Shhh. The Hollow Lantern

A note to everyone who played the Shhh demo

I’m sorry. Some of you got a broken first build: 0.11.0 shipped without its furniture and lights. Then 0.12.0 had a Listener that never really hunted: it wandered off, got stuck where you couldn’t see it, and could catch you in a cabinet even when you were silent. That isn’t the game I promised, and many of you played it anyway and told me exactly what was wrong. Thank you.

0.12.1 fixes all of that. The Listener now hears you, comes for you, and doesn’t give up. Staying silent in a hiding spot finally keeps you alive. The phones, the fog and Mrs. Vale’s lip-sync work too.

It updates automatically the next time you start the game. If anything still feels off, please tell me; every report has made this game better.

Keep quiet out there.
– Harfi Games

Shhh: Demo 0.12.1, it hunts you now

Thanks to everyone who played 0.12.0. You told us the Listener never really came for you. You were right, and this patch fixes that.

The monster

• Your voice gives you away. Talk, shout or scream and it comes for you, even on the first night.
• Once it has found you, it doesn’t wander off. It stays and keeps hunting.
• If it’s searching nearby and hears you, the search becomes a chase.
• It no longer gets stuck on tables or lost up on the bookcases where you could never see it.
• After a scare, it comes close and listens for your gasp.

Hiding

• Staying silent in a cabinet now actually saves you. Your mic learns your room’s own noise, so a fan or a humming PC won’t give you away. A breath still will.

The house

• The wall phone, the clock, falling books and the storm’s shutters now draw it to look.
• Phones: press E to answer and E again to hang up, no holding. Calls come sooner in the demo.

Looks

• The fog and the far forest stay at Medium and High settings, where they had gone missing.
• Mrs. Vale’s lips now move on every line.

The update downloads automatically when you start the game.

Update coming soon: the library is waking up.

Thank you to everyone who played the demo and told us what you thought. The most honest feedback we got: if you stay silent, it’s too safe. You were right, so we’re changing that.

What’s coming:

• Hold your breath. The closer it gets, the more it hears. At arm’s length, your breathing is enough.
• It hunts you, even in silence. It will come looking. It will stop right outside your cabinet. And it will listen.
• Silence is suspicious. Too quiet for too long, and it comes to see why.
• The library makes noise for you. A phone that won’t stop ringing, a clock striking in the dark, books falling just behind you.
• You will be startled. In the middle of your rounds, when you least expect it, and never the same way twice. Gasp, and it hears you.
• Two new endings, and a secret night for the few who never make a sound.
• Living eyes: the characters now look at you.

If you have the demo installed from our website, the game will offer the update on the title screen. On itch, just grab the new build when it’s up.

Keep your voice down.

— Harfi Games

Fix 0.11.1 — the library is furnished again

If you played the demo and found the library strangely empty (no furniture, missing lamps, grey street lanterns), or the game crashed on start, that was our mistake, and it’s fixed.

How to update: run the Shhh Demo setup again: the same file you downloaded here, or download it again from this page. It only fetches what changed (about 200 MB), and your progress is kept.

What’s fixed in 0.11.1:

• The furniture, lamps and lights are back throughout the library
• The street lanterns, clocks and garden plants have their proper look (they were grey)
• The dusk visit has its real sky and light again
• A crash at startup on some PCs
• The game now tells you itself when an update is ready

Sorry, and thank you for your patience and for playing. Whisper if you have to speak at all.