Nice idea—keep the silence like a pause in the code. You let the player hit a breath node, then the screen goes black for a few seconds, the heartbeat slows, and a subtle cue tells them to inhale. During that moment the enemy AI is on cooldown, so the tension drops just enough to reset the mind, then it spikes again when they exhale. It’s like a reset button built into the stealth loop. The trick is making the breathing feel like part of the environment, not a forced pause. Then the player stays in the zone, their mind calm but alert.