They hear your room.
With the microphone on, a whisper carries a metre, talking carries across the street, and a scream carries twenty. They come to where you are.
Out now · Free · Microphone optional
HOLD YOUR BREATH
They can’t see you. They can hear you.
Toronto, 3:40 AM. Blind things hunt the streets by sound, and they hear your real microphone. Get to the top of the CN Tower without a sound.
The game
What HOLD YOUR BREATH is
Downtown Toronto, 3:40 AM, in the rain. The city went quiet at midnight, and the things standing in the street are blind. They hunt by sound: your footsteps, your breathing, every door you open.
Let the game use your microphone and they hear your room too. Talk, laugh or scream, and they come to where you are. When one gets close, hold your breath (it’s a button), and hope you can hold it longer than it can wait.
What makes it scary
Don’t make a sound.
Hold your breath.
When one is close, hold it: Space, a trigger, or BREATH. Let go too soon and it hears you gasp. The breath is a button: never hold your real one.
Make them look away.
Throw a bottle and they go to where it breaks. Sometimes it sets off a car alarm. Then everything on the street heard that.
The Tall One.
Something very tall is standing in the plaza. You can’t outrun it.
The elevator stopped.
311 metres up the outside, thirty-one short of the top. Then something comes down the glass.
It stops when you stop.
Fourteen steel flights of emergency stair, and your footsteps come back a beat late. Then one more.
One night
From the street to 451 metres.
King & John to the roof of the CN Tower, on foot, in the dark, without a sound. Caught, you start again at the last of three places: the shop, the Tower’s doors, or the stair door at 342 metres.
- 0 mKING MART 24King & John, 3:40 AM. The radio is loud: turn it off. Something is standing at the window, listening.
- 0 mJohn StreetSouth, toward the Tower. A bus lies across the road ahead: round it by the laneway off Mercer, the noodle bar’s kitchen, or Metro Hall.
- 0 mThe rail bridgeThe gate is chained. The note says where the cutters are, and it’s somewhere different every night. Every step on the bridge rings.
- 0 mThe plazaSomething very tall is standing in the plaza.
- 0 mThe Tower’s doorsThe queue is still standing in line. Caught from here, you start again at these doors.
- 311 mThe elevatorStopped. Thirty-one short of the top. Don’t breathe.
- 342 mThe glass floorFourteen flights up. Something under the glass. Caught from here, you start again at the stair door.
- 351 mThe restaurantDinner was at midnight, and they’re still at their tables. The staff key is on the host stand.
- 451 mThe roofWarn everyone. Then hold on until the sun comes up.
The breath is a button
Hold it while it’s close.
In the game, holding your breath is a button: Space, a trigger, or BREATH on a phone. Never your real breath. Something is coming down the street: press and hold BREATH while it’s near you, and let go once it’s gone by.
Your microphone never leaves your device. Nothing is recorded, kept or sent.
No mic? Play anyway: they still hear your feet, your breath and the doors. Recording your reaction is a separate choice, off unless you say yes before a game.
The street is quiet. For now.
From the game
The streets at 3:40 AM.
Trailers · sound on
Lights off. Sound on.
The elevator stopped. 311 metres up the outside, something lands on the roof of the lift.
Play HOLD YOUR BREATH free (opens in a new tab)Gameplay · filmed in the game
In the streets.
Point at a clip to play it (on a phone, they play as you scroll); open one to see it big.
How to play HOLD YOUR BREATH
Get to the top. Quietly.
- Hide. Somewhere small and dark, and stay still.
- Hold your breath when one is close: Space, or BREATH on a phone. Let go too soon and it hears you gasp.
- Make it look away. Throw a bottle (click, or THROW) and it goes to where it breaks.
- Get to the CN Tower, and up it. From King & John to the roof, 451 metres up. Then hold on until sunrise.
- WASDMove or the arrow keys
- MouseLook click the game to take it back
- CCrouch and creep
- SpaceHold your breath hold it · a button, never your real breath
- EUse hide · doors · take · hold it for the long ones
- Left clickThrow a bottle or Q
- ShiftRun they hear it half a block away
- FTorch
- MMap
- EscPause or P
- Left stickMove
- Right stickLook
- LTL2Hold your breath or LB / L1
- A✕Use hold it for the long ones
- B○Crouch or click the left stick
- X□Throw or RB / R1
- RTR2Run hold
- MenuOptionsPause the map switch is in there
- Xbox names first, then PlayStation. Plug it in (USB or Bluetooth) and press any button.
- Left thumb moves: a stick comes up under it. Drag on the right to look.
- BREATH (hold), USE (it says HOLD when you need to), CROUCH, RUN (hold), and THROW when you carry a bottle. II pauses.
- Upright or sideways. On a phone it goes full screen when you start.
Tips
- Crouch (C) on metal: every step on the bridge and the stair rings.
- Clicking above you means stop.
- Caught? You start again at the last of three places: the shop, the Tower’s doors, or the stair door at 342 metres.
- Running carries half a block. Walk when you can.
- A thrown bottle can set off a car alarm. Then everything on the street heard that.
- Headphones make it fair: without them the game has to allow for its own sound coming back in.
Questions
Before you go in.
Do I need a microphone?
No. No mic? Play anyway: they still hear your feet, your breath and the doors.
What happens to my microphone?
Your microphone never leaves your device. Nothing is recorded, kept or sent. The game only measures how loud your room is, a moment at a time, on your own device. Recording your reaction is a separate choice, off unless you say yes before a game.
Do I hold my real breath?
No. In the game the breath is a button: Space, a trigger, or BREATH on a phone. Never hold your real one.
Can I play it on my phone?
Yes, upright or sideways. Opened it inside TikTok or Instagram? Tap ⋯ and open it in your browser, so the monsters can hear you.
Does it work with a controller?
Yes, Xbox or PlayStation. It names the right buttons, and shakes when one hears you.
How long is it?
One night, from the shop on King Street to the roof at 451 metres: roughly 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how often they hear you.
Is it free?
Yes. Free, no download, no sign-up.
Credits
HOLD YOUR BREATH is made by Fliinch. Its gameplay and trailers are filmed in the game itself.
Free · nothing to install
They can’t see you. They can hear you.
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