How to complete the Primitive challenge in Phasmophobia

Phasmophobia’s weekly challenges test how proficient of a ghost hunter you truly are. Some of these trials are more difficult than others, and one of the most daunting tasks you can tackle is Primitive.

As the name of this challenge hints, Primitive takes away all of your advanced technological equipment and leaves you with almost nothing to work with to create a feeling of ghost hunting in ancient times. This makes tackling it quite difficult, so here’s how to complete the Primitive challenge in Phasmophobia.

What is the Primitive challenge in Phasmophobia?

The Primitive challenge mode in Phasmophobia takes all electronic equipment away from your collection and gives you just a couple of basic items to work with. This means you have limited means of testing for evidence and it’s completely impossible to check for some types like Ghost Orbs and DOTS.

Primitive Phasmophobia challenge rules

Before you tackle the Primitive challenge, you need to know all of the special rules for this trial.

• This challenge can only be completed at 10 Ridgeview Court.
• Your sanity starts at 100 percent.
• You have a five-minute grace period for setup.
• The fuse box is broken and not marked on the map, so you have no power.
• You’re missing a lot of equipment, including Flashlights, Video Cameras, Tripods, Photo Cameras, DOTS Projectors, EMF Readers, Spirit Boxes, Head Gear, Motion Sensors, Sound Sensors, Parabolic Microphones, and Sanity Medication.
• You’re given a very small collection of equipment to work with including items across all three tiers.
  • Tier I: Igniter, Incense, Thermometer, Ultraviolet, and Crucifix.
  • Tier II: Firelight and Salt.
  • Tier III: Ghost Writing Book.

How to complete the Primitive Phasmophobia weekly challenge

To finish the Primitive weekly trial in Phasmophobia, you have to correctly determine what ghost is haunting 10 Ridgeview Court a total of three times. Like all other weekly challenges, you can attempt this one as many times as you need to finish it and claim the 5,000 experience and $5,000 cash reward.

You don’t lose anything when you guess wrong or get killed by the ghost, so there are no cons to trying over and over again until you get it right. Finishing this challenge is one of the best ways to level up fast and it also helps you unlock some Phasmophobia achievements.

Phasmophobia Primitive challenge tips

The Primitive challenge is a very tough one, even if you’re a pretty advanced ghost hunter. Thus, here are some tips you can use to help make navigating through this Phasmophobia challenge easier.

Use Ultraviolet and Firelight to see

The biggest issue you face in this challenge is being unable to see since you don’t have a Flashlight and the power is permanently off, so be sure to rely on either Ultraviolet or Firelight to make your way around the map. I prefer using Ultraviolet since it’s a bit more reliable and might also catch some evidence as you walk around.

During my first attempt at this challenge, I accidentally found the ghost room almost right away using Ultraviolet. The garage door had a handprint on it and another one appeared on a locker door inside right after, which helped me quickly pinpoint where the ghost was hanging around.

Ultraviolet also provides a bit more light than a Firelight does. You need to be wary of the Onryo if you do want to rely on Firelight since this ghost has the special ability to hunt whenever it wants after blowing out a flame.

Locate the ghost using the Thermometer

I generally rely on the Thermometer to track down the ghost room, and even though the entire house will be a bit cold with no power, this is still the most reliable way to find the right room. I recommend placing one of your Thermometers down somewhere near the front of the house so it can acclimate to the temperature then walking around the house with the other one to search for the right spot.

Depending on what kind of ghost is present, you might get either a freezing temps reading or just notice a slightly lower temperature than usual. Generally, you can determine if you’re in the ghost room when the temperature starts dropping after it has acclimated.

Try to rule out all evidence you can

The trickiest part of this trial is that you can’t test for certain types of evidence, which means it’s crucial you do your best to definitively rule out and identify all evidence you can. Most equipment has some special rules and identifiers you can use to determine whether the ghost has it as evidence.

If the ghost moves a Ghost Writing book but doesn’t write in it, you can rule out Ghost Writing as evidence. If you place down Salt and the ghost steps in it but you don’t see any Ultraviolet footprints around, you can cross Ultraviolet out since ghosts who have this as evidence always leave prints behind.

Play with others

All Phasmophobia challenges become a whole lot easier when you have a couple of other ghost hunters working alongside you, so if you’re struggling with this one, join or create a team to tackle it with. This game is fundamentally built around multiplayer play, which means you only gain benefits when you team up with others.

On your own, the contract ends immediately if the ghost kills you. But when you play with others, the trial keeps going so you have more time to investigate from beyond the afterlife. There are no downsides to teaming up with others in Phasmophobia, except that you may need to purchase more equipment for regular contracts. But since challenge modes provide all equipment for free, there’s no reason to not try this trial with others.

Guess and try again

Some ghosts are way easier to identify than others in this challenge since you’re missing a lot of equipment you need to test for evidence. So if you just can’t figure out what ghost is present, make your best guess and load up a fresh contract to try again.

Use No Evidence strategies

Since you can’t test for all types of evidence, consider using similar methods as you would for the No Evidence challenge and other similar variants like Survival of the Fittest, Detectives Only, and Apocalypse. This means watching for ghost behaviors, hunt patterns, and anything else that can point you in the right direction.