Hello Everyone!

On the 24th of June (yesterday as of the time I'm writing this) Kinetic Games has released a new major update as the new version 0.13! This update focuses mostly on a rework on the photo system, massively changing how perfect games are achieved, along with a lot of other features that affect speedrunning. You can find the official patch notes here: https://www.kineticgames.co.uk/blog/phasmophobia-chronicle-v013 .

With this update we have decided to introduce a new version "0.13" as a category above "0.9+", meaning as of now all the current categories are back to empty!

There have already been many category resets within 0.9+ (see version "0.9+ archived") as a result from updates that were influential enough to cause specific category resets but small enough to not force the introduction of a new version sub-category. Since this update brings a lot of major gameplay-changing new features, rather than archive only half the categories again, we thought it would be a really good opportunity to finally archive the now almost 2 year old category version 0.9+!

New changes:

• For Perfect% you now only need to achieve a perfect investigation with no additional requirements, previously you would have also needed to take pictures of specific objects (ghost, bone, cursed item).

This change was made because you don't really need any such additional requirements to achieve a perfect investigation and also because the new update allows you many more ways to get a perfect game than previously possible.

• With achieving perfect games now clearly taking way longer than before, we have also adjusted some of the corresponding time limits for a speedrun to actually be considered a "speedrun". Along with the addition of Sunny Meadows Restricted (see "Other recent changes" later in this post), the map size change of Bleasdale and Point Hope to medium and some player feedback, these are now the new time limits:

New max times:

INDIVIDUAL CATEGORIES:

• Small Maps: 5 minutes for Any% & Evidence% runs, 8 minutes for 100% runs and 20 minutes for Perfect% runs.

• Medium Maps: 8 minutes for Any% & Evidence% runs, 10 minutes for 100% runs and 30 minutes for Perfect% runs.

• Large Maps: 10 minutes for Any% and Evidence% runs, 15 minutes for 100% runs and 35 minutes for Perfect% runs.

FULL GAME CATEGORIES:

• Small Maps: 45 minutes for Any% & Evidence% runs, 1 hour for 100% runs and 2 hours 30 minutes for Perfect% runs.
• Launch Maps: 1 hour for Any% & Evidence% runs, 1 hour 15 minutes for 100% runs and 3 hours for Perfect% runs
• All Maps: 1 hour 45 minutes for Any% & Evidence% runs, 2 hours 15 minutes for 100% runs and 6 hours for Perfect% runs.

Since games do become significantly more difficult and time consuming for different difficulties like Nightmare or Insanity, we have also added extra time on top of the limits:

Individual categories:

• All map sizes: + 3 minutes for Nightmare, + 5 minutes for Insanity.

Full game categories:

• Small/Launch Maps: + 15 minutes for Nightmare, + 25 minutes for Insanity, + 30 minutes for No Evidence.
• All Maps: + 30 minutes for Nightmare, + 50 minutes for Insanity, + 1 hour for No Evidence.

These times are all subject to change!! For now, you should view them just as recommendations.

We tried to keep everything as simple and rewarding as possible based on player experiences. Some of the time limits (especially for Perfect%) may be too high or too low, so if you have any feedback please let us know!

In addition to the mentioned additions and changes, there have also been other minor updates that happened to the board recently, listed here:

Other recent changes:

• Introducing: Apocalypse 3 categories! Play the hardest difficulty the game has to offer and try beating it as fast as you can, all while trying to achieve a perfect investigation! Since we don't want to add even more unnecessary empty categories, you can only play the Apocalypse 3 difficulty on the hardest mode available, Perfect%. With the new media update, doing this has become an even bigger challenge than before! For this reason, there are currently no time limits to this category. Enjoy!
• Sunny Meadows Restricted, a smaller version of Sunny Meadows but with very different gameplay, has recently been added as a playable map and as a part of the "All Maps" full game category since it was previously left out (otherwise it wouldn't actually be all maps!). Also, while the layout of the map is random, you only need to play the map once just like any other map.
• We have started to test and apply new timing methods regarding how speedruns are timed for Phasmophobia. There currently is a major issue in regards to speedrunning which is the lag that occurs when loading into any map. You would start a map, load into the truck, float in the air for up to several seconds, and only then be able to move. Previously, the time during this lag period would be added to the final time of the run, giving significant disadvantages to players with longer loading times. Because of this, we have created new timing methods which differ from Singleplayer to Multiplayer:

Singleplayer: The time starts as soon as you're able to move. The first frame would be the first moment after the lag stops (Indication examples: Player movement, journal opening, lighting changes)

Multiplayer: The time starts with the first input (or the first moment if the first input isn't clear) after all the equipment loads in for the first person loading into the truck. If the exact moment is not clear with the given recording(s), the next possible indication prior to the items loading in will be used as the first frame (Indication examples: Key spawning, other players loading in).

While there are still minor inconsistencies involved with this, this method should definitely provide a more fair and hopefully enjoyable experience for future speedruns compared to the previous one.

Finally, as usual, some of the rules were adjusted slightly to either be more up to date or to overall be more clear with their meaning.

If there is anything - feedback, suggestions, critique - I would recommend joining our discord and letting us know there!

Have a great rest of your day and happy running!