules below are the ones Phasmophobia's developer has written down. Each is dated, because the balance has been revised more than once.
| Rule | Source and date |
|---|---|
| "The maximum reward value possible is now 15x" | Tempest v0.8.1.0, February 2023 |
| "Evidence Given" soft caps the multiplier: 3 Evidence at 4x, 2 Evidence at 5x; rewards above the cap add only 50% of their value | Same notes |
| Option pairs that cancel each other out reduce rewards and show "a yellow warning icon" | Same notes |
| Identify the ghost correctly and escape alive to "double the money and experience you earn for the primary and secondary objectives" | Tempest v0.8.0.0, December 2022 |
| "Investigation bonuses are affected by the difficulty multiplier!" | Same notes |
| Turning off "lose items" means consumables are not used up, but "rewards are still set to 0x" | Ascension v0.9.0.0, August 2023 |
| A 0 multiplier "will no longer contribute towards any progress, such as achievements and leaflets" | v0.19.0.0, August 2026 |
The examples of cancelling pairs in the 2023 notes are worth reading before you build a farm setup: "0 starting sanity with sanity pills 25% or higher", "Faster ghosts but player unlimited sprint" and "Broken Fuse Box but Flashlights: On".
The Monkey Paw also reads your multiplier. Per the same notes you get 5 wishes at 0x to 1.9x rewards, 4 wishes at 2x to 2.9x, and 3 wishes at 3x or higher.
The 0x rule is the one that catches Phasmophobia players out. A September 2026 fix closed a gap where "several achievements" could still complete at a multiplier of 0, so do not count on test lobbies for the achievements list. Whether seasonal event points follow the same rule is not confirmed; see the note on our Crimson Eye page.
What does the Apocalypse challenge require?
It is Phasmophobia's long-running custom challenge on Sunny Meadows. The wording has changed over time, so here are the three official versions side by side.
| Date | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Task wording |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2022 | 15x or more | 20x or more | 24x or more | "In Single-player, complete all 4 objectives and get a ghost photo in Sunny Meadows Mental Institution" |
| February 2023 | 6x+ | 10x+ | 15x | Requirements "adjusted" when the reward cap dropped |
| June 2024 | 6 or higher | 10 or higher | 15 | "Correctly identify the ghost, take a ghost photo and complete all objectives on Sunny Meadows" |
In July 2026, v0.18.0.0 loosened one part: "You can now capture any Media for the Apocalypse challenge, instead of only a photo." The 2024 badge text no longer says single-player. In January 2023 the developer blocked completing it "in multiplayer mode while solo or after other players leave"; whether multiplayer runs count today has not been restated, so check the leaflet on the Event Board. On Steam, the three trophies map to Bronze Hunter (1.5% of players), Silver Hunter (1.3%) and Gold Hunter (1.3%), read on October 10, 2026.
What are Phasmophobia's weekly challenges?
A separate mode added alongside Insanity in February 2023: "A new weekly rotational difficulty has been added. Each week a different challenge will be available offering unique modes ranging from Intermediate to Insanity and beyond." The notes list its terms:
- 26 challenges were added, and each is available twice a year.
- "A challenge-specific loadout will be provided automatically, for free".
- "Completing the challenge 3 times on the specified map will grant a large money and XP bonus".
- "You will lose nothing if you fail or die".
That last line makes the weekly the cheapest place to practise harder rule sets. The June 2026 roadmap says a later content update will bring "changes to our Weekly Challenges", with no detail yet; the 2026 patch notes page will carry it when it lands.
Which Phasmophobia difficulty should you start on?
Our suggestion, not a rule: take the developer's label at face value and start on Amateur, then move to Intermediate once you can finish contracts without leaning on the long setup time. In December 2022 the developer wrote that "the large majority of players still play Intermediate and Professional", so those two were the most-played modes at the time.
Leave Custom for later unless you want a private Phasmophobia practice room. A 0x custom game is a fine sandbox for learning one ghost, as long as you remember that Phasmophobia now treats it as exactly that: a 0x reward multiplier and no progress towards achievements or leaflets.
Sources
The mechanics and numbers in this guide come from the material below. Open the original pages to check them yourself.
- S001 Steam store page store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S002 Nightmare update www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S003 Apocalypse update www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S004 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S005 store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S006 store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S007 store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S008 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S009 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S010 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S011 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S012 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S013 steamcommunity.com steamcommunity.com Accessed
- S014 api.steampowered.com api.steampowered.com Accessed
- S015 store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com Accessed
- S016 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S017 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S018 www.kineticgames.co.uk www.kineticgames.co.uk Accessed
- S019 store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com Accessed
Related guides
How to Play Phasmophobia: A 2026 Beginner's Guide
How to play Phasmophobia in 2026: what a contract is, the Training mission, default keys, photo, video and sound limits, dying, and level gates.
v0.19.1.0All 54 Phasmophobia Achievements and Unlock Rates
All 54 Phasmophobia Steam achievements with the exact requirement text and global unlock rates, the six with hidden text, and why 0x custom games do not count.
v0.19.1.0Phasmophobia Patch Notes 2026: v0.16 to v0.19.1.0
Phasmophobia patch notes for 2026 in one timeline: v0.19.1.0, both Quality of Life updates, the Player Character Update, map reworks and the Deildegast.
v0.19.1.0
