Keep Quiet or You’re Dead – Final Girl – Don’t Make a Sound Review

The Final Girl series of solo horror games has had a bunch of different kinds of artwork in its various feature films, but they’ve all been similar in some fashion.

You can tell they’re be different artists, but you can also tell that they’re Final Girl art.

The latest feature film that I’ve played, Don’t Make a Sound, changes that a bit.

It’s almost like an animated film cell artwork than previous films have been.

It also fits the rustic tone of the setting and stands out as some of the most distinctive in the collection.

That’s a compliment!

Don’t Make a Sound is part of the Series 3 feature films and was designed by Katia Howatson.

The artist in question is K. Lynn Smith.

It was published by Van Ryder Games in 2025.

With a setting based on the movie Tremors (a very small desert town in the canyons and valleys of the American Southwest) and noise-based blind monster based on A Quiet Place, this entire film is tense from beginning to end.

Not only are you dealing with the Eyeless, but if you’re playing in Utopia, you’re dealing with Sand Snakes!

Combined, that can really ruin your day.

Let’s talk about the Eyeless creature first because it’s eyeing me menacingly…

The Eyeless seems like a very unique killer in this franchise, but other than a few noise-based Terror cards, it’s not really that hard to deal with, at least mechanically.

It is hard to deal with it before it deals with you, though.

Unfortunately, the relative rarity of of the special Eyeless mechanic makes it really fiddly trying to play with it.

The Eyeless is a blind creature, so it operates on sound instead. If you make a lot of noise, you can attract it.

You track the noise with the triangular Noise token on your Time track.

Every time you play an action card, you add one noise.

Using Item cards can also cause noise, and it’s kind of a judgement call on whether it’s +1 or +3, but really it’s pretty obvious.

They do provide you with cards that you can slip under each item as a reminder of how much noise it will cause.

Noise doesn’t really do anything unless you draw Terror cards that reference it (so let’s talk a little about Terror cards while we’re here).

Some Terror cards will essentially have two separate Killer actions.

If you’ve made a certain amount of noise on that turn (it resets in the Upkeep phase), then the Eyeless will go after you, often with a vengeance (see how many knives there are on those attacks?)

If you didn’t meet that noise level, then it will just be a normal “You or victims targeted, just attack once” killer action.

When these come out, it can be quite horrible and you’re wishing you hadn’t done so much on your turn, especially if bloodlust is already high because this asshole starts out fast (3 movement) and just gets faster as bloodlust goes up.

But they don’t always come out.

My first game, I think I had one, maybe two, in the ten card Terror deck I had formed.

It also always seems to be the case that you forget to move up the Noise while you are taking your turn and then you have to go back and determine what you did and how much Noise you should have generated.

It’s an interesting mechanic, but much more annoying to track than it would seem to be at first glance.

The Minor Dark Powers for the Eyeless either don’t really matter too much or are terribly brutal.

Fear Senses just resets Noise to 1 instead of 0 during the Upkeep phase, so it’s just part of the same deal.

However, considering how much the Eyeless can move around and chomp on victims, Blinding Speed is terrible to have out unless your victims are scattered.

Any victim in the Eyeless’ space when a victim has been killed that turn has to panic, and with this one, all victims who panic in the Panic phase are killed.

Scary!

Thankfully it’s only the Panic phase where this happens, meaning the Terror cards that have victims panic don’t actually trigger this effect.

Other, non-Noise-related Terror cards just add to the mix, though.

Three of them not only do something but also have you draw the next Terror card, shortening the timer for the Finale (though “Is That a Severed Arm” is conditional on no victims being in your space, or them rolling a panic number that forces them to stay in your space).

Unlimited Endurance can actually extend the game timer, though at the cost of restoring any damage you’ve already done to the Eyeless (and shortening the timer if you haven’t managed to do any yet).

Getting into the Noise mechanic got me into the Terror cards, so let’s backtrack and look at the Dark Powers for the Eyeless.

They are not fun.

(I hope it’s clear by now when I say “not fun,” I mean that they are bad for you…not that they are bad as far as enjoying the game goes)

Reactive Swipe forces you to lose a health whenever you run from the Eyeless in your space, which could be often!

Hard Skin ignores the first damage marker it takes every turn, so you’d better make sure you’re doing multiple damage.

Quick Counter is just you taking damage every time you attack the Eyeless (whether you hit or not!), and bringing it to you if you attacked at range (which you can do quite a lot in Utopia, more later).

The Finales are also pretty…final (sorry).

It Can Hear Everything actually makes use of the Noise mechanic! It’s kind of hard to kill it (unless it’s almost dead) when all of your big damage attacks will cause you to go above 4 Noise and thus put the target on you.

All of these finales also have two attacks (except the Epic one, which of course epically kills you with just one because if you take any damage, you’re dead!), meaning you’d better have those reaction cards ready if it’s targeting you.

Of course, No More Running will kill you fast unless you start bringing in victim cannon fodder, with its special ability of using Movement cards on victims instead.

With It Knows My Moves, you’d better kill the thing quickly, because those Reaction cards will go away very quickly.

This is definitely a killer where you want to have it whittled down before the Finale arrives, or you are likely dead.

I enjoyed the Eyeless as a killer, and the Noise mechanic is actually really interesting, but with only a few Terror cards (and one Finale) making use of it, it almost seems more annoying to track than it is worth it to use it.

That being said, when it does take effect, it really takes effect.

I do like the fact that its basic killer action (before you reveal a Terror card) just moves it one space toward its target.

Otherwise it would be flying around the board and you’d like be done by turn 4.

It’s an enjoyable killer, but not my favourite.

How about Utopia?

I love how distinctive Utopia is as a location.

The map board looks really cool, with rocky and dusty terrain, the town nestled in a canyon with high cliffs around you, and a few small town search locations.

There are also a few locations that are boulders towering over the valley where you can actually get a little bit of height advantage (for certain weapons).

The only downside to this is the dark colouring on the boulder spaces blends in with the brownness of the map itself, making the panic numbers hard to read unless your play area is well-lit.

And they’re also safe from the Snakes.

Which is Utopia’s other conceit.

Not only is there a mad killer running around the area, taking down victims right and left.

There are also Sand Snakes that burst from the ground at the end of each Killer phase, devouring any victim (or damaging any Final Girl, Minion, or Killer) in its space!

First, I have to say that these are the most hilarious, well-sculpted, most useless miniatures I’ve ever seen in a game (maybe a slight exaggeration, but not much of one)

They literally show up, kill something, and go away each turn, so you don’t even need them on the board.

And there are three of them.

But they are cool.

(You only have these miniatures if you buy the Series 3 Ultimate Box or if you buy them separately, and I have the Ultimate Box. If you aren’t getting the Ultimate Box, I wouldn’t bother getting these miniatures unless you are compelled to bling out your game, or if they’re in a set with other miniatures that are actually useful).

Each turn, at the end of the Killer phase, you draw two Sand Snake cards and resolve them.

The cards will tell you what area they pop up in, and also the order of what they will attack (since they only attack one thing).

The order is the same for all attacks, so really it’s just on the card as a reminder.

The boulder spaces are immune from this, of course, as are the exit spaces.

Everywhere else is fair game.

I lost so many victims to Sand Snakes that it wasn’t even funny.

Because bloodlust goes up when they die!

Unlike the Noise mechanic for the Eyeless, since you do the Sand Snakes every turn regardless, it’s very easy to remember to do it.

The search spaces are well-placed on the map and I do like that there are no spaces that are very hard to get to.

Unless they’re cut off by Sinkholes, of course.

Sinkholes are the other interesting mechanic in Utopia, where certain areas of the map can just collapse and become impassible.

This is usually done by Event or Terror card, and can become a major nuisance.

What this also does is make it so if somebody would panic into a space with a sinkhole, they just don’t move, which can be good or bad depending on the situation.

It’s even worse when all four Sinkholes have come out, really making getting around difficult.

Of course, anybody in a space that collapses takes a damage, so victims will die.

You don’t want them to be there.

There are items that will help with all of that, of course.

You can find a telescoping pole that will just let you skip a space when moving from a boulder space, including the sinkholes.

Household Chemicals can be devastating to the killer (and its minions if you’re using one of those and they’re in the same space!)

Of course, I rolled a 2 the one time I used it against the Eyeless, so it didn’t do much damage.

But being able to do up to 6 damage is very useful.

There are plenty of awesome weapons in Utopia too, almost like this tiny town is hiding a militia group or something.

There is a bunker, so maybe?

I love the Elephant Gun! You just have to make sure you can save up for the Critical Blow at some point.

It’s interesting how, if it comes up in the initial setup, you have to put it in the Bunker.

But if you draw it during a normal Search action at the General Store (for instance), I guess it just happened to fall into the box that the usual dog food came in.

The Scoped Rifle and Six-Shooter being ranged weapons that have their range extended if you’re on a boulder is also really cool.

Other items are kind of bizarre, but helpful!

Why does chili prevent Sand Snake attacks?

I would think excessive farts would attract them, not repel them.

The Seismometer, on the other hand, makes total sense and can be really useful (so of course I never found it in my games).

How are the Event cards?

Surprisingly, there are only two Event cards that bring out special victims, though that’s because one of them brings out two separate ones.

And they can be very useful.

The Doomsday Planners show up in the Bunker and the General Store.

If you happen to share the General Store with either one, you get an extra die for searching (they are very skilled at finding useful stuff) and if you share the Bunker with either one, you get an extra die when attacking.

However, the Defiant Teenager is just annoying and if he dies, it’s not a bad thing.

Other Events will bring out sinkholes, or perhaps make things extra difficult for you.

Stalkers is very brutal, because you are very likely to lose a bunch of victims to Sand Snakes (though if all three cards would kill somebody, you can ignore one).

Dehydration just royally sucks and you should find the Canteen as soon as possible.

Landslide destroys a rescue space. Not good!

But Get on the Roof can save you from two different collapsing areas.

Now let’s look at the Terror cards, another way you can get area collapses along with other bad stuff coming your way.

There’s even a pesky rattlesnake that can just kill you if you’re not careful.

How Many Are There is the only exception to a Sand Snake attack targeting, basically reversing it so that the killer is attacked first before anything else.

Even so, bloodlust is going up because if no victims die, it goes up one space anyway.

Overall, Utopia is a really cool location, easy to get around in (unless sinkholes happen, which they inevitably do), with interesting items and search locations, and the Sand Snake mechnic is just hilariously out of Tremors.

It can be frustrating watching so many victims die when the killer has also just killed a victim or two, but that’s part of the fun of Final Girl, isn’t it?

Have I mentioned that I love the artwork on Utopia as well?

It is so amazing.

How about the two Final Girls that come with this film?

Both Ronda and Meghan have nice save rewards, regaining health and both have a spot for a double Horror loss, which is really cool.

Meghan likes to move around, with getting a Sprint action card and moving 1 space, while Ronda also moves one space and takes a Search action card.

Their ultimates, though, don’t turn me on nearly as much (though maybe I’m spoiled by the Green Terror final girls and how awesome they are)

Ronda’s gets you a potentially big 1-time boost of Time for this turn, and gains you time whenever bloodlust increases.

Meghan lets you recover a health every time the killer moves into your space or you move into its space (and a horror reduction if you’re maxed out), which actually is pretty cool.

Every little bit helps.

Overall, Don’t Make a Sound is a good film, but the nature of the Eyeless’ noise mechanic can sometimes be more annoying than it’s worth. The Eyeless in general is a decent killer, but nothing to really rave about. Other than the noise (and its extremely deadly finales), it doesn’t have any individual spark that makes me excited to play with it.

Utopia, on the other hand, is a brilliant location, even if it is frustrating trying to manage two ways that your victims are going to die. The Sand Snake mechanic is a lot of fun, easy to implement, and I like the variable nature of the map depending on how many sinkholes you end up getting.

And just one more time, I love the artwork in this film. It really sets this film apart from the other ones.

The final girls are fine and Meghan’s ultimate can be very useful (Ronda’s too, in a pinch, though it ends up not mattering as much when bloodlust is maxed out). They’re not my favourites of the bunch, but they’re not bad ones.

Putting that all together, Don’t Make a Sound is a solid middle-tier feature film in the Final Girl franchise.

(This review was written after 3 plays)