Dodo Stays Here! Vini's Leaving!!
If you had to name the first multiplayer horror game that comes to mind, it would probably be Ghost Phobia.
The premise is simple enough. Players take on the role of ghost hunters who, upon hearing that a spirit has appeared in a private residence, must figure out exactly what kind of ghost they're dealing with.
They call themselves hunters, which makes it sound like they can actually catch the thing — but catching it is impossible. The "hunting" here just means tracking it down.
Anyway, I had a few reasons for picking this game, and the biggest one was that even though it's a horror title, the scare factor isn't actually that high.
Sure, the ghosts look a little creepy and unsettling, but they're not aggressively terrifying. Play long enough and you get used to them.
Not that Lee Yebin seemed to appreciate this carefully considerate choice of mine.
"Anyway, so today Vini and I are playing Ghost Phobia."
"Yeah, we'll probably start on Beginner. Once we get reasonably comfortable, I'll bump it up to Intermediate or Expert."
For reference, the game has six main difficulty tiers: Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, Nightmare, Insanity, and Apocalypse.
Naturally, the difficulty skyrockets the further down the list you go, so if I was bringing Lee Yebin along, starting on Beginner was the only sane option.
"We've gotta get her used to the game first before we can do anything else."
"Hey. If we go Apocalypse difficulty, I'm the one who's gonna cry. Not her. Me. Because it's that hard."
"Yeah, even I can admit this is gonna be a me-suffering content stream. Ugh, this is so unfair."
Honestly, even that I could write off as good entertainment for the stream, so I was willing to let it slide.
While I bantered back and forth with chat, waiting around, Lee Yebin finished running through the basic tutorial.
"I'm back!"
"Cool. What ghost did you get?"
"A Spirit! The most basic one!"
"Perfect. Let's jump straight into Beginner difficulty, then."
"Okaaay~"
Lee Yebin joined the lobby I'd set up with a confident, self-assured grin, like she had this completely under control.
And her username was Pretty Vini. Absolute clownery.
"Look at this ridiculous nickname."
"Hey, what! I'm pretty enough for it, okay?"
"I've said this a thousand times — if you're pretty, then I'm at least actor-level handsome."
"Ugh, shut up."
"You started it."
Bicker, bicker. Same as always. And the chat reacted exactly the way you'd expect.
"Every single one of you who said 'couple fight' can go die."
I slapped one-minute timeouts on all of them, and only then did we actually start the game.
Oh, and one more thing.
"Mics off. Use the in-game voice chat, got it?"
"Okaaay~"
This game is way more fun with the in-game mic. The ghosts actually react to what you say.
The starter equipment loadout includes an EMF detector, a flashlight, a camera, a UV light, a video camera, a spirit box, and a journal.
Of those, the most important item is hands-down the EMF detector.
It picks up ghost activity nearby and climbs from level 1 all the way up to level 5, letting you figure out which room the ghost is in. So I handed the EMF detector to Lee Yebin first.
"Here. You take this."
"M… me?"
"Yeah. What, you want me to hold it?"
"Wouldn't it be better if you held it? I don't think I can make the right calls."
"Nah, just take it. It's Beginner difficulty. You really think you're gonna die?"
At least through Beginner and Intermediate, as long as you play it by the book and stay safe, you won't die. Push your luck and you might — but just don't do that.
"Since it's Beginner, the power should already be connected, so either of us can grab a flashlight… I'll take the camera and the UV light. You hold the spirit box and the journal."
The journal, by the way, is basically a note-taking tool that lets you cross-reference the evidence you've gathered and figure out which ghost you're dealing with.
"You don't need the journal?"
"I've got most of it memorized."
I'd crammed the ghost traits as hard as I could before the stream started. At this level, I wouldn't need it.
"Hmm… okay, got it. Let's go, then."
"Alright. Heading out~"
With prep done, we stepped into the house where we needed to find the ghost.
Since we were on Beginner difficulty and only had the default equipment, the pool of possible ghosts was pretty limited. High odds we'd get something newbie-friendly like a Spirit or a Shade — maybe a Phantom or a Wraith.
Personally, I was hoping for a Shade. Compared to the more grotesque-looking ones, it's relatively tame.
"If the EMF hits level 4 or higher in any room, tell me. Got it?"
"Got it…."
Except she was already trembling the second we started.
Watching Lee Yebin shake like a leaf was equal parts ridiculous and expected, but I figured she'd at least do something, so I started searching for ghost traces with my own gear.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Thud… thud… thud…
Where my footsteps were perfectly normal, Lee Yebin's gait was already a nervous, shaky mess.
"Ugh… uuuugh… just… come out already…."
She kept the EMF detector on, muttering for anything to show up, and then—
Crash!
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Lee Yebin's scream tore through my headset.
"Hey, my eardrums. What is it."
"S-something, something fell…!"
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"I… it showed up…! Level 4…! It hit level 4 tooooo…!"
"Hey, hang on a sec."
I flipped on the light in the room she'd been in and started with a lecture.
"Turn the lights on whenever you can. If you hang around in the dark, your sanity drops and you get hunted."
"Ugh… o-okay…."
"And if it hit level 4 and something fell…."
Click!
I snapped a photo with the camera I was holding.
"Taking a picture of this earns money too."
"How… how are you this calm, you psychopath…."
Psychopath? There aren't many people in this world as kind and gentle as me.
As a little punishment, I gave her an order I knew she'd hate.
"Stay in that room. I want to see if it climbs any higher."
"Hey… heyyy…! You can't just leave me here alone…!"
"Then go look for evidence yourself."
"I… I'd rather look for evidence…!"
"Suit yourself."
With that, I handed her my flashlight and UV light, and took the EMF detector and spirit box from her in return.
Alright. First, set up a camera here….
"Ahem. Give us a sign."
I delivered the line "Give us a sign" with the best English pronunciation I could manage.
Those compliments were a little embarrassing, but I had to do it — it was a required step for the spirit box check.
The moment I said the line, the spirit box lit up. More precisely, the ghost icon on the spirit box lit up.
A response on the spirit box meant spirit box evidence was confirmed. So among the ghosts that use the spirit box, and ones where the EMF detector doesn't climb all the way to level 5….
High probability this was a Phantom. We were on Beginner difficulty, and Yebin had no play history, so the game almost certainly wouldn't throw a hard ghost at us. That basically locked it in as a Phantom.
And sure enough, Lee Yebin's energetic voice came through. Well — energetic was generous. It was more like completely unhinged.
"Hey hey hey hey hey! I found something!"
"What."
"UV traces!"
"Where."
"Up here on the second floor…!"
I followed her to the evidence, snapped a photo of the traces, and that sealed it.
This was a Phantom.
Was there any reason to stick around?
Hmm… ah. I just had a great idea.
"Hey, Lee Yebin."
"What, what is it… what do you want…!"
She was way more spooked than usual. Which only made me want to mess with her more.
"Wanna take a photo?"
"A… a photo…?"
"Yeah. A photo."
I started leading her around the house. The longer we wandered, the more both of our sanity meters drained, and I waited for that window — for a ghost event to trigger.
And then….
Knock knock knock.
"EEKYAAAAAAAH!!"
Something knocked on the door.
"Bingo."
Click!
I deliberately chased after the Phantom that had come right up to us, knocked on the door, and left — then confirmed it with the camera.
Yep. Phantom confirmed. And it even triggered a manifestation event at the perfect timing. Almost too convenient.
Alright. Now….
"Hey, Vini."
"What what what…."
"Over there. Go take a photo of that."
"A… a photo whyyy…."
"Just hurry up and do it. Stop whining."
"You bastard…."
She grumbled, but she took the camera without putting up a real fight, lined up the shot on the Phantom's location, and—
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
The second she saw the Phantom's face, she screamed and bolted straight outside.
Yes. Outside. As in, she ran out of the house entirely.
Her reaction was funny, but also… not that fun? Hmm….
…… Wait. She just kept going?
Vrooom~
"Hey, hey Vini you crazy bi—!!!"
"Dodo stays here! Vini's leaviiiing!!!"
Ghost Phobia has a setup where you arrive at the location by truck. Which means if a teammate is still inside the house when someone drives the truck away….
The teammate left behind is marked as dead. No exceptions. Alive or not — dead.
CRUNCH!!
"AAAAAAAH!! HEYYYY! YOU ABSOLUTE PSYCHO LUNATIC!!!"
I yanked off my headset on the spot, marched over to Lee Yebin's house, and rang the doorbell. Her dad opened the door.
"Gyeong-ah, hey there~"
"Hello, sir. Lee Yebin's inside, right?"
"She is~ Streaming, too?"
"I'm just gonna step in for a second."
"Sure thing~"
With her dad's help, I got the door open, and—
Thud!
—found myself face-to-face with Lee Yebin bracing the door shut with everything she had.
But here's something she needed to understand.
I'm a guy. And the only reason she ever wins against me is because I let her.
Creeeeak…!
"Hey, hey wait, wait wait wait…! I'm sorry, I'm sorryyyy!"
"Leaving me behind is actually insane, you know that!?"
"I said I'm sorryyyy! AAAAAAH!!"
For the record, after all that chaos, I did manage to extract an apology out of her.
"I'm sorry. I was wrong…."
"Don't ever do that again, you bonehead."
"I'm not a bonehead."
"Ah-ah. Talking back."
"Hmph."
Hmph? What kind of "hmph" is that. Who do you think you're being cute for.
