Phantom

The Phantom (Typhon anthrophantasmus) is a type of Typhon encountered on Talos I during the events of Prey (2017).

Overview
Phantoms are humanoid Typhon that Weavers are able to create from human remains. Although they normally walk, once they are provoked, they tend to move extremely rapidly towards the player, seemingly 'teleporting'. This makes them dangerous in a fight, as they can rapidly move behind Morgan if faced directly, as well as cover large distances almost instantly. This is not true teleportation however, and phantoms rather "phase" very rapidly, being unable to move through solid walls. Five types of Phantoms may be encountered, each of which has its own unique abilities. All types of Phantoms can be created by Morgan from human corpses through the ability Phantom Genesis.

Phantoms exhibit human-like behavioral patterns and even talk (most easily noticed by turning subtitles on), indicating the Typhon may rely on the subject human as a "base", leaving some parts of the subject to remain. Phantoms do not seem to be good at understanding all that they say, most likely because Typhon do not normally communicate vocally (all other Typhon tend to be rather silent) and many messages seem to be nonsense such as "What do you see in the glass?". Phantoms do still seem to be able to perceive some rough meaning or association of phrases however, as they will often say "I swear I saw something..." if they make notice of the player being nearby, and may even exclaim ''"Morgan!" '' when they spot them.

Other indications on their limited but existing communication abilities is phantoms commenting that certain experimental weaponry was made in the lab, and saying that "he" could be anywhere. Most of what phantoms say will tend to be mocking or threatening, and with the exception for phantoms created by the player using Phantom Genesis, all phantoms will be aggressive towards the player. One can argue that Phantoms may be one of few Typhon types able to perceive humans as other beings based on their dialogue, something mimics and other members do not seem capable of.

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

Types

 * Standard Phantoms (Typhon anthrophantasmus) are able to use Kinetic Blasts to fight. They can be scanned for Kinetic Blast I and II.
 * Thermal Phantoms (Typhon anthrophantasmus psychothermal) use superheated plasma to fight. They can 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 similar to 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
Phantoms look like black, shadowy, humanoid creatures. They look similar to humans, except they are 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 two white glowing patches in place of their eyes, and their limbs are thin and slender. As a result of this and their tendril-like body structure, their arms appear to be almost tentacle-like.

Voltaic Phantoms have the addition of crystals sticking out of their backs that emit electricity. Thermal Phantoms are smoldering and engulfed in flames. Etheric Phantoms emit clouds of purple, poisonous gas.

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)
 * 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)
 * And possibly any corpses that are caught within a Weaver's line of sight...

Strategy
The GLOO gun is extremely effective at pinning a Phantom down and allowing you to kill it with relative ease. Should it free itself, simply re-GLOO it again and continue attacking. While trapped in GLOO the phantom cannot fire kinetic blasts.

Shotguns are able to deal a lot of damage to them, especially after using the GLOO gun to help close the distance, making it easy to handle them. Just be conscious of your ammo. It is also effective since the player uses the shotgun at point-blank range; Phantoms will sometimes be stunned and fall down. If you have a phantom in your line of sight, line it up with your crosshairs and empty a pistol clip into it and it should fall pretty easily.

Turrets are variably effective. While able to kill Phantoms in seconds, it is easy for a single Phantom to teleport to a turret's blind spot and destroy it just as quickly, or knock it over, rendering it useless. In contrast with Mimics, the player cannot simply rely on turrets to deal with Phantoms.

All except the Etheric Phantom usually walk slowly towards their target while attacking. Keep your distance and use a pistol to dispatch them. The Etheric Phantom on the other hand should be met with a Shotgun.

Excluding the Voltaic Phantom, all can be immobilized by the Disruptor Stun Gun. Use it if they attempt to attack turrets, as it will make them sitting ducks for the turrets.

The player should be wary about Voltaic Phantoms around explosive canisters as their passive electricity generation will cause the canisters to explode.

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 because they disable them with their attacks.

The player may encounter a Phantom in a zero-g area (namely, G.U.T.S.) that does not attack them and simply lays dormant. This may indicate that Phantoms are not suited to zero-g conditions; this also includes the far bulkier Nightmare, which the player can easily wrench to death without worries of being attacked. Etheric Phantoms can still bleed toxic clouds when damaged, however.

Trivia

 * A lot of the dialogue Phantoms 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 having no obvious connection to the related people. It is hard to say if they are even speaking, or if it is just a figment of Morgan's imagination based on things they have heard.
 * Mathias Kohl says some of their lines in some of his sessions.
 * "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." 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."
 * "I used to wish we weren't alone in the universe..."
 * "Even if we're dead, it won't be over..."
 * Phantoms can spawn even where Weavers have not been active, such as in the sales division in the Lobby.
 * 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.