Daniel Knight, developer of the critically acclaimed psychological horror game Phasmophobia, reveals that a quest in CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 was responsible for restarting development on the title after the project had been nearly abandoned. Launched in 2020, Phasmophobia has since sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful horror games of all time.
Since launch, Knight's genre-defining co-op horror game has remained in early access, receiving consistent support from developer Kinetic Games. In fact, Phasmophobia's last major update, Chronicle, was released in June, reworking multiple core systems.
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PostsIn an interview with Eurogamer, Phasmophobia developer Daniel Knight credited a side quest in The Witcher 3, titled "Devil by the Well," for giving him some much-needed inspiration on how to proceed with his game. According to Knight, playing through this ghost-hunting tutorial quest in The Witcher 3 was key to giving him the idea of introducing ghost-types, perfecting the core gameplay loop of Phasmophobia. Knight explained that he had almost given up on developing the project at the time, given that it was his very first game as a solo developer with no guarantee of success. Though passionate about making a ghost hunting game to play with friends, Knight was on the verge of calling it quits when CDPR's fantasy RPG motivated him to try once more.
A Witcher 3 Side Quest Inspired Phasmophobia
CloseDevil by the Well is one of the very first contracts in The Witcher 3, serving mainly as a tutorial on using the Yrden sign and Geralt's Witcher senses. The contract asks the Witcher to hunt down a "phantom" haunting a well in an abandoned village near White Orchard. However, the quest giver is unable to give any details about this monster. Geralt reasons that the only way he can fight against this mysterious creature is by first understanding what it is and investigating its origins.
Using his Witcher senses to examine clues, he manages to find out the true nature of the beast (a noonwraith), allowing him to figure out how to exorcise it once and for all. Knight mentions that the investigative element in this quest, piecing together clues to figure out the best course of action, is what allowed him to come up with the hook for Phasmophobia.
Fans hoping for more paranormal investigations with friends can look forward to Phasmophobia's Horror 2.0 release, which will finally bring the title out of early access. Knight promises that in Horror 2.0, "everything is going to be changing." Details about this update have been kept deliberately vague to avoid spoilers, but it has been confirmed that it will release sometime in 2026.
