Yokai

Yokai
Strength	Talking near it will temporarily increase the hunting threshold and interaction rate
Weakness(es)	When hunting, it can only hear voices and detect electronics within a short range
Evidence

„Yokai are common ghosts that are attracted to human voices. They can usually be found haunting family homes.”

—The Journal

Yokai is a type of ghost in Phasmophobia. It is sensitive to voices, and becomes more aggressive while players are speaking nearby, which allows it to start a hunt even at high sanity levels. At the same time, while it is hunting, the radius in which it can hear players is much smaller compared to the other ghost types.

Behaviour

Activity

Utilizing voice chat near the Yokai at any sanity will increase its rate of activity.

When a Music Box is used, the Yokai must be closer to the box (within 2.5 metres instead of 5) for it to trigger the ghost event and eventual cursed hunt.

Hunt

When at least one player uses voice chat in the same room as the Yokai, its hunt sanity threshold is temporarily increased to 80%. Otherwise, it has the standard threshold of 50%.

During hunts, a Yokai can only hear players or sense handheld active electronics that are within 2.5 meters of it. Its line-of-sight is unaffected.

Evidence

• Spirit Box
• Ghost Orb
• D.O.T.S Projector

Strengths and weaknesses

These are the strengths and weaknesses as listed in the journal:

Strength: Talking near a Yokai will anger it, increasing the chance of an attack.

Weakness: When hunting, a Yokai can only hear voices close to it.

Strategies

The Yokai is identifiable through two distinctive traits: it will hunt more often when players are together and talking near it, but its ability to detect hidden players during a hunt through voice or electronics will be limited. For example, it will be less likely to follow the player past multiple line-of-sight breaks, and will not be attracted to held electronics unless the Yokai is already very close to the holder.

Although its 80% hunt threshold is theoretically the highest in the game, even greater than that of the Demon (outside of its hunt ability) and the youngest Thaye, in practice, these extremely early hunts are rare. The Yokai does not have any additional buffs (and is in fact weaker) when hunting, so escaping it will be generally easier.

To test for a Yokai during a hunt, stand at a distance close enough to where the ghost is currently at that is outside of the ghost's immediate line of sight, preferably near a hiding spot, and then turn on an electronic device and/or begin speaking in voice chat. If the ghost does not seek out the player making this noise, especially if it causes disruption of the device and then passes by instead of homing in, then it is likely a Yokai. Note that the electronic disruption range is a little bit greater than the actual range in which most ghosts will actually sense the held device. Care should be taken to not mistake the Yokai's limited hearing and electronics detection sense with the Banshee ignoring players other than its target (if they are inside the investigation area) during a hunt, especially on Nightmare as both these ghosts share two evidence.

The Monkey Paw's wish to unblock a hiding spot will cause the ghost to be able to hear the speech and held electronics of the player who used it from any distance, overriding the Yokai's weakness. This may make trying to test a Yokai from its trait much more difficult, and when playing singleplayer, outright impossible.

In multiplayer, the Yokai becomes mildly more dangerous, as there are more players that could be talking near the Yokai at any given moment, and thus can elevate its hunt sanity threshold more often. Where possible, less experienced players should ideally keep voice communications as short as possible until the ghost room is found. Otherwise, completing objectives can be made easier by encouraging the Yokai to hunt through talking.

Trivia

• In Japanese Folklore, Yokai (妖怪, or "strange apparition") is a term broadly encompassing unexplained phenomenons, supernatural apparitions or spirits, which can take a wide variety of forms going from animals to inanimate objects.

History

Early Access
0.29.6	Added Yokai.
0.3.0	Prior to 0.3.0, the evidence was Spirit Box, Ghost Orb, and Ghost Writing.
0.5.0	Talking near the Yokai will now increase its activity.