The water is the alarm
Landing in water tells the creature where you are. Players describe the trigger as unforgiving: a single misjudged step into a puddle is enough to be found. We have not seen the game publish a detection radius, so treat the rule as binary rather than measurable.
What this changes in practice: route planning beats reaction. Pick the line that keeps your feet dry, even if it is two jumps longer.
Standing one step too close to the water
Players describe the detection as punishing enough that a single misjudged step into a puddle gives them away, and one clip calls it a pixel of water. We have not measured that boundary, so this is our rule rather than the game's: land and stand on the middle of a platform, not on its lip, and skip any jump whose far landing you cannot see.
That costs a second per platform and buys back the runs lost to edge landings. Treat it as a working rule, not a published mechanic.
The creature answers the sound, slowly
The creature walks toward the splash. It is slower than a running player, which is why a decoy works at all: you are not outrunning it, you are buying time while it commits to the wrong place.
One limit is worth stating plainly. Clips show the creature failing to follow players onto dry ground, but that is a handful of observations, not a published mechanic. Do not plan a run around standing one step from the water and taunting it.
DONT SPLASH gameplay
Video by saint
The creature walking toward a splash and failing to follow onto dry ground. Watch on YouTube
Pebbles are controlled noise
A pebble thrown into water is the only deliberate sound the player has. Use it before a loud action, not after: the point is to give the creature a destination that is not you.
Sequence that works:
- Pick a spot of open water away from your route to the valve.
- Select the pebble slot and throw at that spot.
- Watch the creature turn and start walking.
- Use the gap to reach the valve.
A level 0 pebble holds three splashes, so each throw is a limited resource. Throwing into water the creature is already standing in wastes it.
Valves are forced noise
Valves are the loudest thing you will do on purpose. Opening one pulls the creature toward the valve, which means the safe order is decoy first, valve second, exit immediately after.
If you hear the valve finish and the creature is already close, leave the valve and take a loop around cover rather than standing still to watch it.
Throwing a pebble after the valve
The impulse when the creature arrives is to throw a pebble to save yourself. It usually works once, but the valve is already open and the exit is now the only thing left to do. Throwing late costs a pebble you may need in the next room.
If you have no pebbles left
Move around solid cover and break line of sound: get out of water, stay off sinking platforms, and take the longest dry route rather than the shortest wet one. Without a decoy, distance and cover are the only tools you have.
What is still unconfirmed
- Detection radius and how long a splash stays "loud".
- Whether noise from teammates stacks with your own.
- Whether the creature ever changes speed between difficulties.
- Whether any supply other than pebbles creates a usable decoy.
If a run contradicts one of these, the page is wrong and we will change it.