Gaining popularity in the shadows, co-operative ghost-hunting game Phasmophobia has netted over 200,000 reviews and an Overwhelmingly Positive score on Steam. The developers aren’t resting on their spooky laurels, though. The game has recently been updated with new difficulty settings, balancing, and ghost behavior that’s sure to make things even scarier. Here’s everything new in the latest Phasmophobia update.

Ghosts have seen some major changes over the past few updates. Evolving from somewhat predictable spooks, they gained the ability to open doors, blow out lit candles, and even turn around corners while listening for your voice. As if that weren't enough, developer Kinetic Games has decided to buff ghosts once again.

The biggest change relates to how ghosts act during the start of a hunt. Ghosts will no longer be able to move during the starting phase of each hunt, which has been cut down to five seconds from eight. This should help prevent confusion as to when the dangerous part of the hunt actually begins, and offers a brief moment to flee.

Once the ghost is unleashed? Don't expect things to get any easier. All ghosts except for Revenants will now steadily increase their speed if they see you during a hunt. The only way to slow them down is to break line of sight, and for them to be unable to find you at your last known location.

Speaking of your last known hiding spot, ghosts are far more likely to find you there. They now have a chance to slightly open both doors of a closet at the same time during a hunt. If that’s your go-to escape, you may need to rethink it. Ghosts have also gained a 50% chance of remembering where they saw you during the previous hunt. If they do, they’ll search that area in the next, meaning that strategies will need to be reworked with each new round.

Ghosts have also cleaned out their ears a bit, and if they hear you talking inside a locker or closet they will now fully open both of the closet or locker doors on the second attempt — even if you’re holding them shut. It's not all bad news though. Players can now use furniture to block the line of sight between them and the ghosts, providing plenty of new opportunities to hide.

Smaller changes targeting certain maps that needed balancing have also been introduced into the game: Player icons have been increased on the truck map on Asylum, allowing for easier location of team mates; optimizations for the Prison and School maps have significantly improved load times and fps; some minor lighting changes on the Bleasdale map should boost performance for most players; and the Garage room in Tanglewood has been slightly reworked to prevent exploits that some players had been abusing.

As for balancing, ghosts will now have to wait five seconds between each hunt attempt after using a crucifix. This, along with the changes to furniture, should help players take on the newly beefed-up ghosts.

While ghosts have received some serious buffs this time around, it won't be long before players get some goodies of their own. Multiple updates are planned for Phasmophobia, each carrying with them a number of additions.

Three new maps are currently in the works: an apartment building, a mansion, and another small house. Not much is known about these new levels except for the fact the small house will roughly match the size of Tanglewood. Eventually, every map will also have a random chance of a weather event occurring, potentially adding a new layer of spookiness to the game.

Quality of life improvements are also in development for Phasmophobia. Players can expect to have some sort of long-term stat-tracking menu available in the future. This will keep track of information such as the number of ghosts discovered, times caught, and more. A new leveling system that scales the experience gained per level will also accompany the menu’s addition.

That’s all the information we’ve got on the latest Phasmophobia update, but if you want a sneak peek at everything that's planned for Phasmophobia, check out Kinetic Games' public Trello.

Nicolas Perez is a journalist who has played way too much Civilization 5. He's rambling on Twitter @Nic_Perez_.