HUSH: They Can Hear Combat Guide: How to Select, Aim, Fire and Reload a Gun

Quick answer

Press 1, 2 or 3 to draw the weapon in that slot, right-click to aim, click to fire, R to reload, Q to holster, and I to inspect the gun you are holding.

• 1 / 2 / 3 — select a weapon slot
• Right-click — aim
• Click — fire
• R — reload
• Q — holster
• I — inspect weapon

That is the entire gun loop. The hard part of a fight in HUSH: They can hear is not the aiming — it is that the creatures hunting the town track sound, so every shot is an announcement. This guide covers working the gun and what firing puts at risk.

Get a gun and ammo before you need them

Guns go in weapon slots 1 and 2, and throwables go on G — the inventory screen at base states this rule directly. You can cycle three weapon slots with the 1, 2 and 3 keys, so assign your loadout while things are quiet: in one run, a player looted a machine pistol and set it to slot 1 before going after a monster.

Ammo comes from the town itself. Loot containers as you move through it — a toolbox, for example, can hold medium ammo. The loot items guide covers container hunting in detail, and the rest of this guide covers the weapons themselves.

Think twice before relying on that gun, though: get caught and you lose everything you carried except your safe pocket. A fight that goes badly can cost the weapon, the ammo and the rest of the haul. The what happens when caught guide explains the penalty.

Why firing is risky: the creatures hunt by sound

The game states its core rule up front — the intro warns that "a single gunshot can turn a quiet street into a desperate escape." Firing a gun draws dangerous attention, and nothing ends a quiet run faster.

The HUD makes noise visible. A loudness meter in dB sits at the bottom left of the screen and moves with what you do — for example, it read about 33 dB crouched indoors, around 52 dB walking outside and roughly 81 dB while driving. The status line beside it can show sound modifiers such as CLEAR, FOG ("drowns out 1 dB") or "indoors -8 dB". Treat those exact values as examples rather than guaranteed constants; the habit worth building is watching how your actions move the meter before you ever need to shoot.

Before you pull the trigger

One run shows how quickly it slips away: a player picked up a pump shotgun, opened fire on a monster, and only then realized they had never planned for ammo — "Oh, I forgot about the ammo... That was a lot of sound." Another creature was already close by, and the player chose to run instead of shooting again.

Before your first shot:

• Check your ammo count — before the fight, not during it.
• Assume every shot draws attention. That is the game's core rule, not bad luck.
• Decide your exit before shooting — after a gunshot you may be running, not fighting.
• When you do not need the gun out, press Q to holster it.

For staying unheard in the first place, see the tips and tricks guide. If things have already gone loud, the escape guide covers getting out. The complete key list — movement, flashlight, cars and more — is on the controls page.