Alerting the Forest & Noise

The Mound treats the forest itself as something that reacts to you. In the game's words: noise irritates the forest, increasing its hostility — and it is always vigilant. This is not a hidden meter you can read, and it is not a hard stop that ends your run. It is a pressure that builds the more you disturb the place, expressed as more hostile, more numerous creatures. Time of day matters too: you have only a few hours to accomplish your task, and the forest is altered by your presence.

The guidebook is explicit about which sounds carry, and asks you to pay attention to the loudness of different sounds to understand how much they anger the forest:

• Firing firearms — the guidebook's advice is to avoid them unless absolutely necessary
• Running while wearing armour
• Certain creature calls and animal cries, which can alert the forest on your behalf
• Snapping branches by pushing through undergrowth — cutting them with a machete or sword is quieter

One creature turns noise against you directly. The Tue Tue's scream echoes through the forest and stirs your foes, which is why the guidebook says it must be avoided rather than confronted. But if you do draw its attention, a demoniac mist surrounds you and the only way to dispel it is to kill the creature — so an ignored Tue Tue and a provoked one demand opposite responses.

• Use melee over firearms wherever possible to keep noise low
• Cut branches with a blade rather than shouldering through them
• Prioritise objective items over thorough looting on tighter contracts
• Move in silence to approach creatures unnoticed and backstab them before they react