The Phantom (Typhon anthrophantasmus) is a type of Typhon encountered on Talos I in Prey and Pytheas in Prey: Mooncrash. Four types of phantoms may be encountered, each of which has its own set of unique abilities and can be created by Morgan from human corpses through the use of the Phantom Genesis ability. Science Operators classify them all as "Metempsychotic Remainder Organisms." The term "Phantom" is used interchangeably to refer to the species as a whole, as well as the generic subspecies that relies on kinetic orbs and melee for offense.

Overview

Phantoms are humanoid Typhon that Weavers are able to create from human corpses. Although they are normally seen shuffling slowly, once they are provoked they tend to move at great speeds towards the player, or to an area close to them. This ability makes them incredibly dangerous in a fight, as they can rapidly move behind Morgan if faced directly, as well as cover large distances almost instantly, even shifting past motion-triggered traps. This is not true teleportation however, and phantoms rather "phase" very rapidly, being unable to move through solid walls in the vast majority of cases. This attribute of theirs does not appear to be based off of their psychoactive potential, as they are perfectly capable of shifting when under the effects of Psychoshock or a Nullwave Transmitter. Etheric Phantoms seem to have a more advanced form of this, being able to split into a weaker duplicate and shifting more often. Morgan Yu can install a weaker form of this ability through the use of neuromods, called Phantom Shift.

Phantoms exhibit human-like behavioral patterns in the form of curiously observing their environment and have even been shown capable of mimicking human speech. They are even able to repeat phrases not heard by the humans used to create the phantom. While they, along with the Poltergeist, are among the only Typhon able to reproduce human speech, they have never been shown to speak to humans or other phantoms, instead often parroting random sentences and phrases to themselves. It is important to note, however, that a Phantom is known to mutter contextually relevant phrases occasionally, such as when it catches a glimpse of the player. They have even gone as far as to call the name of Morgan when spotted, possibly suggesting that they are not entirely without the ability to comprehend speech.

Other human-like behavior includes their apparent frustration upon losing track of an enemy, which they might show by splitting apart their arms and waving their constituent tentacles around aggressively. While they flee combat relatively rarely when compared to most other species of Typhon, they sometimes flee even without being afflicted with Fear. This can be observed as the Phantom will shift away from the player after receiving heavy damage, gaining a large amount of distance and kneeling down once they stop moving. Be warned, as they do not stay fearful of the player for long, and upon spotting Morgan will regain their resolve. Some Phantoms are known to crouch unprovoked, despite not being in combat, and it is a mystery as to what causes this behaviour to occur in them.

Over the course of the game, Morgan may encounter a number of Phantoms that are past Talos I crew members that have been converted by the Typhon. These individuals will have the same tracking bracelets and names as they had when they were human, and some of these must be defeated to gain items linked to certain objectives.

In-Game Description

Prey

Types

• Regular Phantoms (Typhon anthrophantasmus) are able to use Kinetic Blast orbs to fight. They can be scanned for Kinetic Blast I and II.
• Thermal Phantoms (Typhon anthrophantasmus psychothermal) use superheated plasma to fight. They will attempt to melt Gloo away from their bodies. They can be scanned for Superthermal I, II, and III, Thermal Resistance, and Thermal Absorption.
• Etheric Phantoms (Typhon anthrophantasmus psychoetheric) prefer close combat, but are able to use Kinetic Blasts like regular Phantoms. They may also split into two when fighting and leave behind a toxic ether cloud upon death. They can be scanned for Phantom Shift I and II, Ether Resistance, and Ether Absorption.
• Voltaic Phantoms (Typhon anthrophantasmus psychovoltaic) use electricity-based attacks. Even while not fighting, they generate electromagnetic fields that disrupt nearby electronics. They can be scanned for Electrostatic Burst I, II, and III, Electrostatic Resistance, and Electrostatic Absorption. 

Design

All Phantoms are black, shadowy, humanoid creatures. They appear hunched over, have necks that are slightly elongated forward, and like all Typhon, appear to be made of a black, semi-solid tendril-like substance. They also possess twelve glowing white patches in place of their eyes, and their limbs are thin and slender. Each of their arms is composed of three intertwined tentacles that occasionally separate; when wrapped around each other, these tentacles' tips appear to mimic the fingers of a human.

Voltaic Phantoms have the addition of crystals sticking out of their backs that emit electricity. They are electrically charged, constantly emitting a brilliant blue light from their core, with voltaic energy coursing through their tendrils.

Thermal Phantoms have an orange glow pulsating through the core of their mass, with what appears to be thermal energy traveling up their limbs.

Etheric Phantoms have a purplish hue flowing through them. They have a toxic aura, leaking Ether when damaged.

Related Quests

Phantoms with the names of Talos I staff often have items related to Side Quests that the player is working on.

• The Blackbox Project
• Treasure Hunt
• With This Ring …

Talos I Staff

Some corpses of Talos I staff are transformed into Phantoms during gameplay.

• Enoch Kouneva (Phantom)
• Clive Lawrence (Phantom)
• Jorgen Thorstein (Phantom)
• Kirk Remmer (Phantom)
• Randolf Hutchinson (Etheric Phantom; does not always become a phantom)
• Regina Sellers (Phantom)
• Yuri Kimura (Phantom)
• Nicole Hague (Phantom)
• Helen Barker-Combs (Phantom)
• Volunteer 12 (Voltaic Phantom)
• Argenteno Pero (Phantom)
• Crispin Boyer (Phantom)
• Ivy Song (Phantom)
• Lane Carpenter (Phantom)
• Garfield Langly (Phantom)
• Potentially any corpses that are caught within a Weaver's line of sight

Strategy

• The GLOO Cannon is extremely effective at pinning any non-thermal phantom down, allowing you to kill them with relative ease. Should they free themselves, simply re-GLOO them and continue attacking. While trapped in GLOO, a phantom cannot fire any kinetic blasts other than the ones they had already started charging. Be ready to move should you GLOO a Phantom and you still see the orb coming towards you.

• Shotguns are capable of dealing a lot of damage to a Phantom, especially after stunning them to help close the distance. A shotgun is most effective at pointblank range, causing a phantom to receive the maximum amount of damage while having a chance to knock them off their feet. Combined with stealth or psi nullification, a phantom will have little chance for survival. Just keep an eye on your ammo.

• Turrets have variable effectiveness. While they do a lot of damage, all Phantom types are able to incapacitate one in a number of ways. They are best used as support when dealing with Etheric, Thermal and Basic Phantoms. Turrets are not recommended for fighting Voltaic Phantoms, as all of their attacks can disable a turret and their mere presence can force it to shut down.

• Most Phantoms usually prefer to walk slowly towards their target while using their ranged attacks. Keeping your distance is recommended, as it gives you more time to dodge their projectile, and in the case of the more powerful Phantoms will prevent you from suffering from the effects of their passive elemental generation. The Etheric Phantom is an exception, as it is rather fond of shifting towards the player, and thus should be delt with weapons and abilities better suited for enemies in close range (i.e. the Shotgun or Psychoshock). Keep in mind that all Phantoms, with the exception of Voltaic variant, can still shift towards you, and are prone to doing so if their psi abilities are nullified or they have lost visual contact with you.

• The Disruptor Stun Gun is very effective on all Phantoms, excluding the Voltaic Variant. While dealing no direct damage by itself, the Stun Gun causes any Phantoms hit by it to be unable to move for a small amount of time, perfect for either dealing with a phantom outright by means of a turret or shotgun or avoiding the fight entirely by stunning it long enough for you to sneak by.

• The passive auras of Voltaic and Thermal (when aware of the player) Phantoms can cause oil slicks to catch fire and explosives to combust. Caution should be exercised when around such environments.

• If the player has the Phantom Genesis ability, they can create Phantoms out of human corpses to fight for them. Voltaic Phantoms, in particular, are effective at dealing with Corrupted Operators and Military Operators due to their ability to disable machine type enemies with their attacks, and their increased damage against said types of enemies.

• The Psychoshock typhon ability and the Nullwave Transmitter can nullify the offensive psi abilities of Phantoms by disabling their auras as well as preventing them from using ranged attacks, with the former dealing direct damage and increasing damage recieved from any source. Be aware that shifting is not disabled, and a phantom may use this to close the distance for the only attack it can use now or flee and reduce the effective time that its abilities are disabled for.

• EMP Charges can temporarily disable the electric aura of a Voltaic Phantom, stopping it from using this ability for around half the time of a Nullwave would.

• Leverage will turn any item in the room into a weapon, with higher levels of Leverage typically doing more damage. Even a Phantom variant can have its health massively reduced from a well aimed Reployer shot.

• The Wrench is not recommended for dealing with Phantoms. In the early game, it can be hard to outdamage a Basic Phantom using only melee. It's also not recommended that you put neuromods into making your wrench more powerful solely to deal with Phantoms, as the aura generating abilities and higher health pools of the Phantom variants will end in you using more health and suit repair resources than if you had decided to use a ranged strategy. If you are committed, however, a mix of Psi Nullification items, Gloo and the Stun Gun or EMP charges will certainly help you in a one-on-one melee with any Phantom.

• Lift Field can disable multiple Phantoms at once if they are close together, deal good damage if more than one item is caught in it or it is placed under a ceiling, has a decent cooldown and is effective against any Phantom type, keeping them from moving for however long it lasts. It could be worth using a few neuromods on this ability.

• Kinetic Blast, Super Thermal and Electrostatic Burst are all effective damaging Psi abilities, with Kintetic Blast dealing the most raw damage and being able to knock Phantoms off their feet, Super Thermal being used as a trap for a patroling Phantom, and Electrostatic Burst able to stun a Phantom much like the Disruptor Stun Gun. Keep in mind that Phantom variants with special affinities, like Thermal or Voltaic, will be naturally immune to certain damage types (Thermal and Electrostatic respectively).

Quotes

Phantom/Quotes

Trivia

Spoilers Ahead

• Much of the dialogue phantoms and poltergeists say can also be heard by a human in some way, shape or form. While some of the lines (Such as "Morgan..." or "What was that?") could be taken from many sources, they also have some dialogue that matches word-for-word unique things said by humans. It is unknown why they are able to recite these, even when not being derived from those humans' corpses, and why they show a preference for certain people's dialogues over others.
  • Mathias Kohl says some of their lines in some of his sessions.
    • "What do you see in the glass?" and "What does it look like? The shape in the glass." during a session with Lorenzo Calvino.
    • "Are you angry?" during a session with Danielle Sho.
    • "You seem...frustrated" and "Morgan" during a session with Morgan Yu.
  • "Shhh, hang on...someone's coming." is heard by Robert Gage in his audio log after the outbreak has started.
  • Alfred Rose also says some of their lines when spoken to.
    • "They want to live inside us, like a disease."
    • "They could be anything. Anyone."
    • "I used to wish we weren't alone in the universe..."
    • "Even if we're dead, it won't be over..."
• There are numerous unnamed phantoms that roam the station. They are not Talos I crew members. Though it could be counted up as just game logic, it might suggest that at least some of the unnamed phantoms were derived from corpses of humans present on the station before TranStar started issuing employees and volunteers tracking bracelets, possibly from the days of Project Axiom.
  • Alternatively, they may be derived from TranStar employees or volunteers that have had their tracking bracelets disabled or records wiped from the databases, though it is unknown why this would be done, as a phantom with a tracking bracelet would logically be easier to manage then one lacking one, as may have been the thought process of the psychotronists seeking to create a Phantom Volunteer 12.
  • Alternatively, unnamed phantoms might be created by means other than T. geneocratis phantom genesis.
• The game's localization files mention another variant called "Solar Phantom". It could be a working title for the Thermal Phantom, although they are both dissociated in the files. Other variants might have been "gravitational" phantoms (perhaps like poltergeists, but without the invisibility), and vampiric.
• When the player first enters Cargo Bay, they will go into Shipping and Receiving. If the player goes upstairs, a cutscene shows Enoch Kouneva being turned into a Phantom. If the player avoids the area where the cutscene begins, Enoch's corpse will still be there.
• Moving Randolph Hutchinson's corpse into your office before you go into the Arboretum may cause him to still spawn in the Teleconferencing Center as a phantom, but his corpse will stay in your office. This may be the case with all corpses in the Talos I Lobby.
• Though never stated or made note of in any way in the notes or lore of the game, it might be implied that phantoms that do not disrupt electronics as much as voltaic phantoms do can use speaker systems, looking glass screens, and perhaps other electrical systems as shelters or means of transportation around the station. Minor spoilers ahead.
  • When idle in the right place, a phantom may sometimes extend one of its tentacles to an overhead light source, and appear to somehow interface with its circuitry. This has only been observed with normal, thermal, and possibly etheric phantoms.
  • Shortly after a particular phantom interfaces with a looking glass screen in Hardware Labs, a new phantom appears in the same room as Morgan even if the door to that room was sealed and no phantoms were previously there.
    • Since said phantom may have been blocked from Dr. Calvino's lab upon or after Morgan's presence there, it may have been storing itself in the system somehow, or may have been on behind the screen Morgan later views it from.
  • Even after the two phantoms (neither of them voltaic) materialize and are killed in the Yellow Tulip, a disembodied phantom voice can still sometimes be heard while in the club.
  • The phantom in the main lift seemingly appears out of thin air shortly after a local blackout.
• A regular phantom has been observed walking through a locked door in the Hardware Labs.
• Phantoms and technopaths are the only typhon that cause electromagnetic disturbances to nearby electrical appliances, though only voltaic phantoms seem to be able to (quasi-actively) disable them entirely.
• Curiously, not even phantom types that have specialized in launching kinetic bolts, like regular and etheric phantoms, are immune to kinetic blast or any form of kinetic attack (e.g. projectiles, explosives, or blunt force trauma).
• Like mimics, they are able to manually open non-automatic doors.
• Rarely when shifting, a player-generated Phantom might appear to be "jumping" from a higher elevation, as evident as to the blur lines that appear whenever a Phantom shifts. It is unknown whether this is an intended feature that is rarely used, an uncommon but convenient side effect of the game's code calculating the shortest route possible, or a bug.
• In Cargo Bay B, if one were to stand in front of a side door before unlocking it, a Phantom will occasionally appear on the other side. It stares blankly at Morgan before walking away.
• The Phantoms and Weaver in Cargo Bay B appear non-hostile until the door is opened.
• All Weaver-made Phantoms have a seemingly passive ability that makes nearby lights flicker and makes it impossible to interact with nearby computer screens, even when said phantoms are mind-jacked. This ability can be temporarily nullified along with their active abilities by Nullwave or Psychoshock, and cannot be scanned. It is called "EnergyLeech" in the game files, and that suggests the nature of the process, but there's nothing in the lore about it. If anything, greater mimics should have a similar ability, but they aren't shown to. Of course, voltaic phantoms differ as they simply cause nearby machines to become unpowered while in their presence.
  • Human-made phantoms are different. They do not cause such electromagnetic interference ("energy leeching") at any point. That being said, human-made voltaic phantoms still cause nearby machines to power off.
  • It is possible the choice to cause electrical disturbances is a conscious one, much like that of their ranged attacks or auras, because of the previously stated fact that it can be nullified while an ability such as shift cannot.
• Phantoms occasionally inspect corpses by extending their tentacles at or into them, after which they retract them and continue patrolling. Only two have been known to show this behaviour: One found in the Hardware Labs Atrium, and One found in the ventilation section of the Crater Area of the Pytheas moonbase.

• The player may lure a phantom into the Cargo Bay microgravity chamber leading to the G.U.T.S., making the phantom passive and immobile unless pushed back out. The game labels this Phantom as "[phantom type] (Stasis)." This is unusual, as enemies that are not found in microgravity areas are typically killed by the game when an area loses gravity. Etheric phantoms can still bleed toxic clouds when damaged in stasis, however.

• There exists files in the game for what appears to be a Solar variant of the Phantom. From what was gathered, it appears it eventually evolved into the Thermal Phantom.

Gallery

The different types of Phantom

Phantom in the Gameplay Trailer

Voltaic Phantom

Up close

Voltaic Phantom shooting electric bolts

Morgan fighting a Thermal Phantom

Thermal Phantom with its superthermal aura activated

Etheric Phantom

Early concept art

Phantom surge