Guide

Hearing the hidden before you see it

How the hidden monster in R.E.P.O. gives itself away: the breath particles it leaves in the air, the shapes its footsteps make, the sounds it makes while moving and being stunned, and the fact that a player can pick it up.

Applies to

0.4.0, read from the copy of the game this site was built from (see the sources page)

Before you start

• A run in progress
• Sound you can hear over the level
• A moment to stand still

Steps

1. Watch the air rather than the floor, because the hidden one leaves breath behind it.
   it has breath particles, including a fast version and one that runs constantly
2. Listen for breathing in and out, because both are sounded and both have a faster set.
   breathing in and out are separate sounds, with a fast set of both
3. Read the floor: its steps leave shapes as well as noise.
   it has separate shapes for a left and a right footstep, with smoke and step and sprint sounds
4. Treat its footsteps as a direction rather than a location, because the left and right shapes are kept apart.
   the shapes for the left and the right footstep are separate objects
5. Know what being stunned sounds like, because a stun has a beginning, a loop and an end.
   being stunned has a start, a loop and a stop
6. Listen for a jump and a landing, which are two separate sounds.
   jumping and landing are separate sounds
7. Know that a player can pick it up, because it has a transform and curves for being lifted and moved.
   a player can pick it up, with a transform of its own and curves for lifting and moving it
8. Use the sounds of it being handled to know a crewmate has it, because picking up, letting go and moving are each sounded.
   there are sounds for picking it up, letting it go and moving while it is held
9. Expect it to hang and turn like a caught object, because it carries a state and a rotation spring of its own.
   it keeps a state, an animator and a rotation spring of its own
10. Know when it is finished, because being hurt and dying have their own sounds.
    it has sounds for being hurt and for dying

Common mistakes

• Watching the floor and missing the breath left in the air.
• Hearing breathing but never noticing the faster set that means it is close.
• Ignoring the footsteps because they are only shapes on the floor.
• Treating a stun as the end of it, when a stun has a loop and an end of its own.
• Forgetting that a crewmate can be carrying it.

Related entries

MonstersThe hidden one and its breathingIt has breath particles, including a fast version and one that runs constantly.MonstersEnemies and what they doThe game defines several distinct monsters rather than one enemy type.MonstersHow monsters find youThe game tracks which room a player is in.

Sources

A local copy of the game, read only. The grounding for each step is listed on the technical reference pages; nothing here is estimated.