So, the Phasmophobia Easter event 2025 finally arrived, and honestly? It wasn't just another "find the hidden eggs" scavenger hunt like we've seen in the past. Kinetic Games officially dubbed this one Cursed Hollow. It kicked off on April 17 and wrapped up around May 7, bringing a much-needed shakeup to how seasonal rewards work.
If you were expecting to just click on chocolate bunnies and call it a day, you were probably surprised. They brought back the Forest Spirit, but this time it felt way more integrated into the actual ghost hunts.
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Why Cursed Hollow was different this time
For a long time, the community complained that holiday events felt like a chore that pulled you away from the actual game. You’d spend twenty minutes looking for a tiny egg behind a toilet and zero minutes actually hunting the ghost. Kinetic Games clearly listened.
Basically, they moved to a dual-track reward system. You had Community Goals—where everyone’s collective effort unlocked big stuff like the base event trophy—and Personal Goals. The personal side is where the real sweat was. You had to grind out points by actually doing your job: identifying the ghost and finishing objectives.
The Forest Minions and those Jackalope Totems
The core mechanic revolved around finding these creepy little nests. They were tucked away in corners, sometimes surrounded by jars of fireflies or broken eggshells. To get anything done, you had to place a D.O.T.S. projector near the nest.
Once exposed, a "Forest Minion" (basically a creepy jackrabbit) would appear. This is where it got sort of like a gamble. Depending on the minion's reaction, your game could get significantly easier or way harder:
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- The Runner: The minion flees, giving you a 5% sanity boost and slowing the ghost down.
- The Lunger: The thing jumps at you, and you instantly lose 10% sanity. Not ideal in a large map.
- The Gold Minion: Super rare. If you triggered this one, it started a cursed hunt immediately.
Maps that got the spooky makeover
The event didn't just dump the mechanics onto every map at once. They used a daily rotation. Only the maps marked with a nest icon on the contract board counted toward your event progress.
The pool included nine specific locations: 13 Willow Street, Camp Woodwind, 6 Tanglewood Drive, 10 Ridgeview Court, 42 Edgefield Road, Point Hope, Maple Lodge Campsite, and the two big farmhouses—Grafton and Bleasdale. Speaking of Bleasdale Farmhouse, the 2025 event was the first time many players saw the massive layout overhaul. It wasn't just a visual touch-up; the layout changed, adding a garden area outside the living room that ghosts can now haunt.
The reward grind: Was it worth it?
The point system was a bit of a head-scratcher at first. You earned points for identifying the ghost and revealing those minions. A "perfect" investigation usually netted you around 30 points.
Here’s the breakdown of what people were actually playing for:
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- Stage 1 Personal: 300 points for a Foil Event ID Card and Badge.
- Stage 2 Personal: 800 total points for the first Trophy Upgrade.
- Stage 3 Personal: 1,800 points for the second upgrade.
- Stage 4 Personal: 3,300 points for the final, Tier 3 trophy.
A lot of players on Reddit were pretty vocal about the grind. 3,300 points isn't a weekend project; it’s dozens of hours of hunting. The "auto-claim" feature was a godsend, though. In previous years, if you forgot to click a button before the event ended, you lost your rewards. In 2025, as long as you logged in during the three-week window, the rewards hit your account automatically.
Common bugs and misconceptions
One thing that drove people crazy was the progress bar. It would frequently "freeze" at a certain percentage. You'd finish a perfect run on Tanglewood, check the board, and see 0% progress. Most of the time, this was just a visual lag. Restarting the game or just playing one more match usually forced the server to sync up and show the real number.
Also, there was a rumor that difficulty multipliers increased your event points. Early testing from players like TennoAndy on the Steam forums suggested this wasn't really the case—or if it was, the bonus was so small it didn't justify the risk of playing Insanity just for event points. Professional or even Amateur runs were the most efficient way to farm the minions without dying and losing your equipment.
Looking toward 2026
Kinetic Games has confirmed that if you didn't finish your trophy this year, you haven't lost that progress forever. The 2025 trophy system is designed to be multi-year. If you only made it to Tier 1 this year, you can pick up right where you left off when the Easter event returns in 2026. This is a huge shift from their old "one and done" philosophy.
Next Steps for Hunters:
- Check your Trophy Cabinet: Ensure your Cursed Hollow trophy is displayed correctly. If you hit 3,300 points, it should have the most intricate design.
- Review the Bleasdale Layout: Since the farmhouse update is permanent, spend some time in "Custom" mode with no ghost to learn the new garden exit and room connections.
- Save for the Chronicle Update: Now that Easter is over, the next big milestone is the "Chronicle" patch, which will overhaul evidence gathering. Save your in-game cash; you'll likely need it for the new Sound Recorder equipment.