Hiding Spots in DONT LET HIM IN

Hiding is the emergency layer of DONT LET HIM IN. You win nights by keeping The Locust outside with light, sealed doors, and sealed windows — but when prevention fails, the house often darkens, and open hallway heroics get you killed. Closets, the pantry, crouching, and staying quiet are how you survive long enough for power to return, teammates to revive, and the squad to reset. This guide is that recovery playbook.

Learn denial first in How to Survive and Power and Floodlights. New players should skim Getting Started so they know why light matters before they memorize closet doors. Full list: Guides Hub.

When you should hide

Hide when The Locust is inside or when a blackout makes every corridor a death roll and you cannot safely reach a seal or breaker. Signs you should stop roaming:

• The house just went dark after a breach.
• You hear the creature clearly indoors and you are alone in a long hall.
• You are low on flashlight battery and cannot see the next corner.
• A teammate is already down and you would revive into the monster with no light.

Hiding too early while the house is still sealed and lit wastes time. Hiding too late means you die mid-sprint toward a closet you never practiced. The skill is switching modes fast.

DONT LET HIM IN hiding and survival gameplay

Closets and pantry

Primary hides are closets and the pantry (and similar enclosed furniture / small rooms the place gives you). Before the night gets loud, walk the house once and note:

• Closet locations per wing.
• Which hides are closest to your patrol route.
• Which hides sit near breaker paths so a power runner can vanish if The Locust follows them inside.
• Which doors you must close on the way so you do not leave a breadcrumb trail of open panels.

Do not argue about the “best” closet in voice chat during a chase. Pre-pick defaults: Watcher defaults to the closet nearest the main window cluster; Power runner defaults to a hide near the return door; Support defaults to pantry or central closet for revive reach.

Crouch and stay quiet

Once inside a hide, crouch and stay quiet. Movement noise and panic mic spam help The Locust more than they help your team. On voice, switch to short whispers or text if your group still needs a status line (“in pantry”, “need revive later”). Do not leave the hide because you are bored five seconds early. Wait for audio pressure to drop or for a teammate to call that lights are back and entries are sealed.

Flashlight use inside a hide is usually a mistake — you announce yourself. Save remaining battery for the exit and the reset.

Entering and exiting hides cleanly

Enter: break line of sight, take the shortest path, close what you can without looping the whole house, commit. Half-hiding in a doorway is not hiding.

Exit: leave only when the indoor hunt pressure has fallen or when a clear call says power is up. Exit crouching if the hall is still questionable. Immediately reseal any door you used and rejoin the survival loop — watch, seal, light — from How to Survive.

If you exit into darkness with The Locust still present, you may need to re-hide in the next closet rather than greed a breaker interact. Ego exits cause remakes.

Co-op: hiding while others work

Good squads do not all hide at once unless the wipe is already inevitable. Ideal split during an indoor Locust event:

• Exposed players hide.
• Safe players (if any remain in lit / distant wings) restore power, close entries, and prepare revives.
• Nobody opens every closet “checking” while the creature is adjacent.

Revives belong after pressure drops. A revive in the open during peak hunt often doubles the bodies. Talk revive timing on Players habits: ask “clear?” before you pull a teammate out of a closet into a dark hall.

Solo hiding discipline

Solo means you are both the person who failed a seal and the person who must recover. Pre-stage a hide near your outdoor return so a failed cable run can end in a closet instead of a courtyard death. Accept longer hide timers. Your win condition is still morning (~6 AM), not continuous camera time. The video embed on this page helps you study how players disappear into furniture when the house turns hostile — copy the patience, not the panic.

Hiding versus resealing

Sometimes you can still slam a door or window and keep denial alive. Sometimes you cannot. Quick heuristic:

• If The Locust is still outside and you can reach the open entry safely under light, seal.
• If The Locust is inside / house dark / you are already heard, hide.
• If power is down and you are the only runner but the creature is on you at the threshold, abort into a hide, then retry power later.

Forcing a seal animation while the monster is already in your model space is how highlight reels of failure get made.

Common hiding mistakes

• Never learning closet locations until the first indoor breach.
• Hiding in the open behind a couch equivalent when a closet is three steps away.
• Mic screaming inside the pantry.
• Flashlight checking outside the closet door repeatedly.
• Whole squad stuffing one closet and blocking exits.
• Leaving hide into an unrestored blackout to “be useful.”
• Using Don’t Let Her In baby-closet folklore or House of The Locust map knowledge as if it transfers one-to-one — this is the dilly dally games Locust place only.

Practice plan

1. Cold walk: name every closet and pantry aloud with friends.
2. Drill: on a callout “breach,” everyone path to their default hide once without dying to hesitation.
3. Drill: exit hides only after a “lights up” call, then reseal in under a set time.
4. Full night: intentionally survive at least one indoor event purely with hide discipline, then finish to morning.

Hiding does not replace floodlights or sealed windows — it saves the run when those fail. Master it so a single breach is a scare, not a remake. Then return to light control in Power and Floodlights and the full loop in How to Survive. Stay quiet. Stay crouched. Make it to morning.