Is Phantom Shapes family friendly? A parent's guide
Phantom Shapes is a funny, spooky game with no blood or gore. It is made for players 13 and older. Here is what a parent or older sibling should know before a game night, written by me, the developer.
How scary is it?
It is a horror-comedy. The maps are dark buildings after closing time with spooky lighting, but never pitch black. The Phantom is a ghost that hides a cursed shape and protects it. There is no blood and no gore.
The scariest part is a Hunt. After a short warning, the Phantom shows itself in a scarier Hunt form and chases the Workers for up to 40 seconds. If it catches a Worker, a tentacle grabs their ankle and the Phantom swallows them, then sinks into a red rift. The caught Worker watches the rest of the round as a spectator. The Hunt and the catch are made to make you jump, so younger teens may want to watch a round first.
Who can play with whom?
- The game is for players 13 and older. Quick Play and public rooms can put you with strangers.
- Private rooms are for people you know. One person hosts, the others join with a Steam invite or a room code. The host can also lock the room once everyone is in. For younger teens, this is the way to play.
- Training is a practice round against bots, with no other people at all.
Chat and voice safety
- Chat is always filtered. Swear words keep their first letter and the rest is hidden. Slurs are fully hidden. The Filter bad words setting, on by default, also cleans player names and the room list.
- Voice starts muted. The game asks once if you want voice on. If you do not turn it on, you join every room muted. Press M to mute or unmute.
- Mute other players. You can mute any player's voice, and Settings has Mute strangers for public rooms.
- Streamer mode is in Settings, on the GAMEPLAY tab. It hides room codes on screen, masks swears and links fully and shows other players as Player 1, Player 2 and so on.
- Voice is proximity voice, so you hear the players near you in the map, not the whole room at once.
What gets recorded
This is the part I want parents to know about. The Phantom has a tool called the Echo Mimic that replays short clips of what Workers said, from a spot on the map, to fool the other Workers. Clips stay in memory, never leave the match and are deleted when the round ends. A red microphone icon shows while recording, and you can turn it off at any time.
The end-of-round replay can also play back what players said. To keep your voice out of it, turn off Include my voice in replays in Settings, on the VOICE tab. The Phantom Echo page explains it in full.
Is it pay to win? Are there loot boxes?
No. All 19 tools are free from the first game. Tokens are earned only by playing. There is no real money in the game, no premium currency and no loot boxes. Tokens only buy looks and emotes. See Levels, Tokens and Shop.
A good first game night
- Make a private room and share the code only with your family.
- Try a training round first. The game picks the Phantom each round, so everyone should know both sides.
- Keep the first rounds short. The host sets the times at the Round Console, and Quick is 1:30 to hide and 3:00 to search.
- Read How to play with friends for rooms and invites.
The full rules for chat, voice and data are in the Community Guidelines and the Privacy Notice.