Phasmophobia dev knows that you want more small maps, and Nell's Diner certainly delivers

Despite its incredible popularity and being five years into its life-cycle, ghost-hunting horror game Phasmophobia remains in early access, with a full 1.0 roadmap planned for 2026 and beyond. As such, new content is constantly being added, and huge overhaul make everything feel brand-new all over again. I recently got back into Phasmophobia, and it's these changes that have made it feel so fresh.

Map reworks have been among the biggest and most frequent changes to Phasmophobia over the years, as Kinetic Games works to perfect their size for a varying player base. Incredible locations like the prison and the high school are among the most fun, especially for teams, but they're also the most challenging and are nigh impossible for most solo players. At a launch event for brand-new location Nell's Diner, I asked CEO Daniel Knight and art director Corey Dixon about the future of Phasmo's huge maps, and how the team would go about making them more accessible to solo players.

"We definitely understand that people don't play the bigger maps as much," Knight confesses. "Tanglewood is by far the most-played map, which is why [Nell's] Diner is a very similar size. Tanglewood is probably everybody's favorite map because of its size, so we're definitely aiming towards smaller maps."

6 Tanglewood Drive is the smallest and simplest Phasmophobia map in the game. But with one location seeing a much higher rate of play than others, Knight acknowledges that the game risks becoming stale. "We're hoping that Diner is going to become everyone's next favorite map, and we're going to be reworking Tanglewood soon as well. In future maps, as well, we're going to aim towards doing similar kinds of sizes."

Having played it, I can certainly see Nell's Diner becoming the new top map. It's similar in size to Tanglewood with 13 rooms, 11 of which can be ghost rooms, but it's all on one floor - no scary basement or creepy attic. As the first commercial map, it's totally unique, and you can find the ghost anywhere from the comfort of the manager's office to the claustrophobic walk-in freezers. What makes Nell's Diner really fun, however, is its interactivity. Ring the bell at the cash point or throw eggs at your friends while the ghost covers the floor in squirty cream. It might sound like fun and games, but it's still no less terrifying when the lights start to flicker.

But what about the bigger maps that already exist? As a casual, mostly solo player myself, I yearn to be able to play the high school or prison successfully, but tend to find myself returning to Tanglewood time and time again. I ask Knight and Dixon whether more Restricted maps could be an option, following in the footsteps of Sunny Meadows Restricted, the smaller version of Sunny Meadows Asylum.

"For the bigger maps, so the school and prison, we're planning to rework them as well as the house maps," Knight confirms. "We're considering making them smaller as well, as we do understand that people don't want to play these enormous maps. That's why we added the restricted version of Sunny Meadows."

"There's certainly a balance to be had," Dixon continues. "There are also people who only play the big maps because they want that exploration. Nothing beats going to high school, and there are 70 or 80 rooms. You know, going down to the hallways and really trying to find the ghost, and that's part of the game.

"We're aware that some people don't like that as well, so there's definitely a balance to be had. I think we're kind of narrowing in on that and getting it right. To mirror what you said, if and when the reworks come, then we'll definitely look into the opportunity of doing restricted versions because we can now; we've got the functionality."

Knight summarizes, "Restricted versions are the best way to get smaller map players into the bigger maps."

With any luck, then, Restricted versions could be on the way for both High School and Prison, and, hopefully, a few more large maps will be introduced despite the focus on smaller locations. The team certainly isn't short on ideas, both from their own minds and the community's.

"There's plenty of opportunities to do cool stuff," muses Dixon. "The amount of threads you see online, people suggest stuff all the time. You can see the hype building around people's ideas, so we're definitely not short of ideas. We've got plenty."

Including, potentially, collaborations? I end with some wishful thinking and ask whether we could see Fazbear's Pizza, Haddonfield, or Camp Crystal Lake in the future. "Yeah, it's definitely a possibility," says Knight, hopefully. "It's hard to say right now if we'll do that. I think it'd be really cool, and the players would be really happy."