Sourcebound

Sourcebound is a descent through a black-screen world where sound reveals the surroundings. Every footstep, sonar pulse and hunter’s click sends out a wave that briefly paints the walls in neon. Move quietly and you can see almost nothing; make noise and the creatures below can hear you.

Sound and music

The soundtrack is composed live and responds to your run, staying calm as you explore and tightening when hunters find you. Level sounds—including footsteps, sonar, shards and hunters’ calls—join the score, played by an orchestra whose instruments follow the music, from strings and horns to saws, acid bass, organ and bells. A new ambiance and ensemble appear every two levels. You can listen in the studio or compose an ambiance of your own.

Listen and evade

Your sonar reveals everything around you, but hunters hear it. Sprinting can help you break away, though it is loud; sneaking makes you silent but leaves you nearly blind. You can also throw a pebble to draw hunters elsewhere. The creatures are blind, click in red, turn toward noises and investigate; when close, they chase.

Deeper down, you encounter several kinds of hunter: a sentinel that chants in place and howls to call others, a tracker that follows your footprints, a silent prowler revealed only by sonar, a guardian posted at the exit, and a colossus whose wave sweeps the whole level.

Descend and adapt

Collect golden shards to unseal the exit and descend another level. Each run generates fresh levels, so no descent follows the same route twice. The Source of silence lies 20 levels down; you can reach it or continue into the endless dark.

Every shard you collect is banked permanently and can be spent on Resonances, permanent upgrades to your breath, reach, memory of the walls and quiet steps. Between levels, choose a Relic that lasts until you die, then choose one of two doors to change the next level.

Ambiances and challenges

The game has eleven music ambiances, including Orchestral, Electro, Dub, Cathedral, Clockwork and Ritual, plus a studio for shaping your own. It has ten strata leading to the Source, each with its own look and music, and nine visual themes: Neon, Lidar, Chalk, Cyanotype, Segments, Vector, Lidar 3D, Dungeon and Cave. A daily challenge gives everyone the same descent and allows one attempt.