Since I fell into Phasmophobia when it debuted on consoles last Halloween, I’ve likened the game to PUBG–which might seem strange, but if you’ve played them both, I bet you can see it, too. Though Phasmophobia is a cooperative, first-person paranormal investigation game about hunting ghosts and PUBG is a military sim battle royale, they’re both extremely immersive experiences that express their strengths so well that some of the obvious jank they come with winds up feeling more charming than frustrating. There’s a whole culture of online videos dedicated to Phasmophobia’s lovable rough edges.

That’s a rare balance to strike, but it’s also not one that needs to stick around forever. Phasmophobia’s Chronicle update, which launches today on PC and consoles, is the ghost-hunting game’s next step toward deepening and improving its gameplay systems, and the results make it both more immersive and scarier for anyone trying to 100% their investigations.

Previously, players who wanted to go beyond simply identifying the ghost in their investigations to earn a perfect round would need to capture 10 three-star photos that provide evidence of the haunting. These could be pictures of the ghost itself, an item that was just recently moved by the spirit, or footprints in salt, among other things. But this system leaned on the photo camera exclusively, leaving the other evidence-gathering tools to languish–until now.

With today’s Chronicle update, the evidence-gathering mechanics expand to include audio and video recordings, too, with a new audio recorder device that abides by the same three-tiered system of upgrades you can unlock over time. Gone is the simple three-star system for rating evidence and earning a perfect investigation; In its place is cold, hard cash that you earn for each piece of evidence, incentivizing you to stick around the restless spirits longer than you may want to.

I recently saw a demo of the changes in Chronicle, and I’m excited to jump into the game tonight with my usual ghostbusting crew. These new tools don’t just make more sense, moving Phasmophobia away from its early-access feel, but they also reward you for sticking it out through dangerous moments.

The best example of how the Chronicle update improves Phasmophobia’s overall gameplay is in how taking the ghost’s photo is no longer a broad, sweeping objective. You can earn money and complete secondary objectives for snapping different types of photos of the ghost, like when it performs an event, appears in its different forms, or is actively hunting. Players who wish to book it back to the van at the first sign of danger now might have to wrestle with the idea of toughing it out for that extra money.

“You can get unique photos for all of those [moments] instead of just the one that you get currently,” Kinetic Games’ Corey Dixon told me at Summer Game Fest. “If you’re really good–or lucky–you could get five ghost photos as your photos, and end up with absolutely tons of rewards at the end, if you survive.”

One intention behind the new video evidence mechanic is to “push” those pieces of evidence that didn’t make sense as still photos into the video category, Dixon explained, encouraging players to use the other tools and seek out evidence in different ways. A prime example is the snapshots players used to take of objects that were moved by the ghost. Now, you’ll want to actually capture the objects on video as they move, not just take a photo with the trust-me-bro caption of old.

The new audio recording device deepens these new evidence mechanics, too. Capturing ghostly noises will count toward your investigation’s optional objectives, and you can even check two boxes with one spooky moment by getting the ghost to speak on the spirit box while you also record that speech on the audio recorder. The spirit box drains your sanity quickly, as veterans know, so there’s always risk associated with sticking around longer and chatting up the ghosts in search of more lucrative evidence. Collectively, these new toys sell the role-playing aspect of the game that drew the original solo dev, Daniel Knight, to making Phasmophobia in the first place.

“The whole reason I made this game was because there wasn’t anything like it, and I just wanted to play this game,” Knight told me. “It just didn’t exist.”

The Chronicle update includes a bevy of quality-of-life updates, too, like making doors less frustrating to open for VR players and allowing for more specific matchmaking so you can find groups with a play style like yours. But more than those abundant little things that are nice to have, the new gameplay mechanics put players in the shoes of ghost hunters more than ever.

Even the truck campers of the group–those who refuse to go into the haunted locales and elect to stay on the crew van–benefit from the Chronicle update thanks to a much more robust camera system that allows you to watch multiple cameras at once, and switch easily between cameras set up by the crew, CCTV cameras that were already on the property, and head cameras being worn by the suckers risking their lives inside the ghost’s domain.

If you count yourself among the truck-only players in the community, you’ll be happy to know Kinetic Games has no plans to disrupt that safe space.

“We want to give people the option to play how they want to play,” Knight explained.

“And it’s like a community-focused, friend-group co-op game, right? And not everyone likes horror,” Dixon added. “So, having the option for people to stay on the truck and still contribute is a big thing for us. This just expands on that.”

The Chronicle update is out now as a free patch to the game on all of its available platforms. The Kinetic Games team showed me a few other secrets at Summer Game Fest, including the new Grafton Farmhouse map rework, which takes the locale in a decidedly Blair Witch-y direction that might fast-track it to becoming my favorite map in the game. There’s more to share too, but you’ll want to check back later this summer to learn more about something else Kinetic Games walked me through. Until then, happy hunting, and don’t forget the incense.

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