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This article is about the F.E.A.R. 2 enemies. For Spectre, see F.E.A.R. 3. | |||
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Specters are ghostly enemies that appear in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.
Monolith Timeline[]
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin[]

Non-hostile Specters near the epicenter of the Origin explosion.
The Specter blinks in and out of visibility as it moves to attack, disappearing in a puff of "smoke" when it is killed or otherwise destroyed. Specters were once part of Fairport's population until the Origin Facility Explosion occurred. They are the residual psychic imprints of dead people. Specters exist only due to Alma Wade's rage, which translates into their behavior. It is rumored they are tortured by Alma's hate and resentment, which would explain their hostile actions.
Specters make disturbing garbled sounds that can be heard when they are close to the player. Initially, they can be encountered just standing at plain sight (usually in a corner of a room). If the player stares at them for too long, they'll escape and disappear. Later on, this same type of Specters will move toward the player to attack. Even further into the game, Specters will be initially hidden from sight and will suddenly come out from furniture or other objects in the environment when the player approaches them, like dead bodies or light bulbs, telegraphing the attack by first performing some brief paranormal activity, like tubes and other objects suddenly moving around. Every time a Specter enters attack mode, it emits a distinctive sound. Fortunately, Specters can generally be dispatched with a single shot from most weapons, so any weapon whose ammo is easy to come by (like the Pistol, Sub Machinegun, Assault Rifle, any Shotgun, etc.) is advisable to use against them. Also, since usually only one Specter is encountered at a time, it gives plenty of time for reloading between encounters.
Specters are not always hostile to the player, and as enemies are only fought in five levels of the game: Ruin, Top, Elementary, Nurse's Office, and Keegan. All other Specters encountered will not harm Michael Becket. In the levels Ruin and Keegan, Specters are limited and will not reappear if the player killed a certain amount. In the school levels (Elementary and Nurse's Office), Specters will appear an unlimited amount of times until the player passes a certain area, so they are much more dangerous in those levels. In these two levels, the atmosphere is also very dark, the flashlight will constantly blink on and off, and Alma and other paranormal activity appear frequently. Specters also target other enemies, most notably ATC Black Ops soldiers, in the school, the player can see them get dragged away, being chased and blow into pieces or pinned to a wall.
In the Armacham Field Guide, it is said that the Specters cannot be "killed" again, and that the only way to avoid them is to "flee the area". However, in most cases, this is untrue.
Specters seem to be the equivalent of Nightmares in the original F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon, but unlike their F.E.A.R. counterpart, Specters' attacks only drain Becket's health, not armor.
Toward the end of the game, when heading toward the Epicenter, the Specters will not attack the player, although the player's crosshairs still turn red when they are in their sights.
F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn[]
Specters are encountered only at the end of F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn. They are fought alongside Ghost Soldiers, making the encounter harder than before, due to the fact that the Ghost Soldiers will be shooting and distracting the player while Specters suddenly appear in the area.
Strategies[]

A former citizen of Fairport.
- Specters aren't very tough; one pistol shot can kill them, or a single burst from the Andra FD-99 Submachine Gun; however, they're dangerous in large numbers and can do ungodly damage that bypasses the player's armor.
- The player in later stages of the game can use the Vollmer Ultra92 Automatic Shotgun or a Patten PK470 Assault Rifle to dispatch them quickly and smartly.
- Use of the Armacham HV Hammerhead against them is a good tactic. However, it may be a waste of ammunition in higher difficulties.
- The player should duck constantly to avoid moving too fast, thus giving them the advantage of appearing behind the player. If the player do need to rush however, use Slow-Mo.
- Unlike Nightmares, they tends to spawn on liqufied corpses rather through portal, the more dangerous ones will spawn through walls, which is not very predictable. Thus its possible get surrounded by them if the player move fast without Slow-Mo.
- Specters are fairly fast while attacking the player, Slow-Mo is a good way to buy some reaction time for a counter-attack.
- They always dwell in dark places where paranormal activity often occurs.
- In the level "Keegan," Specters will manifest from corpses and piles of blood as the player approaches. To avoid being caught by surprise, listen carefully for a "sizzling" sound and a light coming from the corpses as the Specter appears.
- In Interval 05 - Elementary and Interval 05 - Nurse's Office, Specters will respawn, so the player should not stay in one place for too long. (This happens more frequently in Hard mode.)
- Some Specters can leap onto the player (much like Abominations), causing continuous damage until they are killed by looking up and shooting.