How to complete Hide and Seek: Extreme challenge in Phasmophobia

If you’re looking for a fun way to mix up your Phasmophobia gameplay, attempting a weekly challenge like Hide and Seek: Extreme is one of the best ways to not only try something new, but also test how strong your ghost-hunting skills truly are.

Some weekly challenges are fairly easy to tackle, while others can be quite difficult. This is one of the toughest trials you can face, so here’s what you’ll need to know to complete the Hide and Seek: Extreme challenge in Phasmophobia.

What is the Hide and Seek: Extreme challenge in Phasmophobia?

The Hide and Seek: Extreme challenge is one of Phasmophobia’s weekly themed challenges you can complete for $5,000 cash and 5,000 experience. It’s part of the Hide and Seek series that also includes Hide and Seek: Hide! and Hide and Seek: Seeker.

Hide and Seek: Extreme Phasmophobia challenge rules

Like most weekly challenges, Hide and Seek: Extreme has a unique set of rules you’ll want to know about before attempting this challenge.

• This challenge must be completed at Camp Woodwind.
• You must correctly identify the ghost type three different times.
• Your sanity starts at zero.
• The grace setup period before the ghost can begin hunting you is one minute.
• All the screens in the truck are working.
• The fuse box is accessible and starts on.
• The ghost speed is set to 150 percent, so it’s a lot faster than usual.
• The Monkey Paw Cursed Object is always available in this trial.
• The challenge loadout does not include Sanity Medication or Incense.
• The equipment you are granted includes a mix of Tier I and Tier II equipment.
  • Tier I: Igniter, Head Gear, Igniter, Firelight, Flashlight, Motion Sensor, Parabolic Microphone, Sound Sensor, Salt, Video Camera, and Ghost Writing Book.
  • Tier II: Crucifix, Ultraviolet Light, EMF Reader, Thermometer, Photo Camera, DOTS Projector, Spirit Box, and Tripod.

How to complete the Hide and Seek: Extreme Phasmophobia challenge

To successfully finish the Hide and Seek: Extreme weekly challenge in Phasmophobia, you must correctly identify what kind of ghost is present within the contract three times.

You can tackle this as many times as you want without fear of losing gear since you’ll have the challenge-specific loadout. This means you have limitless opportunities to complete it, although Hide and Seek: Extreme will only be available to complete for a week before a new challenge is rotated in—though it will return again in the future.

Phasmophobia Hide and Seek: Extreme challenge tips

Every contract will be different and some will be far more difficult than others, which means a massive factor for successfully finishing the Hide and Seek: Extreme challenge is luck. There are some methods you can use to boost your odds though, so here are some tips to increase your chances of success.

Use the looping strategy

Camp Woodwind is a very tricky map to obtain evidence on since it’s outside, but this map also has one massive benefit: Its unique circular structure. This layout allows you to loop around the entirety of the area endlessly, which is very helpful during ghost hunts.

The looping strategy is a great way to quickly navigate away from the ghost and hopefully break its line of sight with you so you can escape. All you need to do to use this method is make your way around the map in a steady circle until the hunt ends.

This strategy is my go-to method for all trials that take place at Camp Woodwind, and it works super well most of the time. It takes a bit of practice to get used to this path, so you might consider practicing on a custom mode with the friendly ghost option turned on first to prepare.

Pay attention to hunt patterns

Paying attention to how the ghost behaves during a hunt is your best bet for identifying what kind of ghost you’re working with in your contract.

Since you start with zero percent sanity, the ghost is almost guaranteed to start hunting you as soon as the one-minute grace period is up which is great since you want to experience ghost hunts as frequently as possible to complete this challenge. Many ghosts have unique hunt patterns you can use to identify them.

Watch out for other identifiers

Outside of hunt-specific behavior, some ghosts have other very specific tells that can make identifying them or crossing them off a very quick and easy process if you are lucky. Recognizing these hints is essential in other challenges like No Evidence and The Apocalypse Draws Near, but they’re also very useful for this one.

• If the fuse box is turned off during a contract, you can rule out the Jinn. The rare exception to this is when too many lights have been turned on which can cause the fuse box to trip, so be sure to pay attention to how the fuse box turns off.
• If any light sources are turned on, you can generally rule out the Mare. This ghost loves the darkness and won’t turn sources of light on. Instead, they’ll frequently turn lights off.
• If you place down Salt and a ghost steps in it, you can rule out the Wraith. This ghost will never step in Salt.
• If you have time to snap a photo and you can see the ghost in the photo, you can cross off the Phantom. On the flip side, if you take a photo of a ghost and have a photo labeled as a ghost photo in your journal yet no ghost is visibly present, then you have caught a Phantom.
• If you witness some strange angles on the activity chart, consider the unique patterns The Twins sometimes make on the activity chart since it might be them.
• If you are hit by a puff of white air, you have just experienced an airball ghost event and you can rule out the Oni.
• If the ghost seems to be particularly fond of singing, it may be a Banshee. Other ghosts can sing too, but the Banshee does so more frequently. You can also use a Parabolic Microphone to listen for the Banshee’s signature scream.

Hide when you can

The name of the challenge is Hide and Seek: Extreme, so unsurprisingly, hiding can be a great strategy for this challenge. It’s an especially helpful tool for trying to watch and listen to how the ghost behaves while hopefully being safely hidden away so you don’t get caught.

There aren’t any official hiding spots in this version of the Camp Woodwind map, so your best bet is to try and find a corner or some kind of blockade that keeps you out of the ghost’s sight. Be sure to turn off any equipment you’re using since the ghost may be attracted to it if you leave it on.

Since the entire map is a circle, you can also use the looping strategy when considering where to hide since you can usually avoid the ghost’s gaze if you simply run around to the other side of the map. The bathroom can be a great place to hide, but if you’re unlucky and the ghost discovers you’re in there, you’ll end up trapped, which is why it’s generally best to hide outside so you can loop if needed.

Every player is different, which means some are better at hiding while others prefer to run. Upon trying both methods out, you’ll probably end up with a favorite, so choose whichever one works better for you. I always try to run when I can since I’ve found I’m not great at hiding, and tend to survive hunts most of the time while running instead.

Assemble a ghost hunting team

All challenge modes are super difficult when you’re on your own, but they become a lot more doable when you rally allies to investigate with you. Your odds of success are a lot better when you have other players helping you out since you can get more equipment down quickly and spread out around the map to keep an eye on all areas.

Another big benefit of having other players help is that the contract doesn’t end if you perish. If you’re playing alone, the investigation is over as soon as you die. But with other players, the contract continues as long as at least one person is still alive which buys you a lot more time.

You can either invite friends to play or join up with random ghost hunters using the matchmaking feature. Both options ensure you won’t be going through this challenge alone which is one of the best ways to increase your odds of success.

Guess and reroll

Sometimes your best bet is making an educated guess and rerolling for a new contract to try again. Some ghosts are extremely tough to identify in this challenge since they might not be easily recognizable by hunt patterns which means you might be best off making a guess and starting a fresh contract to see if your luck gets better.